Africa

 THE“Ejagham Federation”, which represents a large ethnic group in Cross River, has thrown its weight behind Sen. Bassey Otu, the All Progressive Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the state.

Mr Hilliard Eta, a former Acting National Chairman of APC, disclosed this while reading the communique at the end of the delegates meeting on Thursday in Calabar.

Eta explained that the decision on Otu for the position of governor was because it was time for power to return to Cross River South.

According to him, the state has been practicing power rotation since 1999, and the system had stabilized the state.

“Following the principle of rotation of the office of governor, and taking into consideration that the three senatorial zones have all produced governors, it is now the time of the South to produce the next governor.

“It is only just, fair and proper to give the south an unchallenging opportunity to produce the next governor of the state.

“We the entire Ejagham people of North, Central and Southern Cross River cannot sacrifice the political future of Southern Ejagham which is tied to other ethnic groups in the south.

“The Ejagham Federation fully supports the principle of zoning and the rotation of positions at all levels, and the back to South movement.

“We support totally the legitimate back to south clamour by Gov. Ben Ayade and the generality of Cross River residents and the candidacy of Sen. Otu for election as governor of Cross River,” he said.

Speaking earlier, former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, stressed the need to maintain justice, fairness and equitable rotation of power across the three senatorial districts of the state.

He said that no single tribe in Cross River has the monopoly to decide where power goes to, hence politicians in the state should shun tribal and ethnic campaigns. (NAN)

E.C

Tags: