In this piece, MUDIAGA AFFE captures the mood within the Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River as the contest for the state’s three senatorial tickets gathers momentum
The fight to clinch the three senatorial slots in Cross River State on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would be an interesting one. This is so because two out of the three incumbent senators will be having stiff challenges from known opponents during the primaries of the party.
Prof. Ben Ayade currently occupies the slot for the Cross River northern senatorial district. But the senator, who is a first timer in the upper legislative chamber, would be running for the state governorship slot in the next political dispensation, thus leaving the position open for contest in the zone. So far, only Rose Oko, a member of House of Representatives and Mannix Nyiam (a retired military general) are rumoured to be interested in the seat.
However, there are stiff challenges for the Cross River central senatorial district seat currently being occupied by Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and the Cross River southern district seat being occupied by Prince Bassey Otu. The battles for these seats would be won or lost based on the relationships the incumbents have with their constituents over the years.
There is no tenure limit for legislators in Nigeria but at the end of four years, they are expected to go back to seek fresh mandate from the electorate in their constituencies. Ndoma-Egba, who is the current Senate Leader, would be seeking the people’s mandate for a fourth term, while Otu is seeking to return for the second time.
However, the political milieu within the PDP in Cross River State has opened up challenges for Ndoma-Egba and Otu, whose positions are being challenged by experienced politicians in the respective senatorial districts.
While Otu will be contending with the immediate past state chairman of the PDP, Chief Ekpo Okon and another stalwart of the party in the state, Mr. Gershom Bassey, Ndoma-Egba, on the other hand, would be slugging it out with Mr. John Owan-Enoh, the incumbent chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation.
Otu’s challengers are not pushovers in the politics of the state. Okon, for instance had been a member of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic and played active roles within the ruling party during the emergence of the Fourth Republic. He was also a former member representing the state on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Gershom Bassey who, on the other hand, who was a part of the triumvirate headed by former governor Donald Duke and incumbent Senator Liyel Imoke, is also a force to be reckoned with. Otu is a strong force among the grassroots, so also is Okon as well as Bassey.
Similarly, Ndoma-Egba and his contender, Owan-Enoh, are grassroots politicians that have both served three terms in the National Assembly. Ndoma-Egba had been in the Senate since 2003, and his rival, Owan-Enoh, had for the same period been in the House of Representatives. While Ndoma-Egba will be seeking to renew his mandate for the fourth term, Owan-Enoh intends to advance to the Senate. The race for the Cross River central senatorial district would be quite interesting because both contenders are experienced in the politics of the National Assembly.
By the virtue of his experience in the upper chambers, Ndoma-Egba rose to become the Senate Leader. He has used his position to attract federal projects to the zone and for the benefit of the state but while some think that the position of Senate Leader which comes with experience in the upper chamber should not be sacrificed in the forthcoming election, others are of the view that a new political class should emerge to take over the central district on the platter of popularity.
Besides, they argued that in democracies the world over, legislators can only seek return to office through the people’s mandate.
However, during an empowerment programme organised by Ndoma-Egba at Ikom some few months ago, Senate President, Mr. David Mark, who threw his weight behind Ndoma-Egba, said the Senate Leader is one of the forces responsible for the stability in the red-carpet chamber.
Mark also stated that Ndoma-Egba needed to be returned to the senate in order to sustain the growth of the region.
He had said, “If Victor Ndoma-Egba goes back to the Senate, there will be sustainable empowerment. If he doesn’t go back, you cannot sustain the empowerment. I hope that language is clear to those who are here. Go out and spread that message.”
But Owan-Enoh, who is also an experienced hand in the lower chambers by the fact that he has been in the legislature for three terms, said he was optimistic that he would clinch the party’s ticket for the central senatorial district. He added that it was time to move to the upper chamber in order to create room for new breed of politicians.
He said although lawmakers were not restricted by tenure, such mandate must be renewed after a period, insisting that he was more popular at the central district at the moment than Ndoma-Egba.
Owan-Enoh said, “There is going to be a fair contest during the primary in the central senatorial district and the popular aspirant will become the party’s candidate for the general election. What will be the outcome of that contest will reflect our several years of representing our people.
“No PDP (leader) anywhere has endorsed any lawmaker. After 12 years in the office the only way you can go back is to face your people. The PDP only gave right of first refusal to the president. For lawmakers without tenure, you can run forever but you must go back after four years to renew that mandate.
“When I declared to run in the 2011 election for the House of Representatives, I did that in Obubra and I told my people that it was the last time I would contest for the House. The calculations are that in democracy, you must create space, opportunity and chance. If I contest for the fourth time, I will win but I need to create space.
“I will do better in the Senate and that is why I want to go there. If I did not go to the House of Representatives, whatever potential I have now might not be seen. My federal constituency (Obura-Etung) is the only one that has not gone to the Senate. I am from Etung and as I go to the Senate I have opened the space for a new politician to come in from Obubra.”
But in a recent gathering in Calabar, a group of professionals and residents of the central senatorial district in Cross River State said they arrived at their decision to throw their weight behind Ndoma-Egba for a fourth term in the Senate after a careful analysis of his performance.
The group said hard work and good performance should be encouraged, adding that as an important figure in federal government administration and Cross River, the office of the Senate Leader should not be thrown away.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Dr. Benitrus Okim, who outlined some of the achievements, said the Senate Leader had sponsored the highest number of bills in the 7th Senate, adding that he has contributed to the stability of the senate.
He noted that legislators do not have any fixed tenure but that the older they are in the legislature, the better their representation would be.
However, an aspirant who is gunning for the Ikom/Boki federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Frank Effa, thought otherwise.
According to Effa, who chaired the inauguration of Ikom Strength, a political movement in the central district, where 24 communities endorsed Owan-Enoh, the creation of political space for others was imperative.
Effa said after 12 years of representing the zone in the senate, it was only proper for Ndoma-Egba to pave the way for Owan-Enoh to be elevated from the House of Representatives.
At the event, the Special Adviser to Governor Liyel Imoke on Strategic Planning, Prof. Edim Temple, who moved the motion for the adoption of Owan-Enoh, said: “The moment of truth has come in the Cross River Central Senatorial District. The supernatural elements in the entire Ikom are in tandem with the wish of the people that Owan-Enoh be elected into the Senate in 2015.”
But Owan-Enoh was not the only one that got endorsements from communities as hundreds of persons gathered at a town hall meeting in Ikom within constituency 2 (Bakor) on Tuesday to declare support for Ndoma-Egba. The crowd comprised several support groups. The paramount ruler of Nnam clan of the Bakor people, Dr. Peter Eku, assured the Senate Leader of his people’s support. “We cannot fail you,” he said.
However, pundits believe that the senatorial slots for the Cross River central and south districts would be keenly contested and that only deep consultations with the grassroots could favour the winners.
The fight to clinch the three senatorial slots in Cross River State on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party would be an interesting one. This is so because two out of the three incumbent senators will be having stiff challenges from known opponents during the primaries of the party.
Prof. Ben Ayade currently occupies the slot for the Cross River northern senatorial district. But the senator, who is a first timer in the upper legislative chamber, would be running for the state governorship slot in the next political dispensation, thus leaving the position open for contest in the zone. So far, only Rose Oko, a member of House of Representatives and Mannix Nyiam (a retired military general) are rumoured to be interested in the seat.
However, there are stiff challenges for the Cross River central senatorial district seat currently being occupied by Chief Victor Ndoma-Egba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, and the Cross River southern district seat being occupied by Prince Bassey Otu. The battles for these seats would be won or lost based on the relationships the incumbents have with their constituents over the years.
There is no tenure limit for legislators in Nigeria but at the end of four years, they are expected to go back to seek fresh mandate from the electorate in their constituencies. Ndoma-Egba, who is the current Senate Leader, would be seeking the people’s mandate for a fourth term, while Otu is seeking to return for the second time.
However, the political milieu within the PDP in Cross River State has opened up challenges for Ndoma-Egba and Otu, whose positions are being challenged by experienced politicians in the respective senatorial districts.
While Otu will be contending with the immediate past state chairman of the PDP, Chief Ekpo Okon and another stalwart of the party in the state, Mr. Gershom Bassey, Ndoma-Egba, on the other hand, would be slugging it out with Mr. John Owan-Enoh, the incumbent chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation.
Otu’s challengers are not pushovers in the politics of the state. Okon, for instance had been a member of the House of Representatives in the Third Republic and played active roles within the ruling party during the emergence of the Fourth Republic. He was also a former member representing the state on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Gershom Bassey who, on the other hand, who was a part of the triumvirate headed by former governor Donald Duke and incumbent Senator Liyel Imoke, is also a force to be reckoned with. Otu is a strong force among the grassroots, so also is Okon as well as Bassey.
Similarly, Ndoma-Egba and his contender, Owan-Enoh, are grassroots politicians that have both served three terms in the National Assembly. Ndoma-Egba had been in the Senate since 2003, and his rival, Owan-Enoh, had for the same period been in the House of Representatives. While Ndoma-Egba will be seeking to renew his mandate for the fourth term, Owan-Enoh intends to advance to the Senate. The race for the Cross River central senatorial district would be quite interesting because both contenders are experienced in the politics of the National Assembly.
By the virtue of his experience in the upper chambers, Ndoma-Egba rose to become the Senate Leader. He has used his position to attract federal projects to the zone and for the benefit of the state but while some think that the position of Senate Leader which comes with experience in the upper chamber should not be sacrificed in the forthcoming election, others are of the view that a new political class should emerge to take over the central district on the platter of popularity.
Besides, they argued that in democracies the world over, legislators can only seek return to office through the people’s mandate.
However, during an empowerment programme organised by Ndoma-Egba at Ikom some few months ago, Senate President, Mr. David Mark, who threw his weight behind Ndoma-Egba, said the Senate Leader is one of the forces responsible for the stability in the red-carpet chamber.
Mark also stated that Ndoma-Egba needed to be returned to the senate in order to sustain the growth of the region.
He had said, “If Victor Ndoma-Egba goes back to the Senate, there will be sustainable empowerment. If he doesn’t go back, you cannot sustain the empowerment. I hope that language is clear to those who are here. Go out and spread that message.”
But Owan-Enoh, who is also an experienced hand in the lower chambers by the fact that he has been in the legislature for three terms, said he was optimistic that he would clinch the party’s ticket for the central senatorial district. He added that it was time to move to the upper chamber in order to create room for new breed of politicians.
He said although lawmakers were not restricted by tenure, such mandate must be renewed after a period, insisting that he was more popular at the central district at the moment than Ndoma-Egba.
Owan-Enoh said, “There is going to be a fair contest during the primary in the central senatorial district and the popular aspirant will become the party’s candidate for the general election. What will be the outcome of that contest will reflect our several years of representing our people.
“No PDP (leader) anywhere has endorsed any lawmaker. After 12 years in the office the only way you can go back is to face your people. The PDP only gave right of first refusal to the president. For lawmakers without tenure, you can run forever but you must go back after four years to renew that mandate.
“When I declared to run in the 2011 election for the House of Representatives, I did that in Obubra and I told my people that it was the last time I would contest for the House. The calculations are that in democracy, you must create space, opportunity and chance. If I contest for the fourth time, I will win but I need to create space.
“I will do better in the Senate and that is why I want to go there. If I did not go to the House of Representatives, whatever potential I have now might not be seen. My federal constituency (Obura-Etung) is the only one that has not gone to the Senate. I am from Etung and as I go to the Senate I have opened the space for a new politician to come in from Obubra.”
But in a recent gathering in Calabar, a group of professionals and residents of the central senatorial district in Cross River State said they arrived at their decision to throw their weight behind Ndoma-Egba for a fourth term in the Senate after a careful analysis of his performance.
The group said hard work and good performance should be encouraged, adding that as an important figure in federal government administration and Cross River, the office of the Senate Leader should not be thrown away.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Dr. Benitrus Okim, who outlined some of the achievements, said the Senate Leader had sponsored the highest number of bills in the 7th Senate, adding that he has contributed to the stability of the senate.
He noted that legislators do not have any fixed tenure but that the older they are in the legislature, the better their representation would be.
However, an aspirant who is gunning for the Ikom/Boki federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr. Frank Effa, thought otherwise.
According to Effa, who chaired the inauguration of Ikom Strength, a political movement in the central district, where 24 communities endorsed Owan-Enoh, the creation of political space for others was imperative.
Effa said after 12 years of representing the zone in the senate, it was only proper for Ndoma-Egba to pave the way for Owan-Enoh to be elevated from the House of Representatives.
At the event, the Special Adviser to Governor Liyel Imoke on Strategic Planning, Prof. Edim Temple, who moved the motion for the adoption of Owan-Enoh, said: “The moment of truth has come in the Cross River Central Senatorial District. The supernatural elements in the entire Ikom are in tandem with the wish of the people that Owan-Enoh be elected into the Senate in 2015.”
But Owan-Enoh was not the only one that got endorsements from communities as hundreds of persons gathered at a town hall meeting in Ikom within constituency 2 (Bakor) on Tuesday to declare support for Ndoma-Egba. The crowd comprised several support groups. The paramount ruler of Nnam clan of the Bakor people, Dr. Peter Eku, assured the Senate Leader of his people’s support. “We cannot fail you,” he said.
However, pundits believe that the senatorial slots for the Cross River central and south districts would be keenly contested and that only deep consultations with the grassroots could favour the winners.
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