Some stakeholders in the Cross River State chapter of the Nigeria Democratic Congress have expressed the fear that the party may lose the gubernatorial election in the state if the ticket is given to someone outside the southern senatorial district.
In a statement on Tuesday, a group, the Cross River Collectives, raised the alarm over what it called the party’s calculated effort to favour an aspirant from the northern part of the state, even as the party is yet to make public the outcome of the primary election.
But the state chairman, Goddy Akpama, has said there is no cause for alarm. While emphasizing that the result of the primary was still being awaited, Akpama however told TNN over the telephone that it was not a strange occurrence for people from all parts of the state to contest the seat, as zoning was not a constitutional matter.
The statement which was issued by Bassey Egbe Ntui, the group’s president-general, insisted that if the party must defeat the incumbent who also hails from the south, the candidate must also come from the same senatorial district.
Three persons contested for the party’s ticket-John Upan Odey(north), Edem Ekong(south) and Npam Coco-Bassey(south). The primaries took place last week but the national secretariat of the party is yet to make the result public.
But the group wrote that “John Odey has positioned himself as a shrewd political operator, leveraging his claimed friendship with NDC National Leader Senator Seriake Dickson. This association, Odey argues, gives him the inside track to securing the party’s nomination. However, many within the party view this as a dangerous gamble that could alienate the Southern base, which has historically been a stronghold for the NDC in Cross River State.
“Engineer Coco Bassey and Barrister Edem Ekong represent the Southern Senatorial District’s legitimate aspirations to produce the party’s standard-bearer. Both have significant grassroots support and have been working within the party structure for years. Their candidacies are seen as a natural progression of the NDC’s commitment to equitable representation.”
The group said urged the party leadership to be decisive in handling the issue if it was interested in winning the election in the state. “If unchecked, this internal maneuvering could doom the NDC’s chances of making a significant impact in the next election. The party must choose between short-term political calculations and long-term electoral viability. For the NDC to succeed, it must return to its founding principles of fairness, transparency, and genuine grassroots representation.
“The coming weeks will be critical. The party leadership must decide whether to allow regional interests to override collective goals—or to rally behind a candidate who can unite all sections of Cross River State in the fight against the APC.
Failure to address this internal crisis could mean four more years of APC dominance in Calabar. The question remains: will the NDC learn from its mistakes, or will history repeat itself?”
