APC Stakeholders in Cross River State lament their non-inclusion in party positions

Some All Progressives Congress, APC, leaders in Cross River State have continued to bemoan their exclusion from party positions.

Since Governor Ben Ayade’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the APC on May 20, 2021, those who followed him to the APC have overwhelmingly dominated the party, to the detriment of older members.

The absence of former national vice chairman of the party for South-South, Ntufam Hilliard Etta, and other party leaders, according to stakeholders, was particularly concerning.

They insisted that Eta could not continue to be the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s, contact person in Cross River State while being sidelined and kept in the dark about the party’s election matters in the state.

According to the party’s stalwarts, there is a high level of disaffection.

During an interview in Calabar, two party stalwarts, Prof Enoh and former State vice chairman for Cross River Central, Chief Cletus Obun, made this observation.

They claimed that the APC in the state had become “highly fragmented,” which was evident during the Thank You Tour.

According to them, there was an “overwhelming preponderance of the old over new APC members” during the tour.

They emphasized that sidelining and failing to appoint older members to significant positions was detrimental to the Party’s health and upcoming campaigns.

“We want to express our concerns about inactivity following the tour and the possibility of entering electioneering campaigns with no old members.”

“Old members of the Party believe they have been kept in the dark.”

“Membership on the Central Planning Committee continues to have the same slant,” they said.

Enoh warned that before the new members arrived, there were men and women who held the forte and needed to be “made active at every stage of our activities going forward.”