Our newsroom called the State APC Chairman, he requested a physical meeting but did not say when.
By Our Reporter
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Cross River State Chairman, Alphonsus Ogar Eba has been urged to resign following an alleged woeful outing of the party in the just concluded rerun election in the Northern Senatorial District.
The resignation call was made by an APC group, Northern Cross River Reconciliation Movement during her meeting in Calabar, the state capital over the weekend.
The group recalled “the disastrous performance of the party in 2023 where he lost his immediate polling units, ward, local government, and senatorial district where he hails from,” Bernard Ingio, Chairman of the group stated in a press statement made available to our newsroom.
The group said, “It is unheard of that the State Chairman of a Party would openly canvass for a vote for an opponent and after supporting him to win raise his hand to celebrate his victory”.
Northern Cross River Reconciliation Movement in the statement said the State APC Chairman in 2023 did not only betray the party but Senator Ben Ayade and other APC candidates who contested the election in the district by not only shamefacedly losing the polling units in his area but also losing the ward, local government and district which is unacceptable for a State Chairman of a party like the APC.
The group quoted some of the results in the Echemofana ward where the State Chairman comes from which “he ought to have won effortlessly going by the enormous resources handed over to him but failed disastrously.
“The results of his polling unit during the Presidential and National Assembly elections leaves no one in doubt that the Governor and Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate of the party (as at then) were betrayed by Eba who posted ridiculously low figures for them in the election.
“Below are the abysmal results in Eba’s immediate catchment area which show woeful loss by the APC to the PDP and LP in the Presidential and Senatorial elections.
“In the Presidential election at Igbeku Comprehensive Secondary School (013), APC got 115 votes while LP scored a whooping 178 votes. At Akreha Health Centre unit (015), APC had 49 votes while LP scored 128 votes. It was the same story at the third polling unit, Playground Echemofana, Etiekpo unit (005) APC had 91 votes recorded for it while LP polled 139. At unit 004, Igbeku Comprehensive Secondary School APC had just 70 votes while LP scored 83 votes. At Playground Echiakpo, APC 111 votes while LP got 134 votes.
“In the House of Representatives election, it was the same story of woeful performance recorded against the APC in the immediate polling units of the party’s Chairman: Akreha Health Centre unit (015), APC got 71 votes while PDP went home with 109 votes, and at Playground Oloko Ipuole Street, (008) PDP had 92 while APC 88 votes. At Playground Echiakpu (002), PDP had 138 votes and APC 133 votes.
“In the Senate race contested by His Excellency, Senator Ben Ayade, the result in Echemofana was tear-inducing as the APC performed disastrously. For example, at Igbeku Comprehensive Secondary School, (004) APC had 82 and PDP 88.
“Also at Etiekpo Playground PDP had a whooping 182 and APC 119 votes. At Primary School Echemofana PDP polled 135 votes and APC could only manage 118 votes. The same scenario played out at Playground Oloko (008) where PDP got 98 votes and APC 91. At Akreha Health Centre (015) PDP had 109 while APC came far behind with 75 votes. At Ipuole Ekprinyi (016) PDP led with 68 votes while APC 63.”
According to the APC group, “Apparently, the performance of the APC was shameful and fell far short of expectations considering the huge resources at the disposal of the State Chairman. It is questionable to talk about anti-party by claiming that those who did not win their polling units did anti-party. Hon. Cynthia Nkasi who was APC candidate for the House of Assembly also lost her polling unit, Wanudu to PDP by a wide margin. If others who lost polling units are accused of anti-party, she is culpable.
“The group stressed that Mr. Eba ought to have resigned without any prompting judging by the overall results of the election in the Northern Senatorial District where the party he superintends lost the Senate post, two House of Representatives seats, four State House of Assembly positions making it the only district to suffer such humiliation and where incidentally Mr. Eba is from.
“If you look at the results from Yache Ward where Dr. Stephen Odey comes from and Echemofana ward where the State Chairman comes from, you will see a marked difference because Odey swept the polls in both the Presidential and Senate ballots while Eba lost completely, what then gives him the onus to continue to remain State Chairman of our great party.
“We call on Mr. Eba to resign before he plunges our great party into more misfortunes and shame. We have tolerated his rapacity and ineptitude enough. The decision of the State Exco of the Party to pass a Vote-of-Confidence on a State Party Chairman who failed to win any election in his zone of immediate impact is not only unfortunate but a reinforcement of failure that should not be contemplated.”
Our newsroom called the State APC Chairman, he requested a physical meeting but did not say when.
TheInvestigator has followed up with him, a date is yet to be gotten.