BY: Vitalis Ugoh, Calabar
An All Progressives’ Congress (APC) legacy group in Cross River State has appealed to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be properly guided before appointing nominees from the state for Ministers.
Rather, there should be proper consultations amongst all leaders and stakeholders to avoid making people who are not from Cross River State Ministers while real Cross Riverians are dropped.
It would be recalled that very soon President Tinubu forward the names of nominees for Ministerial appointment to the Senate for confirmation.
The group is made up of founding or older members of the APC.
They were either a part of the three defunct political parties -ACN, CPC, ANPP- that came together in 2013 to form what is now known as the APC, or had joined the party shortly before the 2015 elections.
In Cross River, there has been the feeling that those who defected from the PDP along with the then governor, Prof. Ben Ayade in 2021, had hijacked the party and had made it difficult for the old party members to benefit whenever opportunities came for spoils of political battles were to be shared.
Speaking to our Correspondent through their leader, Mr Sampson Egom, said that “it is important for the APC and Tinubu to be properly guided before he makes the choice of his minister from Cross River.
The group in a statement noted that “let the party reward and promote this silent majority who do not have political godfathers and godmothers.”
There are speculations that one of the persons that may be considered for the appointment is the party’s Women Leader, Dr Betta Edu.
Recently, there was a newspaper report listing Edu among those that may be on the list of nominees.
According to him, it would be unfair for Edu to be part of those considered for the ministerial appointment”.
He said, “we have a lot of committed, dedicated and competent party members who are qualified to be appointed ministers. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should look at all of them, evaluate them fairly and carefully before selecting one of them”.
“He should look at their political antecedents and adjudge which of them will give the people of the state a good representation. The person must be someone who truly know the state well and who can add value to his administration.”
The legacy group, questioned the issue of Edu’s indigenship adding “at our level of national development and democracy in Nigeria, where somebody comes is still considered as something to be taken into consideration when appointments are made”.
“Dr Betta hails from Anambra State but married to someone from Cross River State, the group noted”.
“The husband is from Abi local government area of Cross River State where the member representing Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency is from. Would her appointment not disturb the political apple card in that constituency?”
“It will certainly be. A minister and a member of the House of Representatives should all not come from the same local government area. It does engender inclusiveness and sense of belonging among people from that area. It is a poisoned chalice that will promote disharmony and discord.”
Besides, the group observed that Edu never won her husband’s Adadama ward in its entirety as usually claimed.
According to the group, “Edu only managed to win her ward for the President, while the PDP won in the ward during the Senate and House of Representatives elections, which, incidentally, held on the same day.
This is the scores recorded during the elections as follows: Presidential: APC- 510, PDP- 480, LP- 186. For the senate election, Senate: APC- 536, PDP 597,LP-54. For the House of Reps election, the result was as follows: APC- 528, PDP 605, LP-64″.
“So, from the above result, is there anything to show that Dr Betta Edu delivered the Adadama ward fully to the APC as she has been claiming everywhere?”.
“If she is to be considered, maybe she can be given a slot in Anambra State, But certainly not a slot that is meant for Cross River, the group said”.
