Opposition parties
in Cross River State will not participate in the forthcoming elections
if the state Resident Electoral Commissioner [REC], Mr. Mike Igini, is
redeployed, as demanded by the People’s Democratic Party [PDP] .
Secondly, members
of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties [CNPP], which
constitute the opposition in the state, will boycott the April general
election should the Independent National Electoral Commission [INEC] go
ahead to honour the list of candidates presented by the ruling party
for the said elections after it [INEC] had berated the PDP for not
following the rules in electing its candidates during the primaries.
The opposition in
the state is convinced that the PDP did not follow due process in
electing its candidates, despite being advised by INEC to do so. But
the time to conduct ward congresses to elect delegates who in turn will
elect candidates of the various political parties has since elapsed.
Thus, the party in
power in Calabar, the state capital, is hemmed in today by a hostile
opposition and an unsympathetic electoral body that wants all the
parties taking part in the April polls to play by the rules, as it is
not ready to allow political parties cut corners as in the past.
Chairman of CNPP in
the state, Cletus Obun, said they were all watching to see how INEC,
whose instruction was flouted by the ruling party, will turn round to
honour a list of candidates forwarded by the same party, and promised
to fight any such injustice with all his strength.
According to him,
the moment INEC gives PDP candidates a clean bill of health, it will
become obvious that the supervisor in chief has compromised, hence the
elections will no more be free and fair as promised, adding that the
opposition will then see the writing on the wall and stay off such a
sham arrangement.
He blamed the PDP
in the state for being above the law whenever elections were around the
corner, alleging that the party was living its tradition of first being
a conclave, later garrison command, and now franchise, a development he
described as unfortunate for Nigeria’s new found democracy.
“The PDP is not
comfortable with the activist in the state’s resident electoral
commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini, and has been doing everything to
frustrate him, including calling for his redeployment. If he is
redeployed, members of the CNPP will boycott the election as the right
thing will no more be done.
“The PDP did not
follow the advice of the resident electoral commissioner to cancel its
purported primaries by having delegates duly elected from ward
congresses to qualify to vote in the primaries. Other parties who
flouted this rule heeded INEC’s advice by doing the right thing.
“Cross River State
is today comatose in the gutter of governance. Nothing is working again
in the state. The sing-song now is ceding of 76 oil wells, yet there
are states in his country that do not benefit from oil derivation and
are doing well. Salaries are not paid on time and no new project has
been initiated by the Liyel Imoke government since 2008.
“Public health
institutions are on strike for over two months now. Ditto for the state
owned university [CRUTECH] whose academic and non-academic staff have
downed tools since October last year.Yet, this is a government that
prides itself as having the best health policy and university. It is a
pity that Cross River, which sees itself a tourism hub, has no
functional health facility to take care of tourists,” Mr. Obun said.
