The atmosphere is getting tensed, with the 2027 general elections drawing closer. Consultations are going on, subtle campaigns are also taking place. While some are scheming to impose their favourite aspirants to fly the flag of the ruling APC, others have kicked against such moves.
Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, a lawyer and former presidential adviser from Ugep, Cross River State, is one of such persons who have continued to resist imposition and illegalities, especially as it has to do with his senatorial district and federal constituency.
He spoke with TNN on the recent “screening” of aspirants as directed by the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu. He also speaks on why a combination of experience, performance as well as loyalty to the party should be the yardstick for choosing candidates for the party through consensus or direct primaries, even as he stressed that to avoid implosion in the party, nobody should attempt to impose consensus when the aspirants are not in agreement.
Excerpts:
What do you make of the ongoing screening of aspirants by selected APC stakeholders in the three senatorial districts of the state?
I do not know what is going on there because the procedure is different from what took place in 2022 when I was a senatorial aspirant in the APC. At that time, we did the screening in Abuja after purchasing the nomination and expression of interest forms, filling them, and returning them. We were then invited to attend the screening in Abuja. This is why I am suggesting that what is taking place in Ikom cannot rightly be called a screening, because that process is supposed to be conducted by a committee appointed by the National Executive Committee of the Party. These aspirants are contesting for positions in the National Assembly of Nigeria (Senate and House of Representatives), which belong to the legislative branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria. As you know, Nigeria operates a federal system with three tiers of government—the Federal, State, and Local Government. What is happening now therefore appears skewed to me.
Across Cross River State, aspirants are made to sign an undertaking to abide by whatever would be the outcome of the just concluded screening undertaken by stakeholders that were selected by the governor. How legal is this procedure?
I would also say that the process appears strange to me. As I mentioned earlier, when I aspired in 2022 to be the candidate of the APC for the Central Senatorial District in the 2023 general elections, we were not subjected to such a procedure, even though the 2022 Electoral Act provided for consensus.
My understanding of the Electoral Act 2026, particularly Section 87, is as follows: (1) A political party that adopts a consensus candidate must secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the position, indicating their voluntary withdrawal from the race and their endorsement of the consensus candidate.
(2) Where a political party is unable to secure the written consent of all cleared aspirants for the purpose of a consensus candidate, it shall revert to direct primaries for the nomination of candidates for elective positions.
Therefore, if the state APC intends to adopt consensus, it should be forthright and transparent by informing the aspirants that consensus will be the method used to nominate candidates. To ask aspirants to sign an undertaking to abide by whatever outcome emerges from the screening is, in my view, a departure from Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2026, which I have highlighted above. I do not fully understand that procedure.
Some aspirants have already shown themselves for the Abi/Yakurr seat in the House of Reps, while many others have appeared from Abi LGA. What does this say about our democratic experiment?
My understanding is that there is a consensus between Abi and Yakurr Local Government Areas, which share the same values in terms of history, tradition, culture, and anthropology. Indeed, they both belonged to the defunct Ugep Local Government Area from 1987 until September 1991, and earlier to the old Obubra and Afikpo Divisions in the defunct Eastern Region from about 1945 to 1967, when the South Eastern State was created from the Eastern Region. We are one people, and just as children of a polygamous father, are entitled to share food or farmland equally to ensure fairness, so too must every community be carried along equitably.
Accordingly, the Abi–Yakurr Federal Constituency has been rotating the seat allotted to it in the House of Representatives. In 1999, Chief Obeten Okorn Obeten from Ugep, Yakurr Local Government Area, occupied the seat for eight years (1999–2007). After him, Rt. Honourable Bassey Eko Ewa from Ekori, Yakurr Local Government Area, held the seat from 2007 to 2019 (a period of 12 years). By unwritten agreement rooted in trust, cooperation, and love, the seat then passed to Abi Local Government Area.
In 2022, I vocally fought for the Senate to be returned to the old Obubra Division, which now comprises Abi, Obubra, and Yakurr Local Government Areas. Graciously, the then governor, Ben Ayade, acceded and micro‑zoned the Senate to Yakurr Local Government Area to balance the equation. Therefore, I do not expect any Yakurr person to aspire to contest for the House of Representatives, since the Senate has already been conceded to Yakurr.
That is why, in 2023, when some individuals from Yakurr came out to contest for the House of Representatives, we in Yakurr did not support them. I was outspoken about it and condemned it vehemently. Consequently, I do not expect anybody from APC Yakurr to rear his head in this matter. If that has happened, I expect the screening committee to strike out the name of such a person with dispatch and alacrity. Likewise, I expect the committee to strike out the name of anybody from the old Ikom Division who attempts to enter the race for the senate ticket.
Would you say you are still worried about a possible implosion in the APC over the handling of primaries?
Abi/Yakurr is not for sale to any aspirant whose ambition is driven by vested political interests masterminded by outsiders, whether in government or otherwise.
The people of Yakurr–Abi are fiercely independent‑minded, and that is why, when other parts of Cross River State were not ready to embrace an opposition party back in 2019, they closed ranks and voted for someone from the APC—then considered an anathema to the then government in Cross River State and even to the generality of the people of the state. We shall mobilize and vote massively against anyone we perceive as being sponsored by outside political interests.
The people of Abi/Yakurr in APC should be given the opportunity to democratically elect their candidate in a fair, credible, and transparent primary election. Alternatively, if there is to be consensus, the Abi–Yakurr APC chapters should be allowed to forge that consensus based on the pedigree, antecedents, and character of the aspirants who present themselves, devoid of outside influence. We do not need liars to represent us in Abuja.
All the new entrants who were not around in 2015, 2019, or 2023 in our various wards should not rear their heads in the race for the ticket of the Abi–Yakurr Federal Constituency. This is to prevent the implosion I have consistently warned against in this constituency, which is very sensitive, sophisticated, and whose people are well‑educated, enlightened, and exposed.
Let me remind you that the Supreme Court of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, when its capital was in Calabar from 1902 to 1906, used to hold sessions in Ediba, Abi Local Government Area. Furthermore, John Holt, a major trading company belonging to the colonialists, had its headquarters for the Middle and Upper Cross River region in the 19th century in Ediba, Abi Local Government Area. This historical background explains why the Abi–Yakurr people are independent‑minded and why they should be exemplary in sending experienced representatives to the National Assembly—both in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Such representatives must be savvy, resourceful, intelligent, exposed, and possess good carriage, ensuring they are not lost in the anonymity of the National Assembly of Nigeria, which reflects the mosaic complexity of the nation. This is precisely why there is a strong clamour for a change of representation in the Senate.
I do not want to rely on the rumours and speculation that typically circulate during every election season. I have stated that people who only join the APC after the 2023 general elections should not be encouraged to gain an advantage over those of us who have been committed since 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2023, sacrificing so much to ensure that the APC, which our people fiercely resisted until recently, should not be undermined by those aided by external forces.
