Imoke Confident in PDP’s Ability to Regain C’River in 2023

*Told Ayade His Popularity Will Erode From First Day in Office

Former Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed confidence in the ability of his party to regain control of the state in 2023 from the All Progressives Congress (APC), which became the ruling party since the recent defection of Governor Ben Ayade to the APC.

The PDP had an unbroken reign of 21 years in Cross River State between 1999 and May, 2021 when Ayade joined the APC.

Ayade who previously served as a Senator between 2011 and 2015 was a member of the PDP until he defected to the APC last month.

Fielding questions from THISDAY, Imoke maintained that Cross River State, “has a history of being a PDP state.”

Making a veiled reference to Akwa Ibom and Rivers states where their former assumedly influential governors, Senator Godswill Akpabio and Mr. Rotimi Amaechi respectively could not convince the majority of the electorates in their states to move with them from the PDP to the APC, Imoke said, “in the past, you would see that states that have that type of strength irrespective of a defection tend at all times to remain strong. There’s a reason for that. What you perceive as power will determine how you lead. If you perceive power to be a political party, then you will be moving from one political party to another but if you understand that power ultimately is the people and that it belongs to the people, you will appreciate that it is not about the party.”

According to the former governor, “Cross River State has always been about the people and I think we still remain about the people; so the party has endeared itself to the people and as such a movement by the governor does not of its own translate to the people moving into another political party, because they have already identified strongly with the party – the PDP. It is sort of like what you have in the United States and other countries where there are strongholds; a state like California, it is defined as a Democratic stronghold. Cross River State is a PDP stronghold.”

Dislodging the PDP completely from Cross River State in the estimation of Imoke is near impossible. “The truth is that they have an uphill task to remove the PDP in Cross River State.”

Imoke who ruled Cross River State for eight years between 2007 and 2015 supritended over the electoral process that produced Ayade as the PDP governorship candidate, who eventually won in the general election and was sworn in as governor of the state in 2015 refused to see Ayade’s departure from the PDP as a betrayal or a regrettable error on his part.

He explained, “I don’t have any regrets; as I said, the only authority that has the benefit of hindsight is God. So you can’t say I regret or I don’t regret, no; certainly not. At the time when Ayade contested for the governorship, we gave him all our support. He would not have been governor without our building a consensus and without the party taking him to the people and the electorate to solicit for their support. So when he emerged through a rigorous state-wide internal party caucus selection process through the 18 local government areas, we believed that the people had made their choice. We believed he was the right man for the job at that time and I think he came out and appealed to Cross Riverians across the 18 local government areas. It wasn’t a pronouncement; it wasn’t a dictatorial imposition. He went through a very lengthy and hectic process of campaigning, of reaching out to the people and enjoying their support. So, we can’t say we regret that if we are honest. What we’ll say is yes, at that time, he enjoyed the popular support of the party and of course ultimately the people. I remember telling him on the day he was sworn in that his popularity would begin to erode from his first day in office but how fast it would happen depended on him. It’s always the case with elected leaders.”

Urging members of the PDP and elected officials on the party’s to remain steadfast, Imoke suggested that Ayade’s heart and soul have not been fully integrated into the APC. He noted, “I haven’t seen Governor Ayade hold a broom; but I have always imagined in my head that Ben would look at the broom once or twice before he holds it. Because in all honesty, even that is alien to him. To the people of Cross River I say: stand firm, we are PDP, we are committed, we are resolute, we are a grassroots party and we are sufficiently strong. I want to commend the strength and the will of the people who said listen, we are not going, PDP is our party, we will remain here. You have members of the state executive council, we have members of the state assembly, of course the National Assembly members, we have party chairmen, leaders in our state, all of them standing resolute for the party that they know they belong to. That movement did not have the expected effect. The perception, that Cross River State has become an APC state has clearly been debunked by the fact that a good number of people stood firm. And even amongst those who have moved, there’s something that we say “you can move but don’t join”. So even amongst those who have moved, we know that they have moved but they have not joined. And I think that there will be opportunity for everybody to reassess the situation going into 2023 and come back together again, and again do what they have always done. I will never take the credit as leader for the work that they do, I believe that they are standing firm, they are committed, they are resolute and indeed they know that by the Grace of God come 2023, PDP will be Cross River and Cross River will remain PDP.”