Three prominent political figures are battling for the Senate position of Cross River North otherwise known as Ogoja Senatorial District and the ensuing war is causing tension in the area.

Since November last year, there has been no letup in the political cannon fire as the three titans: Senator Ben Ayade, immediate past governor of the state, Senator Jarigbe Agom who presently occupies the Senate post, Mr Legor Idagbo, a former two-time member of the House of Representatives, are locking horns for the one seat.

The three pugilists are pouring everything within their reach into the fierce battle: money, social media propaganda, contacts, and I dare say – blackmail – as they seek to outdo one another in the political warfare.

Interestingly, the three are all members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the ruling party in the state. Ayade, then as governor took the leap in the dark in 2020 as the first APC governor in the South-South when he felt there was an internal gang up with external backing to undo him in the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and decided to move to the APC. He succeeded to hoist a strong base for the APC with the party winning the governorship, six House of Representatives positions, and two Senate positions and he ironically lost his bid to move to the Senate after his governorship slot.

Jarigbe on the other hand, moved to the APC a few months ago, November to be precise. He and the two House of Representatives members were the only PDP elected officials in the state and he, as the highest official, was under intense pressure from his followers so when the opportunity beckoned following the war of attrition in the PDP, he joined the bandwagon of defectors and moved to the APC.

Idagbo, the two-time member of the House of Representatives moved alongside Ayade in 2020 with fanfare and razmatazz. He was in the House of Representatives when he moved and incidentally, he too, like Ayade, lost the re-election bid in 2023. He lost to Peter Akpanke of PDP and has since been keeping low profile until recently when his political soulmates promoted him to throw his hat into the ring and gun for the Senate ticket under APC.

Incidentally, the ambition of these three has led to a lot of realignment among the politicians and followers in the district. Some call the realignment political treachery and backstabbing while some see it as part of the game on the political chess board. The first change of sides was the one led by Ayade’s former Chief of Staff, Mr Martins Orim, for eight years. He joined Senator Jarigbe in 2023. He led quite a number of Ayade’s acolytes to cross-carpet to the Jarigbe camp. People like Peter Ojei, who was Ayade’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, Mrs Cynthia Nkasi and Regina Anyogho, both former members of the Cross River State House of Assembly alongside a legion of the former governor’s political aides.

Jarigbe on the other hand has lost two of his political soulmates, Peter Akpanke and Godwin Offiono, both House of Representatives members with whom he joined forces to take the district for PDP in the 2023 election. Akpanke is said to be working with Ayade and some say he is working with Idagbo. He is a crowd puller and anyone he works with is certain to have a seeming leverage and advantage. Offiono on the other hand seems to be pulling it alone. His elder brother is a billionaire and funding his campaign won’t be much of a problem. He is said to be making a lot of impact in his consultation by showcasing a plethora of projects he influenced in the past three years.

These issues have been at the centre stage of the political turf in the senatorial district. Each aspirant is working hard to be the flag bearer of the party. Seemingly, there is no one yet showing much interest in the Senate on the African Democratic Congress, ADC platform except for the House of Representatives where the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Professor Zana Akpagu is indicating interest. The struggle for the Senate post of the district is so fierce that other districts seem to be watching from the sidelines as if election won’t take place there.

In a show of prowess, the former governor recently bought new motorcycles for the 50 ward chairmen and new cars for the five chapter chairmen of the district. He declared free transport for those travelling from Calabar, the state capital, to the north, a distance of four hundred kilometres and cost about N20,000 on commercial transport. Jarigbe on the other hand has been touring the local government areas that constitute the district, splashing money on ward, chapter executives and party members in tens of millions. He also inaugurated a scholarship scheme where he splashed fifty million naira on the students across the five local government areas that constitute the district.

During the national congress of the APC, Ayade hosted the delegates from the district in his Abuja home where he splashed cash on them. He told the cheering delegates that “during my time, I gave tickets, the father of a king is not a king but the father of a king. We should support and give the governor the free hand to pick who he wishes.”

Jarigbe on the other hand threw a challenge to his opponents to go on a referendum to ascertain who has the support of the people, claiming that the people of the district are with him, “step by step”.

From every indication., the APC has a difficult choice to make among these three persons. Whichever way the party goes—direct primaries or consensus, a lot of feathers would be ruffled and egos bruised which means, the party has a lot of discussion, confidence-building and ego-assuaging to embark on to keep its house as one. (Vanguard)

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