Ben Ayade, the governor of Cross River state is making plans to dump the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). This was stated in a report by Thisday.
The newspaper noted that the governor’s move follows his loss of control of the PDP structures in the state to members of the party in the National Assembly during the recently conducted congress.
The PDP leadership has reportedly mobilized Tambuwal, Obaseki, and Saraki to stop Governor Ayade’s alleged planned defection.
It was gathered that all the 18 LGA chairmen and the 196 councilors in the south-south state are loyal to Governor Ayade and they have threatened to follow the governor should he decide to join another party.
To avert the impending mass defection, the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) has mobilized Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state and Godwin Obaseki of Edo state and the party’s reconciliation committee headed by a former president of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to persuade Governor Ayade to rethink his plans.
However, the LGA chairmen and the councilors told the NWC that the way to avert the defection is to conduct fresh transparent congresses at all levels in the state.
The chairman of the Calabar Municipal Council, Effiong Eke, reportedly told journalists after a meeting with the NWC that they demanded a fresh state congress to guarantee the return of party structures to Governor Ayade.
He said: “The governor is the leader of the party in the state. He should be given control of the party structures and this can only be done with a fresh congress. “We are demanding a fresh congress. If not, where the governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, goes, we will go with him.
He is the leader of the party in the state.” Meanwhile, another report by The Nation states that there are speculations that Governor Ayade and some of his colleagues from other states are plotting to join the APC.
The report noted that the Cross River state governor and others mentioned in the alleged defection plans have not dismissed the speculation even as it has continued to gain traction in the media space.
