Gov Otu, Senator Ayade and I – Ogar Eba

• Ex-APC chairman, Cross River State, opens can of worms

By Kenneth Udeh

Former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Alphonsus Ogar Eba, a lawyer, has given insight to the genesis of the deterioration in the relationship between himself and the Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu.

In this interview, he explained the circumstances that led to his exit from the APC, to pitch his tent with the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and his emergence as the deputy governorship candidate of the party.

He also spoke on other relevant national issues.

There are allegations of cross-party coordination with APC candidates in Cross River. What are your thoughts on this?

First, I never sat down with anyone to agree on a strategy to support this or that person. But I know my party did not field any candidate for the Northern Cross River senatorial district. In that situation, it is now left for our party to decide whether to support the candidate of APC or the NDC, ADC candidates. But we have not gotten to that yet. All the five or six House of Assembly seats in Northern Cross River have candidates. We have candidates for two House of Representatives seats in Northern Cross River. I am doing so much to rebuild to the level I can carry at this moment. I will not want to overload myself. We have leaders in other Senatorial Districts. But for the North, I will build alliances that will help us. Tomorrow the alliances may lead to our supporting Senator Jarigbe if we consider it reasonable and wise. A few months ago when I was still the APC State chairman, I received Jarigbe and welcomed him into the party, because I knew that Governor Otu was not going to give Professor Ayade the ticket. I told him that I had strategised on how Professor Ayade could benefit and he, Jarigbe, would also benefit.

What people have come to know about me is that I speak truth to power. On March 15, 2024, I led my entire colleagues to the Villa, where I told the President some very, very truthful things.

I spoke on the insecurity plaguing the whole country; the hunger in the land and the reward system of our party. I talked about how we can succeed. And the President responded very positively.

I will give a complete account of my engagements from legal consultancy for six months in Cross River State between May 29th, 2015 to December 2nd, 2015, and as Director-General of Due Process from December 3 to  September 15, 2021, and then as Chairman of APC from October 16 to the final day that I withdrew on January 15, 2026. Governor Otu must give an account of his three years in office, word for word. Such a demand does not amount to vengeance. Rather, it is accountability, and that is what democracy entails.

Are you committed to the emergence of Senator Sandy Onor as President to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu? How do you reconcile this with the fact that the leader of your party is a cabinet minister in the APC Federal Government? How do you separate these conflicting interests?

Why will I not be committed to what my party wants?

But given the minister’s role, how do you delineate your true political goals?

I have not been told by the national leadership of my party that we should do otherwise. I don’t do anti-party. But don’t forget, I am in the same shoes as the present minister. He holds an appointment under the APC government.

How will you separate your interests?

I still hold an appointment under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Rubber Research Institute. That I did not resign means I am still working to see how the President will succeed. I stand by what I told the leadership of the party when I came in. I said I would prefer a rainbow coalition. When it comes to Mr. President, I will want to be in the PDP to work for the President. I am saying this sincerely because the underdevelopment of Cross River State is not the fault of the President.

From available data, what Governor Otu receives today as statutory allocation is five or six times what Senator Professor Ayade got when he was in office. Even if inflation had so reduced it, it still stands at about three times.

With much lower statutory allocation, Professor Ayade employed or engaged 7,000 people for the “Food on the Table” programme. The number later grew to 30,000+ workers. Governor Otu took office after him and said the programme must be sustained because it was doing a lot for Cross River.

The same Governor Otu reduced the number to 400-plus. Even when I advocated for that number to be raised to 1000, I was held in contempt and ridiculed.

I even suggested to the governor that three persons be selected from each electoral ward, producing about 2000-plus names. He said it should be a template from which names will be taken. The governor made us waste time on the effort. The Deputy Governor, the Chief of Staff, the Special Adviser on Special Duties and myself spent time generating names, to give hope to people who had worked so much for the party, assuring them that they would all get appointments. At the end of the day, he ordered that no person from me or Prof Ayade should be added to the list. 

We are the two most important persons that made him governor. What are you telling Cross Riverians? That you stab people that help you? The records will come out again during the campaign.

Did it not occur to you that maintaining mixed loyalties between the incumbent governor and former governor would put you in a difficult position? No sitting governor wants the loyalty of the state’s party chairman to be divided. Wasn’t that divided stance the real catalyst for your sudden removal?

I was told that was the reason for my removal but I have used different fora to educate people on what is gratitude and what is loyalty. I was 100 per cent loyal to Governor Otu.

But you maintained active alignment with Ben Ayade simultaneously?

There was no leadership contest between Governor Otu and Senator Ayade. There has never been any leadership contest between them.

Let’s look at governance metrics. There is a widespread consensus that Cross River State last witnessed tangible good governance and landmark developments under Governors Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke. Do you subscribe to this view? How do you evaluate the legacy of the Ayade years versus the performance of the current administration?

I was part of Ayade’s government. That narrative is totally wrong. Under Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke, we had a very big opportunity where the state’s balance sheet was so clean, and that was because President Olusegun Obasanjo, on assumption of office, sought the interventions of the London Club and the Paris Club, to clean up the debts of Nigeria. And some of those debts were not just federal government debts; the debts included those accumulated by the state and local governments.

That gave Governor Donald Duke an opportunity to start borrowing to do projects. The government borrowed to execute the Obudu Cattle Ranch and Tinapa projects. They even had to mortgage funds and allocations going to the local government to buy into Tinapa.

We were earning good money from the 76 oil wells. That continued from 1999 through Donald Duke’s tenure till when Liyel took over in 2007, and it ran until the Supreme Court gave its judgment on the 76 oil wells in 2012. This was just two years to the exit of Liyel Imoke.

But even at that they had the opportunity to take loans. Don’t forget the US$75 million African Development Bank (AfDB) loan that Liyel took to do rural roads. So, those things gave them the opportunity to show certain things on the ground.

When Ayade took over in 2015, the moratorium on those debts had already crystallized. Prof Ayade was confronted with repayment of those debts, which were obtained through irrevocable standing payment orders guaranteed by the Federal Government.

Don’t forget there was a period of recession in 2016, and another one between 2019 and 2020 when COVID-19 came and the troubles that came with #EndSARS regime came. In reality, Ayade’s eight years was like seven years.

Ayade had the harshest political climate ever. As at 2019, the PDP he was part of had already decided that he would not go unopposed. He went through rigorous party primaries where Mr. Emmanuel Ibeshi was brought to challenge him within the PDP as a sitting governor. And when we’re just coming out of the crisis that started in 2020, the death of Rose Oko from the Northern Senatorial District, we had a by-election to fill the vacant seat of the House of Representatives. In all of this, Prof Ben Ayade was only weathering the storm and having Lilliputians like us.

That was when I challenged Governor Nyesom Wike, telling him not to meddle in the politics of Cross River State because he was saying that Professor Ayade went with the mandate of Cross River State to APC.

But today I have every reason to say that I am happy for the opportunity to work with Nyesom Wike. He is a good man, a great man.

I was at the 60th birthday ceremony of Senator Sandy Ojang Onor and heard what he said about him, calling him a friend. Wike recalled that when he was Deputy National Chairman of ALGON, Senator Onor helped him become National Chairman of ALGON. He never forgot that little favour Professor Sandy Ojang Onor did to him.

Today I’m so happy to call Professor Sandy my leader in the state, former Rivers State governor and FCT Minister Nyesom Wike my national leader. I pray that God would help me to follow them and never leave them because I have found out that they’re very honest, reliable and dependable people.

I take this opportunity to apologise to both Professor Sandy Ojang Onor and Minister Nyesom Wike for my conduct in the past against them because I was truly, truly hard on them.

Yet, they have shown me that they’re good Christians. They have a forgiving heart. In fact, Professor Sandy told me, “Alphonsus, we know you, you know we are Catholics, and one virtue of Catholicism is forgiveness.” That was why I could forgive the governor too. So I’m not on a vengeance mission, but Cross Riverians are demanding accountability from Senator Bassey Edet Otu today.

This brings us directly to the recent public claim made by Governor Bassey Otu, stating that self-interested individuals attempted to bribe him with N200 billion to let go of the state’s contested oil wells. What is your position on this massive disclosure?

Everything that belongs to Cross River State that has been taken away by anybody, I stand 100 per cent with Mr. Governor, Senator Bassey Edet Otu, to recover all. But in doing so, the governor must be honest enough to lead us through what is correct.

I was once the state chairman of the APC. In a bid by the governor’s media handlers to rubbish me, they brought back one of the birthday messages I sent to the governor two years ago, in which I commended him for recovering the oil well, which he told us about. That was where the confusion came. I said, “I know that my governor has spoken before that he has recovered oil wells. Which oil well did they attempt to bribe to leave?”

I recall a time we were joking, and talked about a 60 billion naira bribe and he rejected it. Which one is this N200 billion? Like I have said in the past, when a governor speaks, people should take it that he is saying the truth.

I have been wondering how much we were getting from the 76 oil wells. I need to know how much the Federal Government is providing as intervention funds. The governor has never given an account of it before. The governor should tell Cross Riverians how much he has received from the Federation Account.

That is governance driven by accountability. And that is why I am supporting Sir Arthur Jarvis because we are almost like we are on oath to tell Cross Riverians the truth on everything. That’s why we say in four years we can change the narrative.

That was why we challenged the governor to tell us the truth. Tell us the people that attempted to bribe him. To make matters worse, they came up to say that the money they rejected, those people are using it to fund some alien people and the opposition.

I am in opposition today. Do you mean that if we say we want you out, you will turn around and accuse me of being funded? In December, the governor had accused me publicly that FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike and Senate President Akpabio were the ones funding me to fight him. It was the reason he was bent on removing me, and see how Wike and Akpabio will save me.

God is my witness. I went before the governor, knelt down and said, “I don’t have any business with Minister Wike on this issue. I don’t have any funding from Senator Akpabio to fight you. I can’t do that.” Against my biblical belief, I had to swear to the governor even when the Bible said don’t swear. I swore with the life of myself, my wife, and children that I value so much, with my mother, with my whole family. I even had to swear with the name of my late father and say if I have any such connection, God should strike me dead as I was leaving the governor’s house that day. I knelt down, the governor’s ADC was there. I lay flat on the ground and begged the governor not to destroy my name which I cherish.

Still on the issue of funds, I earned only N2 million and had imprest of N2 million to cover the cost of official trips around the country.

The governor had promised to fund the office with N10 million, which he did only once. So, I am shocked that he claimed he gave me N60 million when the record shows N50 million and what got to my office was N49 million after deduction of the authorized N1 million COT. He told his fellow governors that he gave me N60 million. He also told the APC national secretary that he gave me N60 million. So, I printed the statement of account of the party and went to the National Legal Adviser’s office with my colleagues, to show it to him. I sent copies to everybody, for them to see the account statement of the party. I never collected cash. All funds released came into the account.

I told them that if the governor could provide evidence of the N60 million that he claimed to give me, I would resign immediately and publicly apologise to him. I even said that I would even face execution by firing squad. I want Cross Riverians to know between me and the governor who is a liar. These are the issues that are going to take place. I am ready to open to give account. The governor must also come and give account. These are the issues now.

Ordinary youths of Cross River State need sustainable employment, security, improved education, and strong agricultural policies.  As PDP deputy governorship candidate, what specific blueprint do you have to revitalise the state’s economy, improve healthcare, and restore Cross River as a prime tourism destination?

As I have said, it will be the administration of Sir Arthur Jarvis and he has a clear blueprint. But my joy is that it aligns with what Cross Riverians and myself want.

First, Section 14 Subsection 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria talks about welfare and security of the people as the primary responsibility of the government. On welfare, there is a focus on job opportunities, good living condition, gainful employment. We will push for security of life, energy security, food security, and social security.

Still on welfare, that man who suffered to train the child in school wants the child to get paid employment, and then take care of him or her at old age.

So, we value the lives of Cross Riverian, and want them to have a gainful job, acquire useful skill, or to have some benefits while preparing for jobs. And that comes to the model Professor Ayade brought into the state: that while you have food on the table, your hands should be on the plow.

Under Professor Ayade, my wife started the business of selling palm oil, while I started livestock and other farming like rice, yam, cassava, beans, and then I started growing oil palm. I delved into ogbono, which I planted. I live in my oil palm orchard. The other side of my house is ogbono tree farm. I keep cattle on five hectares of land. I have native cows. The goats did not do well, I had to stop. Today, I have one of the largest herds of cattle in the area.

Why am I saying this? Professor Ayade guided us. He said: “This salary you are taking is not much. But if you put your hands on the plough and start something, it will give you another window of earning revenue.