Mass Defection From PDP To ACN In Cross River

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cAt least five members of the Cross River State House of Assembly have moved to the  Action Congress of Nigeria to actualise their ambition to contest elections in  April, 2011.

The defection of the Assembly members, who said they were marginalised by the PDP  leadership in the state, is coming on the heels of the acrimonious primaries  conducted between January 3rd and 7th to elect candidates for the House of Assembly,  House of Representatives, and the Senate.

Those who have indicated interest to run the elections on the platform of the Action  Congress of Nigeria include: Mom Olom (Yala 11), Dominic Oqua Edem (Bakassi), Alex  Ebu (Boki 11), Esther Ayomobi (Yakurr 11) and Orok Duke (Calabar South 1).

These members, who are aggrieved that they lost their PDP tickets to “green horns”  are teaming up with Senator Matthew Mbu, scion of Dr Matthew Mbu Nigeria ’s first  Ambassador to the United Kingdom , who is angling to wrest power from Imoke on the  platform of the ACN in April, 2011.

Already, other contestants to the Senate and House of Representatives who lost in  their bid to secure the PDP ticket have joined the Action Congress of Nigeria. These  are Patrick Iwara (Central) Barister Ashipel (North) and Senator Bassey Ewa (South).

The defection of these PDP stalwarts has rattled Governor Liyel Imoke who has  scheduled a meeting of the Assembly members with him for 8 pm on Sunday at the  Pergrino Lodge, his house.

A text message sent by Ntufam Okon, the Clerk of the House asked all members of the  Assembly to attend the meeting on time as “crucial issues will be discussed”.

“For the past four years, we have not had more than two meetings with the governor;  he hardly sees us as important players in the political game. Now that he is facing  tough time, he is calling us for am meeting.  We shall see what he has to say,” a  member of the House of Assembly told P.M.NEWS in Calabar.

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The member said the state’s 2011 Budget would not be passed until Imoke “sees red as  the Accountant General of the state has already refused to release any money outside  salaries until the budget is passed.”

The PDP in the state is going through a very tough time following the rejection of  the list of candidates sent to Abuja by the party. The names of candidates sent have  been rejected and the INEC form 1A given to other party candidates in the state have  not been given to the PDP in the state.

This follows the rejection of the primaries by the Resident Electoral Commissioner  in the state , Mr Michael Igini who said the party did not conduct primaries as  stipulated by the Electoral Act.

“Only the governor has been given the form in the state because his election was by  acclamation, even if only four persons had moved a motion, he still would have been  returned. The voting that they did that day was not necessary. For other posts, the  party may eventually not have candidates,” an INEC staff who said he has no  authority to speak told P.M.NEWS.

Mr Cletus Obun , the Action Congress chairman in the state said the party was  expecting more PDP discontented members to join his party.

“In the next twenty four hours, I shall tell you authoritatively the number of those  who are with us. But for now, we have quite a number of them,” he said.

—Emma Una/ Calabar

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