March 06, (THEWILL) – The Cross River State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alphonsus Ogar Eba, speaks with BASSEY ANIEKAN about his plans for the party and the potential benefit of his position in the party to Cross River. Excerpts:
You were recently inaugurated as a member of the Cross River State Executive Committee of the APC. How do you feel about your new position?
Let me use this opportunity to thank God Almighty for making this day again a reality for us. Again special thanks to His Excellency, the Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade and all members of the All Progressives Congress, who in their kindness and magnanimity gave us overwhelming support on October 16, 2021.
You would recall that from that day, we all became elected officials for our respective offices, but we lacked the legal and constitutional powers to act in accordance with this constitution. So, whatever we have been doing overtime is just like testing the microphone, but on February 3, 2022, I was clothed with the constitutional and legal powers to take over the full functions and duty of this office and by the mandate given to me on that day, I have inaugurated the remaining 35 members of the state executive committee.
What’s your charge to the 35 other members of the Cross River State executive committee of the APC?
The simple charge I have given to them is to learn to love one another. As a Christian, I hold sanctimoniously to the Holy Bible. Muslims among us hold sanctimoniously to the Koran. The third religion that has come to exist in a very administrative form is the APC religion. You know both Islam and Christianity preach peace and today. APC is preaching peace, love, unity and growth. So it is coming like a religion. One of the letters in this PLUG mantra, which is Peace, Love, Unity and Growth is love.
If we go to the field while others are preaching hatred and we are preaching love, peace, unity, people will see the difference between us and our other brothers and sisters in the other party. So, take your work very serious. I came to this office with the training of due process and we are bringing due process to run the affairs of this party.
Beside your PLUG agenda, which you earlier unveiled, what will be the directing principle of your administration?
Discipline is going to be our watchword. We lost elections in Abuja few days ago because of indiscipline. There will be no room for indiscipline in the party under my watch and that is the message I have passed to the people. Hard work, loyalty and honesty will be the order of the day as the fundamental objective and directing principle in the running of the party. The message is clear to all the persons that we have today inaugurated.
How are you going to achieve this, considering the fact that in the past excos have been torn apart by discord?
I sit down here as a man you all know is enjoying the grace of God, the first political evangelist in the world and I know that when the children of God are gathered the devil will always try to come in, but with God on our side, the devil will try and fail. I will carry this family as my own. I will be open to them. I know that what spoils the leadership of every party is corruption and indiscipline. It is when the man in charge becomes arrogant overnight. I was born humble and will remain humble, fair, just and provide a broad shoulder for every member of my exco to lean on. I am sure that if I do this and with God’s grace on my side, I will not have that problem which you are afraid of.
We have heard some politicians say that they will be matching pound for pounds and dollar for dollar in future elections in the state. Are you also going to toe this line?
That is the language you hear on the other side which is the Papa Deceive Pikin Party. What they think is that money plays a role in politics. We are saying that the people matter and that is why we have always been with the people. Governor Ayade came from day one and started a sustainable human-centred development paradigm that is pro-people, pro-poor, pro-women, pro-nature and pro-widows. Today, we have an amalgam of over 7,000 appointees at the state level earning income. We have over 20,000 people at the local government level and I recently concluded arrangement on how to bring another 32,000 persons from the entire polling unit structures that I have put in place with 10 from each polling unit times the 3,200 polling units that will be earning salaries. So, you can see that the structure is always about the people.
But people are still claiming to be hungry
You can never satisfy everybody. Even after the children of Israel were liberated, they could not withstand hunger until manna had to fall from heaven. Manna is still falling in Cross River State.
Governor Ben Ayade is rumoured to be interested in the presidency, come 2023. What is your take on this?
He has not said so, but I have told people that Nigerians should be looking forward to the best material for presidency in the person of Senator Ben Ayade. You can allude to that, with all the magical works he has been doing and his lean resources.
What is your final message for the electorate as we warm up to future elections in the state?
The message is very simple: We have come to appeal to the people that Cross River State is APC and our future is better off with the APC. Don’t forget that the presidency has pledged its commitment to the deep-sea port and the super highway and I should be going to a NEC meeting to enforce that because I will be going with the pride to say that Cross River State is APC, so give us our due. For the first time the state is earning money from what it is producing under Governor Ayade’s watch. Cross River has about 30 industries. Now you can see toothpicks from Ekuri. Under the PDP government, they said we cannot produce pencils and toothpicks. Go to Akamkpa you have the Piles and Pilon. Come to Calabar you have Rice city, pharmaceuticals and noodles. The number keeps increasing, all thanks to Governor Ben Ayade.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
