Cross Rivers
The State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State, Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba has sworn to install his cousin as the next member representing Yala 1 State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly.
Barr. Eba made the statement when some stakeholders of Yala visited the chairman at his house in Abuja. The chairman said “We have heard them say Yala speaking has all the key positions, and so what? All I know is that Otanya will be State House of Assembly Member Representing Yala 1 come 2023, so they should keep dreaming, this time around we are coming out in full force, the rest of them can continue dreaming”.
Mrs. Otanya Odey is an aspirant for the Yala 1 State Constituency APC House of Assembly Primaries election. She is the cousin of the State Chairman of the APC in Cross River State, Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba. Many have fingered the state chairman of the party as the backbone behind his cousin. Few days ago, a protest was staged in Yala against some aspirants vying for same position, many accused the chairman of the party as the sponsor of the protest.
Reacting to this development, a stakeholder of the APC in Yala, Mr. Ohiero Idagu said “I wonder what Okadigbo (Alphonsus Eba) stands to benefit from all these. He is supporting his cousin that votes in the same polling unit with him for State House, if you put all the positions in one polling unit, who will work for other polling units during elections, this is totally wrong and unacceptable, Otanya should not allow herself to be used as a tool of disunity and distraction, I will advice her pull out of this failed arrangement”
Also reacting to the development, a village chief in Yala LGA, Mr. Ipuole Onah, said the peace and growth of Yala should come first before any other consideration, he also warmed the state chairman to respect other ethnic nationalities in Yala. Mr. Onah said “let me state this as a word of caution to the State Chairman of the APC, our son Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba, when he was made Chairman, we all celebrated him, but we will not stand and watch him look down on any ethnic nationality in Yala. Yala 1 has 3 major ethnic blocks, Yala speaking, Yache and Gabu. Yala speaking has Jude Ngaji as member representing Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency, Okadigbo as State Chairman of APC, Mr Solomon Ogar who is the Chapter Chairman of the APC and Okadigbo’s inlaw, Local Government Chairman Fabian Ogbeche, Commissioner for Local Government Stella Odey. Yache has Sen. Odey and the VC of UNICROSS. While Gabu has just the present House of Assembly member”
Accusing fingers have been pointed at the State Chairman of the party as the orchestrator of the crisis rocking the APC in Yala. John Agi, a youth leader in Yala said “if Okadigbo is not behind Otanya, why is his media aide, Ebriku Friday, the promoter of Otanya on social media? Does he think we are fools? He has not called his media aide to order, Ebriku has been talking harsh on other aspirants, he has not cautioned Ebriku”
At the time of filling this reports, all attempts to reach the State Chairman to respond to these allegations were unsuccessful as he was neither taking calls, or responding to messages.