Follow Us on Google
From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
With momentum building up as the country looks forward to the 2027 General Elections, the immediate past chairman of the Cross River State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barrister Alphonsus Ogar Elba, has spoken out on relevant national issues and particularly about Cross River State.
You served as the State Chairman of the APC for over four years, but you are running as the PDP deputy governorship candidate. What exactly triggered your departure from the APC to return to your former party?
I joined the APC on June 5, 2021’ but before then I was in the PDP right from inception in 1999, where I was for 22 years. I left APC on May 7, 2026. And I recall the bad omen that greeted my movement into APC. And today, I want to use this opportunity again to thank God for the journey. It was tortuous, pleasant, challenging, but like the Book of Ecclesiastes will say, “Better be the end of a thing than the beginning.” All’s well that ends well.
In answer to your question, I did not leave the APC. I was pushed out. Majority of my colleagues told me that the system was no longer wanted. One of them said to me, “Sir, the Chief of Staff to the Governor has called them to say that the system no longer wants me.” And when I heard this, I tried to confront the Chief of Staff. He denied.
The messages are all there. At the appropriate time, when they deny, our chats and messages will come, but this is just preliminary, and I am putting them on notice to know that whatever transpired because I will only speak to the truth, I will speak to facts, I have nothing to lose. After all, I am no longer in the APC. They sent me out. APC had a meeting at the state level, and from what I gathered from my colleagues, they were instigated by the system at least, specifically, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Emmanuel Ironbar, though he denied through various messages that he was not part of it. And when I went to the governor and mentioned it, even though he denied, I still mentioned it to him. I went to the wife of the governor.
So what exactly triggered your problem with the current governor?
I got to know from the rumours around, that they said I was loyal to Prof Ben Ayade, the former governor. The former honoured an invitation that brought to the state after he had not been to the state for a long time. The stakeholders wanted to host and give him proper reception. I met with the governor to discuss this with him. The governor, Prince Bassey Edet Otu, gave his approval.
I later learnt that the reception was the crime I committed. They said that I gave so much prominence to the former governor. I don’t see how that would have been any civil wrong or a criminal offense. And if I were to do that today again, I would do it a hundred times, because that would be to appreciate a good man.
On May 29, 2023, the man left the scene and I was working with the present governor till October 16, 2025. The National Working Committee had extended our tenure, which was to run till March. But before then, the powers that be led by Governor Otu, asked that I be removed as chairman.
I challenged it in court. The court gave an order stating that nothing should happen to my seat.
But the party ignored it and did what they wanted. I got several appeals from two former governors, friends, some justices and even my wife. And I had to honour those appeals and go on my own unconditionally. I filed a notice of discontinuance in court.
What followed after you withdrew the court case?
I came under pressure from my major supporters who believe in me. They needed a place to move on. My people asked if I still wanted to remain in APC. They heard rumour that the governor’s people said I had been politically buried 100 feet deep and I would never come up again. I responded, “Don’t worry, they are not God.”
At the appropriate time, God bought the key leaders of the People’s Democratic Party in the state, who reached out to me. They said, “We have found something in you. Come and join us in PDP. You have a lot to offer Cross Riverians.” And I prayed over it. I’m so happy that when I had no place to go to again, these good leaders stretched their hands to me. I was happy to make that decision. I withdrew from APC membership and made sure I communicated to the National Working Committee of the APC and said they should remove my name from the party’s register, having become a registered member in PDP. I didn’t want to go against the provision of Section 77 of the Electoral Act, which is against double membership in two different political parties.
Considering your entry into the PDP and your nomination as the deputy governorship candidate, political observers are asking if your mission is primarily a vendetta against the current administration. Where do the real interests and economic challenges of ordinary Cross Riverians fit into this agenda?
If you know me very, you will know that I have always said that vengeance is of the Lord. God gave me a direction of where to go to earn glory. God is faithful.
On several occasions, I requested the governor to construct the 4.4 kilometre road that would get to my village and the neighbouring one in Yala. I wrote six different memos to him about it. He kept telling him that the memo was missing, and I kept giving it to him. I was the state chairman that brought him in as governor. Was it too much to demand for a road of just four kilometres? He still did not do it, even after I sought the intervention of the chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC and the Managing Director of NDDC. We brought a governor that would have continued. The governor did not do it. There is no vengeance in this; I do not hold it against you. I am not on a vengeance mission.
So, are you convinced that you have found succour in the PDP?
The PDP that I fought so hard for, found me worthy to say, “We have seen something in you. You were Director General of Due Process. During your time, we know that there was an agency of government called Due Process. You came to handle this party, and there was peace in the party throughout your reign. You have been an activist from what we have read about you, and your head is above board.
We have tried to petition to fight you. We have tried to fight you from every angle to EFCC, to ICPC. We found nothing incriminating about you. How you have lived your life shows that you are a man of integrity.
We will need you to support an entrepreneur, a man whose name resonates with efficiency, good family background, success in business, above board, Jarvis Archibong , who is our governorship candidate.
Come and join him so that you people can just do this remainder of the one term that is meant for the South, so that power in 2031 can now come to Central. Please, if you’re open to it, we’ll be very happy.”
And I said, “Give me some time to think about it.” And it took me almost two weeks to consult. About 99.9 percent of my leaders, followers and friends, and above all, my family, gave me the nod. And I had to say yes, I am ready. I have all the credentials. I have all the qualifications. I have the energy. I have the competence.
