LG Chairmanship Election: Graveyard Peace In C’River APC As Gov Snubs Nominees From Party’s Top Chieftains

There has been a mixture of graveyard silence and tension in Cross River State since Monday night, when the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu summoned major stakeholders from the state, including his deputy, past and present members of the National Assembly, to announce the names of those selected as candidates of the APC for the local government election scheduled to hold in November.

The party had resolved to adopt the consensus option in the selection of candidates, instead of going through the open primary election. Leaders of the various local government caucuses were mandated to meet and select their choice candidates for presentation to the party.

TNN learnt that in some of the local governments, three names were chosen while in others, the stakeholders chose five people for presentation to the party. The party was supposed to have worked with the governor, the party leader, to come up with a final list.

In the course of the stakeholders meetings in the various local governments, the party members and aspirants had clamoured for the application of zoning formula especially in places where the formula had been in use in the past.

As would have been expected, very senior party leaders and critical stakeholders were expected to make inputs in the choice of candidates that would be submitted to the party. But TNN learnt that in many cases, the names that were submitted to the party were ignored as the governor read out the names of favoured candidates on Monday night.

In fact, some of the stakeholders, among them, serving and former senators, past and present members of the House of Representatives and even the deputy governor did not have inputs in what finally came out as candidates of the party.

After the governor had announced the names of candidates at the well attended meeting, a former senator was heard exclaiming in unbelief, that what was announced could not have been names sent from their local government.

It was learnt that a top aide of the governor was the one who compiled the names and handed over to the governor. One source said there was disquiet in the hall as the stakeholders did not believe that they had been fooled.

A source who confided in TNN on Tuesday expressed disappointment that even the nominee preferred by the deputy governor was not the candidate announced by the governor. However, an aide of the deputy governor who spoke on the issue denied any disagreement between his boss and the governor on the issue, saying that there was no rift between them and that the deputy governor was too loyal to the governor to have a view different from that of his boss, on the matter.

TNN observed that except one former National Assembly member, no other past and present members of the National Assembly as well as past and present political office holders had their nominees accepted as candidates, a development that appears to have pitched the governor against major players in the party.

However, the governor’s chief press secretary, Nsa Gill has said that the candidates were selected through the agreement of the stakeholders. In a statement on Tuesday, he also announced the 18 local government areas in the state would hold equity shares in an airline floated by the state government, an indication that the local governments would co-fund the airline.

“All the 18 local government councils hold equity shares in the new airline operations the state has invested in. The share certificates will be presented to each elected council chairman, and an expert management team led by a managing director with extensive experience in airline operations has already been secured. The management team will ensure efficiency in the airline operations and will provide regular updates to the shareholders, including the state and the local government councils.”

The governor was also quoted to have emphasized the importance for the flag bearers to uphold ethical standards, integrity, and professionalism in their roles as leaders of the local government councils, while also encouraging them to set a positive example, promote community involvement, and foster unity among diverse groups within their respective jurisdictions.

He also urged the selected candidates to grasp the vision and commitment of the state government towards advancement and effective governance.