Ofonime UMANAH/Ruth NWORIE
Caretaker committee chairman of the PDP in Cross River State, Bassey Ewah, has said that he will use the few period of his reign as head of the party in the state to fix all cracked walls and unite the members.
Ewah, a former speaker of the state house of assembly and former member of the House of Representatives said in a telephone interview that his appointment at this time was for the purpose of bridge building.
“Basically, it is a call to duty, to see how I can unite and build a formidable PDP in Cross River State, a PDP that will be ready and with the capacity to challenge the ruling party, a PDP that will provide an avenue where aspirants or people who are interested in running for offices will have an option to go into election. I am a democrat, I will not support a one-party state in Nigeria.
“For me, it is a call to duty. Everybody there is my friend; let’s come together and build our party, this party that has helped many of us. From 1999–2015, when Ayeda came in and took our mandate and gave to APC. Cross River State is a PDP state; let’s come together and work for the interest of our people. Basically, our concern is the citizenry of Cross River State.”
He said the party leadership at the national level was right to have intervened following a vacancy that existed in the state chapter, even as he dismissed the congress that was conducted in the state last weekend, which produced Venatius Ikem as chairman, saying it was done in disobedience to a court order.
He recalled that Ikem had approached the court in search of an injunction to restrain the national leadership of the party from preventing the conduct of a congress in the state, but that the court turned down his request and ordered that the status quo be maintained.
He added that the court had also ordered that all defendants in the suit should be served with the processes, while adjourning the matter to October 30. But Ewah lamented that Ikem went ahead with the congress despite the court’s position.
“Look, we don’t recognize what happened, there’s a caretaker committee in place.” He described the situation in the state chapter of the party as an issue between brothers. “We are in politics, the more you disagree, the more you agree.
“If me and my brother disagree within the party, that doesn’t mean tomorrow we won’t be able to come together to build a stronger one. That is what I have in mind; that is what I see as the future for PDP in Cross River State.
“Vena went to court with those running elections in his group. They wanted an injunction, but the court said no, you and those you are complaining about, hold on, don’t do anything, don’t take any further action, come back on the 30th of October, let me hear the case on its merit, and before you come back, serve them all the documents you have brought to this court.
“As a lawyer, the moment when the court says don’t go further, don’t do anything, would you say there is a congress?”
“You went to court yourself, you are the one who took this matter to court, and the judge said status quo – maintain, don’t do any other thing. Are you in contempt or are you not in contempt? You are in contempt. For me, all this is drama. We need to come together as PDP.”
Even with the glaring cracks in the party, Ewah said there was no division. “I don’t think there’s division. We will come together. We have passed through more serious challenges than this, and at last we came together. We will still come together and make peace and work as a party. I don’t see that opposition or division in Cross River State.
