The Broom Revolution in Cross River

On May 20, 2021, Governor Ben Ayade took the pragmatic decision to “socket” Cross River State to the central government by switching allegiance from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

That decision did not bring down heaven but it raised dust, reconfigured for good the political firmament of Cross River, provoked mass movement and signposted permanent retirement of politicians who hitherto determined the tenor of politics in the state.

Ayade is a refined politician who is not given to political fisticuffs. His political creed, ‘Politics with Ethics’ does not allow for pettiness in the name of politics.

Therefore, whether in Cross River or in the larger national polity, the state governor has no enemies to fight, to borrow from former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Truth is, Ayade and the APC are not in competition with any party or political figure in Cross River, real or imagined, because verifiable evidence on the ground clearly shows that such party or politicians now only exist on the pages of newspapers, social media platforms and electronic media news bulletins having been retired by the current political realities.

Ayade and the APC are now the main embodiment of politics and political leadership in Cross River. This is an indisputable fact. Ayade’s exit from the PDP has narrowed the party to the confinement of a few yesterday’s men.

For the records, the taunted political wizardry of the so-called three wise men has been severely eviscerated. It will be difficult if not outrightly impossible for them to further influence the future direction of politics in the state. Keen followers of Cross River politics can check this out: Former Governor Donald Duke’s political relevance has since dwindled. In 2019, he contested the presidential election and got only six votes in the polling unit in front of his house, he was roundly defeated.

In 2019, the only federal constituency that PDP lost to the APC even when Ayade was in PDP was the Abi Federal Constituency, the home constituency of former governor, Liyel Imoke. So, Imoke’s political strength which earned him the name, Avatar, in the opinion of many, is now questionable.

In the southern senatorial district of the state, Prince Bassey Otu, popularly known as Sweet Prince, is more popular than Gershom Bassey, the incumbent senator and one of the tripods of the troika. In the central senatorial district of the state, APC boasts of heavyweights like Senator Owan Enoh, former Senate Majority leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, Obon Obla, former Niger-Delta Minister, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, Alex Egbona of the House of Reps, Bolaji Anani, Barrister Chris Agara, among others.

And in the North, Ayade’s home senatorial district which he once represented in the Senate, the governor is in absolute control. The Jarigbe-Odey debacle which ended in the former’s favour and which some people have been citing as evidence of PDP’s resurgence was a product of unimaginable dark litigation. It cannot be a barometer to measure a political party’s popularity or relevance.

In today’s Cross River, Ayade has brought to bear on it an unprecedented mass movement, a broom revolution that has planted APC in every nook and cranny of the state.

His policy of food on the table appointment also means he has an army of followers. There is no family in Cross River, no kindred and no village that does not have at least one of their sons or daughters as an appointee in the Ayade government. Under such circumstances, no one expects such appointees and those who depend on them for survival, not to key into the political direction of the man who puts food on their table.

His superlative achievements, especially in the areas of industrialisation and infrastructure as well as youth empowerment and job creation, also speak loudly for him, prompting thousands of youths to willingly register as APC members in solidarity and appreciation.

Cross River monarchs, speaking through their leader, Chairman of state’s Traditional Ruler’s Council, His Royal Highness, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, are also solidly in support Governor Ayade’s defection to the APC: “It is our believe that God wants to do something out of this for two reasons: old things must pass away and old things must become new

“Past Governors of this state have always admonished us to follow the leader and in this state, the leader is the Governor. So nobody should tell us otherwise now that it is Ayade’s turn.”

Chidi Onyemaizu, Senior Special Assistant on Print Media to Gov. Ayade