Cross River 2015: Why PDP is in trouble – Ambassador Abang, ex-PDP boss

Ambassador Soni Abang, a two-time chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Cross River State in this interview responds to questions on the crisis that has recently bestirred the party in the state. Excerpts:
What is your reaction to allegations of a power tussle between Abuja based politicians and those based in your state?
It is a new development. I was persuaded in 2001 to resign my position as a local government chairman in order to head the party in the state as chairman. When I took over the leadership of the party, PDP was not the dominant party then in the state.
The opposition, All Progressives Party (APP) had the majority in the State House of Assembly with 13 members and it produced the Speaker then. Governor Donald Duke of the PDP, had just 10 members in the House. That was the situation when I became the state chairman of the party in 2001.
By 2003, the arrangement changed. Majority of the opposition members of the House, defected to the PDP through my intervention and by the time we were getting Duke back for a second term, PDP had an absolute control of the House with 25 members.
At the National Assembly, when we started in 1999, we had just three APP members in the House of Representatives with only Senator Ita Giwa in the Senate.
But by 2004, everybody had become PDP. We were able to build a political family into a very cohesive unit.
By 2008, those who came to the National Assembly and even those who ran for governorship, if I am to quote correctly, I don’t think there is anyone that spent over N2 million to go to House of Representatives or N5 million to go to Senate.
I am not sure that anybody even spent up to N200 million to become governor of Cross River State as at 2008. That was exactly how it used to be. If the PDP family in Cross River State is willing to call some people Abuja-based politicians, and see others as Cross River-based politicians, then, there is a fundamental problem.
Can we still say that Cross River is still a core PDP state at the moment?
If we go to the 2015 election with the way things are, I am not too sure that the PDP will have a good outing in the state.
The present leadership did not emerge through the same process that brought us in.
As a serving local government chairman, it was a consensus among all the party leaders that I should come and head the party. It was not the decision of one individual but today, the choice of the state chairmanship, was the decision of one or two persons. They wanted somebody, who will just be there to do their bidding. The state chairman, everybody knows, is a civil servant who just retired.
As one of the chieftains of the party in the state who had seen the implication of such actions, what did you do to prevent it?
As I speak with you, I have not interacted with the leader of my party in the state for about two years now because we have issues; we have disagreements. That is the truth.
So, what went wrong at the ward congresses of the party in Cross River?
What went wrong is the outcome of one singular intention, which is imposition! Somebody wants to impose candidates. How do they want to achieve this? I read an interview granted by my former deputy who said there were 588 delegates expected from Cross River State from the conduct of the ad-hoc election. Cross River State Party leadership bought 600 forms.
That means that there would be no contest! Before then, we learnt that they had compiled the list of those who would be delegates about six months ago. Government appointees and the hand-picked caucus leaders who we don’t know, sat down to determine who will make the list.
What is the role of the state governor in all these being the leader of the party in the state?
Well, the governor is the leader of the party, he will get the glory if Cross River state is managed properly. He will also take the blame if anything happens negatively in the state.
Talking about the Senate Leader returning alongside the Senate President and others, by assessment, the Senate Leader has done very well.
Common sense and equity demand that the man should be given another opportunity to continue his good works. Again, his candidature is being reinforced by what we hear that his party thinks he should go back. He has done well and the presidency feels that he should also return.
There are insinuations that the state government is supporting a serving member of the House of Representatives to take over from the Senate leader.
It is not possible, the state will lose out if that happens because it doesn’t add up. The governor has not been able to convince some of us, the reason why he is doing what he is doing.
We don’t understand it. Even if it comes to call the mathematics of political games, it still doesn’t add up. For instance, Hon. Ewan Enoh, is from Etung local government area with about 20, 000 votes while Senator Ndoma – Egba is from Ikom local government area with about 67, 000 votes.
Even if you weigh the two figures, it doesn’t add up.
I also heard that the governor was advocating the rotation of the senatorial seat among the federal constituencies. I find it hard to swallow.
Where a senatorial district would be reduced to a federal constituency for the purpose of zoning. Nobody can change the composition of a senatorial district except if the person would change the constitution. That one does not make sense to me at all. Now, in the interest of Cross River state, its better we put our house together and forget about all these things.
Why is it that it was the same party that is in opposition to itself in the state?
It happens. That is politics. Let me give you another bombshell. If you look at the PDP leadership in Cross River State today, those who are PDP original are all outside.
Those who constitute the leadership today are people who had been in the opposition up till one year ago. Those are the people recruited to take the place of founding members and leaders of the party in the state. They are the ones taking decisions and hence subjected the former leaders to become opposition.
Are you aware of any issue involving the Senate leader and Governor Imoke in the past which could be the cause this current crisis in the state?
To the best of my knowledge, the Senate Leader is one man, who has been wonderfully supporting the governor.
I am talking about support that goes beyond reason. I have made many attempts to see the governor. I had sent text messages to him when he wouldn’t pick my calls. As at last week, I sent him a text that he was opening up battles on too many fronts and that enough is enough. I told him I want to talk to him, up till now, he has not called me.
The Senate Leader is the first politician that I know who had held offices without building structures. He had never taken his ambition, personal either. Any time he has to come back to the Senate, it is because some of us feel that he deserved it. He is an establishment person to the core.