Cross River; APC Stakeholders Oppose Incumbent Council Chairman's Efforts To Persuade Ayade To Hold Local Government Elections Prior To May Handover
From Judex Okoro, Calabar
All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in the state of Cross River have raised alarm over the insistence of the 18 incumbent local government chairmen that governor Ben Ayade conduct council elections before the May 29 transition.
The stakeholders were perplexed as to why the council chairmen were putting pressure on Governor Ben Ayade to conduct local government elections with only 37 days remaining before his departure and in opposition to the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission's (CROSIEC) agreed upon date of October 2023.
Prof. Mike Ushie, chairman of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC), has postponed the local government election scheduled for May 24, 2023, to October 21, 2023.
Ushie cited budgetary concerns as a major reason for the election date change in a statement, adding, "the rescheduling is due to budgetary concerns, as the approved 2023 Local Government Council elections are captured in the 2023 appropriation with no supplementary provision in the 2022 budget.
"The action was consistent with section 24 (2) of the amended Electoral Act of 2022. In addition, political parties are required to approve and collect the rescheduled timetable at the organization's headquarters in Calabar, and the guidelines remain the same.
On June 1, 2023, the terms of the current 18 chairmen and 196 councilors would expire, requiring the successor of Governor Ben Ayade to appoint caretaker committee members for the 18 councils.
However, an investigation by the Daily Sun revealed that immediately after the general elections and after the APC was declared the victor, council chairmen exerted increasing pressure on Governor Ayade and the party leadership to hold local government elections.
The 18 chairmen assert that Ayade and the party leadership promised to compensate them with a second term ticket if they worked for the success of the APC, insisting that this is payback time as they are unsure whether the incoming governor, Sen. Bassey Out, and his team will pander to their favor.
Government House sources confided to the Daily Sun over the weekend that, in a meeting with the Governor, the council chairmen urged the party leader to order the state chairman to begin the electoral processes in collaboration with CROSIEC before the May 29 handover date.
The source added that the chairmen had reminded the Governor that they had delivered and therefore should be granted automatic re-election as a form of compensation, fearing that they will be shown the door once the new government assumes power.
According to the source, Governor Ayade advised the chairman to meet with the incoming Governor, Sen. Prince Bassey Otu, and discuss the issue of election and automatic tickets, stating "once the incoming Governor gives approval for the conduct of LG council election, I will conduct the election with immediate effect."
He added that the state party chairman does not have the authority to declare automatic nominations for all candidates, as this could cause division within the party, and that everything must pass through a democratic formulation.
Bar. Utum Eteng, an APC stakeholder from Yakurr local government area in the central senatorial district, stated that it would be unlawful and unconstitutional for the current government to conduct council elections in the waning days of the administration.
Eteng, who was also a member of the APC state campaign organization, stated that there are established rules and regulations that govern the conduct of elections, so it would be unacceptable for a government to simply wake up on June 1, 2023, and issue a fiat order to CROSIEC.4.22
"I advise the government to simply hand over power so that the new administration can take over from there." "Since we all belong to the APC, nobody should sow discord between the outgoing and incoming governors, as any action to the contrary will be challenged in a court of law," he stated.
Another stakeholder from Calabar south in the southern senatorial district, Chief Bassey E. Bassey, described the chairmen's actions as self-serving and anti-party. He said, "It is the height of desperation for power and an attempt to arm-twist Ayade into pleasing them on the pretext that they worked hard for the success of the party in the last elections. He also questioned whether the chairmen were the only people who worked for the party.
"I commend Ayade for being forthright with them by suggesting they take their demand to Sen. Out because it would be wrong to set up local government structure for another person when former Governor Liyel Imoke didn't. Consider new groups of individuals this time."