Attempts by former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke, to guide governorship aspirants in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into choosing a consensus candidate has been rejected and condemned by Senator Gershom Bassey and Daniel Asuquo.
The two are among the aspirants who honoured Duke’s invitation to his house last Sunday night.
Senator Bassey, who reportedly walked out of the meeting, said he left when he noticed there were going to be some unconstitutional arrangements. “I left because as a lawmaker I should not be counted to be a law breaker,” he said. The lawmaker rather flaunted a statement where the Elders’ Forum endorsed him as their preferred flagbearer.
Also, Asuquo, a member of the House of Representatives, condemned the meeting, and came up with the purported adoption of a consensus candidate from a mock election.
A statement by the Director-General of his Campaign Organisation, Yibala Inyang, reads: “The processes of electing candidates for the 2023 general elections is on course, and we are not ready to disappoint our delegates or make a mockery of our supporters, or the good people of Cross River State, as we progress with the scheduled timetable and countdown to the party’s primaries and general elections.
“The governorship aspiration of our principal, Daniel Asuquo, is not limited to the Southern Senatorial District; his political influence cuts across the state with verifiable legacies, and mass appeal, even in the market square, on the streets and to the hinterland that are yearning for the manifestations of his well laid campaign promises.”
Asuquo also flaunted an endorsement from a group on his aspiration.
The endorsement statement was signed by about 23 stakeholders and it reads: “Arising from the meeting of critical stakeholders of the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State, of the PDP on May 9, 2022, we unanimously adopt Daniel Asuquo as our governorship candidate for the 2023 general election.”
It was gathered that Arthur Jarvis emerged the preferred candidate at the meeting.