…As Senator Gives Reasons Power Should Return to Southern District
By Magnus Effiong, Calabar
A mammoth crowd made up of one hundred and eighty-eight (188) pressure groups, thousands of youths, women, men, leaders and loyalists of the Cross River state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have risen in support of Senator Gershom Bassey’s ambition to govern the state.
Bassey, who is representing Cross River South in the Senate, formally declared his intention to join the governorship race on Monday amidst a strong believe that the governorship should return to the Southern senatorial district.
The Senator, who spoke at the PDP secretariat in Calabar while making his intention known, charged the party State Executive Committee to always stand by the truth in very decision taken towards the 2023 elections.
“It is the truth that will make PDP win back the state, since it is currently governed by the All Progressive Congress after the Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade who was elected into office as a member of the PDP decamped to the APC.
“The party was built on good conscience, it was built on brotherly love; it was built on togetherness, it was built on aspirations; it was built on truth. This party was not built on lies and deceit.
“It is that truth that made it possible for the PDP to win every single governorship election in this state till date. We have never lost a governorship election in Cross River State. It is the truth that will make us win back Cross River State in 2023,” he stated.
Explaining why power should return to the southern senatorial district, the Senator said that the governorship had rotated from Southern Senatorial District with Donald Duke as Governor from 1999 to 2007 and to the Central Senatorial District with Liyel Imoke as Governor from 2007 to 2015.
“And when it was to go to the Northern Senatorial District in 2015, there was a caucus meeting of the party where a motion was moved and the seat was formally zoned to the northern senatorial district with a provision that after eight years it will return to the South,” he stated.
Bassey explained further that the PDP did not just elect Ben Ayade as Governor but it zoned the ticket to the northern senatorial district, saying despite his position on zoning, he was not afraid of slugging it out with anyone from any zone.
In his response, the State PDP Chairman, Venatius Ikem, said he would not do anything that would jeopardize PDP chances in the oncoming contest.
