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By Judedx Okoro, Calabar
In this interview, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and former State Secretary of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mr Bobby Ekpenyong, stated that Governor Ben Ayade’s policy on generational power shift would give the party victory in 2023 general election in the state. According to him, that is the selling point that would be in favour of the party because people are tired of the old stock politicians.
Ekpenyong, the former Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Obudu Ranch Resort, spoke on other issues ranging from the APC achievements so far, why Ayade left PDP, need to vote for quality candidates and impact of monetary politics on the electoral system.
A few months away from the general election and as a chieftain of APC in the state, do you think Governor Ben Ayade and APC have lived up to expectations?
Yes, a few years away from the general election and it is time for stock-taking. Ordinarily, I will not follow any governor or party that has not performed or is not performing to another party. In the past seven years, the governor has shown a different type of leadership from what we have known in the past. Before his coming in 2015, it used to be the usual politics about roads’ constructions and building schools without a broad vision. A look at the Cross River State post military era and also what we have achieved during this democratic dispensation shows that we have not had any meaningful achievement in the state before Ayade came on board and started decoupling the state by building industries across the state and changing the mentality of being known as a civil service state. Recall that the state had critical assets that this state was generating revenue from and also taking a chunk of our youths to work in them.
Then, we had the oil palm estates in Akamkpa, Biase and Boki, we had the rubber estates in Akamkpa, Yakurr, Biase, we had the Calcemco which is now Lafarge, we had the cocoa plantations spread across three LGAs. We also sold Metropolitan Hotels, which is now Transcorp. These estates and plantations gave us huge revenue. But before the Ayade administration came in, the past administrations sold off every critical asset that we had in the state to companies that undermine local content in terms of employment and giving back to the host communities. Today, we now depend on the federation account as the main source of income for the state because we lost everything. Past governments would have done better by putting in structures and mechanisms to generate money by selling off 60% and then retaining 40% or they sold 70% and retained 30% so as to still be generating revenue. One would even ask what they used the money from the sales for? Rather, Mr Donald Duke and Sen Liyel Imoke administrations collected huge loans of over N400bn for infrastructure development that none is working today. We have lost Tinapa even before Ayade came on board and used the #Endsars as an excuse.
Ayade came in and with the pains of paying loans taken by the previous government still has the intellectual to generate money and run the state and then build industries in all the local government areas of the state. Some of these industries are 90% completed and he set up the privatization council to privatize them. We have the cocoa processing factory at Ikom, It is the first of its kind in the whole of Africa, the pharmaceutical factory with all the machines needed installed, Calachika, rice processing factory in Ogoja, toothpick factory in Ekuri and the Piles and Pilon factory. The benefit of this will not be seen during the time of this administration but after his administration we are going to appreciate it.
From what you said, Ayade achieved all these feats while in PDP. One would ask whether it was necessary still for him to still have defected to APC?
Ayade did the best thing for the state to have defected to APC and it is a huge blessing to APC as it has never won any election in the state. Ayade left PDP because PDP is a cult of a few individuals that had held this state to the jugular and these are the same people that have been into every election for the past 24 years. Since 1999, we have been hearing Liyel Imoke, Donald Duke, Gershom Bassey and also their cronies. Ayade’s crime is that he brought revolution to party politics and governance by bringing new faces and started mentoring younger ones in the area of leadership.
But look at what just happened at the Ogoja/Yala federal constituency by-election. Let me tell you that PDP is in the DNA of Cross Riverians because for about 20 years PDP has ruled the state. With his coming, APC has won the first election. But we need to do a lot of work to re-orientate the people, inform them and let them be aware that the Ayade they know in the PDP has moved to the APC. So, we need to do a lot of work to reorientate the people and inform the local community. I have seen so many elections, contested elections and know the nitty gritty of elections. It will not be easy. Ayade is a symbol of APC, his work is what will give APC victory, the candidates that Ayade will parade during the elections will be an added advantage. It’s not that if they field bad candidates they will win, the PDP remains in the DNA of the people so we must bring candidates that will be able to do the work and bring victory to the party. Ayade belongs to the new generation of politicians that believe in generational power shift and that is his selling point in our next elections.
Are you not afraid that the PDP may snatch victory?
I am not afraid but I will be deceiving myself to tell you that the PDP is dead in Cross river state, that is not true. Ayade was in the PDP, he did a lot of work while there. The credit still goes to the PDP. It is now our work to let people know that the work being done now is by the APC. It’s not going to be easy and anyone that says so is a baby politician or a social media politician. This is the time to go back to the roots. We may not win all but we will work to win all depending on the candidates the party will put forward for the elections. The APC cannot afford to bring people that are coming out for the first time. Election is different from politics, so we need people that are known who served and performed.
You have joined the race to represent the people of Calabar Municipality and Odukpani Federal Constituency, what motivated you to join the race?
Service to my people and humanity are my motivating factors. These are always born out of my sincere heart to serve my people and fill that missing gap in our governance structure. So I offer myself to go for a true representation to impact the people of Calabar Municipality and Odukpani and speak for them and promote good governance using the legislature.
I would also liaise with federal agencies and draw their attention to the plight of my communities and see how their lives can be improved upon by attracting projects that would be beneficial to them and enhance their standard of living. I would also work with some NGOs to see if they can intervene in critical areas of need especially in the area of agriculture, water and sanitation. These opportunities are all there; it is left for me to explore them and bring it down to my people. So, these are the things that are driving my ambition.
The cost of running elections in the country is getting very high. What are your thoughts considering the fact that lots of people who would have had intention of contesting for elective positions don’t have the resources to do so?
People will come with a huge amount of money to buy your support and votes but when they get in there, they feel it is their money and business and that they have settled you. We should go beyond monetary inducements. We should start looking at performance and qualities of an aspirant and what he can offer if given the opportunity. What programemes do such an aspirant have for the community and the people he seeks to represent? Those who have been there before, what is their performance index? All the same I disagree that people who don’t have money should not contest or seek to represent their people. Let all of us keep taking part and continue to preach the need for quality representations at all levels and with time things would change for better.
