Cross River: Governorship Candidate Hits SDP Executives

Social Democratic Party (SDP) Deputy Governorship candidate in Cross River State, Wofai Ewa, says members of the State Executive Committee of the party who dumped their governorship candidate,  Eyo Ekpo, to endorse Governor Ben Ayade, are scavengers who went to scam the governor.

Ahead of yesterday’s Governorship and state House of Assembly polls, he pleaded with the electorate in the state to ignore any message from those he described as ‘’political contractors and scavengers’’.

According to the obviously angry deputy governorship candidate, his party’s chiefs who rooted for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ‘’are hungry and only after their stomachs, and as such, will do anything to condemn our state for selfish benefits.’’

Ewa urged the peoples of the state to see the SDP executives as hungry people who went to deceive Governor Ayade in what he said was a purported endorsement exercise, adding, ‘’let it be known that these persons cannot even move more than five persons away from the SDP, because all elements of the SDP structure in Cross River, remain loyal to the leader of the party, Eyo Ekpo. We wish them well in their new found hunger-induced relationship, as we wipe the slate clean behind their backs.’’

SDP State Chairman, Ikpi Eni, however, insisted that there was no going back with their deal on Governor Ayade, claiming that the adoption was in line with the decision of the state executive as well as the National Working Committee of the party.

Justifying their decision to adopt Governor Ayade, he said it was an act of a resolution they arrived at as a party, adding that from what they saw, there was nothing sufficient to indicate the seriousness and preparedness of the SDP governorship candidate for the election.

“Despite my repeated demand of his blueprint from his campaign organization, there is nothing to convince us that our party in the state is ready for the election.”

Eni further said the achievements of Governor Ayade were clear to everyone in the state that he deserves a second term, adding that “SDP can only encourage and be part of the generality of Cross Riverians to support his second term bid. And that was contained in our collective action as the state Executive Council to adopt him to run for a second term. The decision is total and collective.”

Director General of the Eyo Ekpo Campaign Organisation, Ambo Ekpenyong, in a statement said his principal cannot and will never be destroyed by a greedy few in SDP who believe that the party was a vehicle solely for conducting mercenary business to betray candidates at the eleventh hour.

According to him, ‘’in the past seven months, and particularly since this electioneering campaign season opened, the SDP Governorship and House of Assembly campaigns in the state have been conducted with utmost decorum and respect for the rules. We have focused totally on presenting our party, our candidates, our manifesto and our execution plan to the people.

‘’The enthusiastic welcome and the loud pleas for us to stay the course to the very end have boosted our conviction that our campaign enjoys popular support. We have no doubt that our campaign is rooted firmly in the minds of our fellow citizens across the State as an endeavour entirely for their benefit.

‘’Therefore, our campaign cannot and will never be destroyed by a greedy few in our party who believe that the party is a vehicle solely for conducting mercenary business to betray candidates at the eleventh hour.’’

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