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Tag: Cross River

  • FG tasked on lasting solution to flood onslaught

    The federal government has been tasked to pursue ways that will bring lasting solutions to the onslaught of flooding across communities in Nigeria.

    The director of the Center for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), Comrade Sheriff Mulade, made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri on Wednesday.

    According to him, not only are properties worth millions of naira lost to the ravaging flood, several lives have been yearly, cut short.

    It will be noted that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NMA) had warned of the impending disaster in 11 states including Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Kaduna, Kwara, Nasarawa, Yobe and Zamfara. However, not much was done by relevant government agencies to avert the situation.

    Mulade, in his statement, therefore appealed to the federal and state governments, international civil society organizations, private sectors as well as well-meaning individuals to join CEPEJ to provide assistance, especially in resettling flood victims in the country.

    He said “As a non-governmental organization with a special focus on environmental justice, we are sensitizing the people living within the affected areas and call for adequate relief materials to the victims and to properly resettle them.

    “CEPEJ is also by this means advocating that the federal government provides continued assistance in the resettlement efforts towards finding a permanent solution to the problem of flooding in Nigeria. We are deeply saddened that several lives have been lost to the annual flooding in the affected areas, homes and farmlands have been destroyed, means of livelihood brought to an abrupt halt and farm produce worth millions of naira have also been destroyed.

    Read Also: Flood kills 20-year-old in Anambra

     

    “CEPEJ hopes that as part of the Federal Government’s long term measures, the construction of buffer dams on the long stretch of the Niger be considered, to intermittently break wild water tides and avoid future re-occurrence”, he said.

    Noting that many affected persons are yet to be reached with aids, he added that suffering is on the increase for cases where it was practically impossible to send relief materials or evacuate the victims.

    In September, a national disaster was declared in the worst four affected states; Anambra, Delta, Kogi and Niger, with NEMA releasing a report that about 327,052 people are affected in the flooded states with over 70 casualties.

    Also, an outbreak of malaria and water borne diseases has been reported, just as displaced persons are currently being hosted in emergency shelters such as local government offices, schools, stadiums, churches and internally displaced persons (IDP) hostels built by Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.

  • NYSC to partner Cross River

    THE National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Cross River State says it will partner with the state government in any capacity to support job creation in the state through entrepreneurship development programmes.

    The State Coordinator, Mr. Adegoke Ayodele Adewale, who said this during the 2018 Batch ‘C’ swearing in/oath taking ceremony at the NYSC permanent orientation camp in Obubra, said they have adopted a more proactive role towards complementing government’s drive to create self – reliant, self -employed entrepreneurs instead of job seekers.

    The state coordinator said the drive would begin during the orientation course where corps members would be introduced to myriads of vocational skills. Adewale reassured the

  • UNICEF charges C/River Govt. to prioritize child protection

    The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Cross River State Government to prioritize investment in strengthening the system for child protection and development in the state particularly in equipping the family courts and establishing correctional institutions for juveniles in the state in accordance to the state’s Child Rights Law.

    Chief of the Enugu Field Office of UNICEF, Dr Ibrahim Conte, gave the charge in Calabar, the state capital, during a Stakeholders’ Consultation on Development of Family Court Rules for Cross River State.

    Conte, who was represented by Child Protection Specialist, Enugu Field Office, UNICEF, Mrs Nkiru Maduechesi, said lack of infrastructure and basic facilities can hamper access to justice and other restorative services for children and consequently may constrain their development and ability to maximize their potentials in life.

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    He said the meeting was an important milestone in efforts aimed at strengthening the Child Protection System in the state through a well-equipped family courts that regulate the enforcement of the Child Rights Law in Cross River State.

    “UNICEF urges members of the Judiciary and other stakeholders to make significant contributions to the Family Court Rules with a view to improving the system for speedy settlement of cases through child-sensitive judicial processes capable of preventing and responding to violence against children effectively and reintegration of children in conflict with the law.

    “Your deliberations today would have far reaching effects in child justice reform efforts in the State.

    UNICEF as the agency mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote the rights of the children is committed in supporting partnerships and initiatives in this regard,” Conte said.

  • DPR shuts down three fuel stations in Cross River over price hike

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Cross River State has shut down three fuel stations in Odukpani local government area for selling petrol at N150 per litre against the government approved price of N145 per litre.
    DPR Operations Controller in Cross River, Mr Bassey Nkanga, who led his team on a surveillance of fuel stations across the state, said the stations were shut down for violating the seal order of the DPR.
    Nkanga, who expressed dissatisfaction with the hike in price of the affected stations, said they had no reason to hike the price when some stations were selling the product at N143 per litre.
    He said that the stations will have to pay a fine of N1 million each for violating the `seal order’.
    The Operations Controller explained that the intensified surveillance became necessary with a view to ensure that marketers do not increase pump price ahead of the yuletide period.
    “Any marketer that is caught cheating in any form, either selling above government price or adjusting the metre will be sanctioned severely. We have been doing this in the past two weeks and already some marketers have been sanctioned.

    Read Also: DPR raises alarm over adulterated engine oil

    “If you have been a serial violator of the regulations, if you pay the fine; it is not a guarantee that we will unseal your station for business to commence immediately.
    “The level of stability in the sector is nearly 100 per cent especially in Cross River Central and South. We will try our best to sustain this tempo of surveillance activities in all outlets.
    “The initiative is a routine exercise. We are only intensifying the monitoring and surveillance activities to ensure that marketers do not take undue advantage of the yuletide period to hike the price,’’ he said.
    Nkanga said as the yuletide season approaches, there is the tendency that people will want to take advantage of the period to dupe the public.
    He said that DPR in Cross River was doing its best to create awareness and giving assurance to Nigerians that there will be stability in the sector, especially the downstream sub-sector during the yuletide.
    “We are on ground working and the exercise will continue on daily basis because we want to make sure that the yuletide season is hitch free.
    “I want to advise depot owners and marketers to abide by all rules and regulations of the DPR, because anyone that is caught cheating the public will be sanctioned,’’ he said.

  • 2019: INEC warned against compromise

    The senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Southern Senatorial District seat of Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against compromise to avert violence and bloodshed.

    Otu, who spoke with some reporters in Calabar, said he had to stress this against the background that his opponent in a rival political party had been boasting that in spite of whatever happens in the field, he was going to buy over the electoral umpire to announce the results in their favour.

    He said, “This is why I believe you, the press, have a major role to play in this. Though we would make sure we man-mark everything around here, you have your role to play, which is to advise them to avoid compromise. Right now what we are hearing is that our opponent is boasting that they would use money to buy INEC and they would change results for them. You have to stress this so that INEC would know the dangers of that.

    “There is need for them to allow sanity to reign because for any society to make some progress, they has to be some semblance of proper electoral process, if not we are going nowhere. As we get closer to the process, you must start hammering INEC straight because this time they would be putting their lives totally in danger. My fear is that in all baskets it is not all eggs that are bad. There would be few innocent ones who have no reason whatsoever to suffer what would befall them, but in a situation that there is calamity there has to be casualties, but we can only reduce the number by you advising them on time because my opponent is going about telling people, that he is not ready for any election on the ground, all he knows is that he would use his money on INEC and then prepare for court. This would not go down very well this time.”

    Read Also: 2019: Stakeholders predict APC victory in Yobe

    Speaking on the crisis within the APC in the state, Otu, who is the chairman of the peace and reconciliation committee of the party said, “It is true that we do have a little bit of problem in the party, but it is not such that can impede the process of moving forward, in every family there must be disagreements. We are in the process of trying to make sure that we settle all those issues. We put down a framework that by the time we finish the job, though we are little distracted because of the season of politics, by the time we settle down to our job, I believe APC is going to be one family.

    “We would do very best that we can before the election proper. We have already started engaging some of the stakeholders and we feel except for those who are directly engaged in primaries now, which we would allow them to finish what they are doing, the moment they finish, we would also engage them. The sum total is that the issues are not such that they cannot be resolved. There would be a nexus at some point, because we are living in a society where there is law and order and as a party we do have guidelines. We have serious organs of the party do resolve issues like this. It is not out of place to find things like this, but I believe the most important thing is the belief in APC as a party moving forward. Nigeria at this stage needs a party like APC to continue so that the dividends that have started trickling in would be sustained.”

  • Cross River: Group petitions APC over governorship primary

    the election monitoring team of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has petitioned the national leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) over its governorship primary elections in the Cross River State, calling for the cancellation of the entire process.

    The leader of the team, Comrade Kingsley Edet, in a statement made available to The Nation in Calabar yesterday alleged the election did not hold in over 84 wards of the 196 wards  in the state.

    According to the team, the exercise was marked by hijacking of materials as well as display of thuggery across the state.

    “An observer who gave reports from the Central District said he was almost killed when he questioned the disenfrachisement of one of the guber aspirant, Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong.

    “It was also observed that party membership registers were not available for use in almost all voting points.

    “We are calling on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to, as a matter of urgency cancel the exercise. IPAC presented some picture documents of Ward 9, Calabar South as one amongst several others, whereupon a particular candidate who won on vote cast was not announced as winner in the said ward. We pray the NWC to critically look into all the issues the process has raised,” Edet said.

     

  • Police arrest 20 suspected cultists in C/River

    The Cross River Police Command on Monday said it has arrested 20 suspected cultists across the state between August and September

    Mr Hafiz Inuwa, the state Commissioner of Police, who spoke with our reporter in Calabar, said that the suspects were arrested for carrying out illegal activities and engaging in cult wars.

    He said 11 of the suspects were arrested on Aug. 23 in Ogoja local government area of the state during a cult war between the Vikings and Klans confraternity.

    “Also, on Aug. 29 2018, a team of patrol men from X Squad Unit of the State Headquarters during a stop and search in Calabar accosted a tricycle conveying two suspected cultists and they were immediately arrested.

    “And on Sept. 2 2018, we got a tip-off that cult members belonging to Skylo confraternity unlawfully assembled behind Union Bank in Calabar.

    “Operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad swiftly raided the area and seven suspected cultists were arrested,’’ he said.

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    Inuwa said that the suspects have confessed to belonging to Skylo confraternity cult group, adding that efforts were on to arrest other fleeing suspects.

    He explained that items recovered from the 20 suspects include four locally made pistols, one live cartridge, three machetes, one dagger, one tricycle and others.

    According to him, the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigation is completed.

    The Commissioner warned those planning to engage in violence ahead of the 2019 general election to steer clear of the state, saying that the police would deal with anybody that engage in any form of criminality and thuggery before, during and after the polls.

  • PDP Senator calls on party to disqualify opponent from Senatorial race

    The representative of Cross River South Senatorial District in the senate, Mr Gershom Bassey has called on the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to disqualify another senatorial aspirant of the party from the Senatorial primary elections, Ntufam Ekpo Okon, from the race for allegedly instigating violence.

    On Wednesday, Senator Bassey escaped being lynched at a hotel in Calabar, as supporters suspected to be loyal to Okon booed and threw sachet water at him as security agents tried to escort him to his car

    They had descended on his car as they could not reach him and the back screen of the Prado jeep was smashed as he was hurried out of the hotel premises for safety.

    Commenting on the incident, Bassey said after the attack he sustained some injury trying to dodge stones aimed through his shattered back screen.

    “Violence must not stand, Ekpo should be disqualified, we cannot tolerate violence in this election. First of all why was Ekpo standing the election when he was disqualified by the election panel? It was only at the last minute that his name entered through whatever dubious means. Why was he in that election when all the people that were disqualified with him were disqualified? 21 of them were disqualified for various reasons ranging from tax, forgery, resignation and others. So why was he contesting that election, but be that as it may, having become contestants must he now become a violent contestant?” Bassey said.

    However, Ntufam Okon, a former chairman of PDP debunked allegations that Senator Bassey was attacked on Wednesday by his supporters.

    Speaking to reporters in Calabar on the events that transpired at the said hotel, he said, “We were holding meeting with the chairman of the Primary Committee, Col. Ahmed Usman in his hotel room when Gershom Bassey entered and started attacking me.  The O.C. SARS was there as well as the Area Commander and the DPO State Housing”

    Read Also: Police attack: Nobody can cow us, says PDP

    “I was still with the chairman when he went out and I later learnt he was attacked for conniving with a member of the committee to hijack materials meant for the primaries.  That was why the primary election did not hold”.

    Okon wandered how Gershom would have been attacked to the extent of being injured when he had heavy security operatives around him and described the allegation that his supporters attacked Gershom Bassey as false.

    “All those who gathered at the stadium and eventually moved over to Transcorp hotel were members of the party who were delegates to the primary. They were frustrated that Gershom Bassey hijacked the materials which may have accounted for their reaction.  But he has security details and I don’t think he was wounded,” Okon said.

  • Cross River: ‘We need to balance sentiments’

    John Upan Odey is one of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River. In this interview with Tony Akowe in Abuja, Odey speaks on his agenda for Cross River State and the direct primary option being canvassed for the party

    YOU are one of the aspirants seeking the governorship ticket of APC. May we know those things that you intend to bring to the table if given the opportunity?

    First, Cross River is a state that is known for novel ideas. We have had a history of electing younger governors. I know that younger does not necessarily mean better, but sometimes, youth brings vibrancy and freshness. Cross River is a state that progressively, from 1999, things have become worse. If you check all the human development indices, you will find out that from 1999, we have been going down the slope. The first administration rebranded and put together our Polytechnic and renamed it Cross River State University of Science and Technology, but the idea of putting in the real investment that will make it function well has not been done. If you look at the primary and secondary school education, even though they started modeling some of the schools, they stopped half way. In the health sector, there was little of progress in terms of vaccination, maternal health care. But at some time, it seems that we abandoned everything. We have an advantage with our land which is very fertile and we have the most wonderful topography in Nigeria and that is why we will focus on agritourism. Investment in this area started during the Duke administration with the development of Obudu Cattle Ranch and a few others which have been abandoned. We had investments that were done in Tinapa and our own free trade zone, trying to create a mini Dubai. But because the PDP administration always put the cart before the horse, they went about investing in physical structures without getting the right environment by either taking steps to dredge the Calabar Port or expand the Calabar Airport to take cargo planes to develop that project. So, it looked like we were building castles in the air. So right now, Cross River State needs a governor that will bring us back to reality. We need to look at those advantages that we truly have and look at the reality of building them sustainably. The idea of building castle and doing window dressing is not what we need in the state right now. The state needs a governor right now who will tell them the truth, who knows what the problems are and how to make investments that will benefit the next generation. For me, the most important thing is that we need to develop our human development side. The present administration keeps talking about business, pretending as if government is all about driving business. The truth is that we have come to learn that government has no business in business, but needs to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. They need to create opportunity for businesses to thrive. So, for us to have an entrepreneurial state, government needs to get out of the way for business to grow, provide the infrastructure and all the enablers for investors.

    Do you think that the system will favour you?

    It is unfortunate that in Nigeria today, the system does not promote succession planning. Succession planning does not mean you have to bring somebody who will think like you or somebody who is going to differ to you. Succession planning is actually about picking people who have the right talent and the right mentality to carry on from where you stopped. We have seen places where this has been well implemented; especially places like Lagos State; you see that the place has continued to grow. But because we did not get it right with succession planning in Cross River State, we have found ourselves in a mess.

    Election in Nigeria today is about how much money you have to spend. Do you think you have the deep pocket to prosecute this campaign?

    There is no single person in the APC that will say he has the resources to remove an incumbent. I don’t think that is even practical with the kind of environment and the type of politics that we practice. We have a situation where the state sponsors almost everybody. But we need to build a federation of political leaders to uproot the APC. Can we do it? Yes we can. If you look through the rank of the APC in Cross River, you will discover that we have more quality politicians than the PDP and we have the spread of membership that can make it happen. All that we need to do now is for us to get the right candidate. We need to get it right with the candidate. The state has had the culture of power rotation. I am not a big fan of zoning, but it can be used against anybody who undermines it. We are contesting from different parts of the stage and need to balance the local sentiments. We also need to unite the party and ensure that there are no camps. The moment I get nominated as the candidate of the party, it will be my duty to take up leadership and bring all the warring factions together.

    I believe that in this election, it will not be about the party, but about the candidate that we present.

    The people of Bakassi have been complaining of being abandoned by successive governments since their ordeal. Do you have any plan for them when you become governor?

    The case of Bakassi is very heart breaking because when that conversation was going on, I told a few people in government that there is no international law that has more credence than the laws of the land. Nigeria got into an agreement and ceded our territory to Cameroon, I was one of the most unhappy people in this country because it needed the approval of the National Assembly. It is clearly stated in our constitution, the number of local government we have in this country and our total land mass. So, to cede a part of our country to a weaker country without war is something I could not fathom. The things that happen thereafter were only expected. Even with all the interventions that have been carried out for the people of Bakassi and the fact that they still receive allocation; we have not really done well for them. Till now, we have refugee camps and it may surprise you to know that relief materials sent to those camps are even stolen by the same officials that are supposed to deliver the materials. We may not be able to control what the country has entered into by ceding the territory, but we can try to ameliorate the pain of the people down there. We need to go in there and support the displaced people, resettle them and use our enterprise development programmes to create jobs for the young people.

    The Cross River State Government made a budget of 1 trillion this year and this has attracted lots of criticism from across the state. What is your take on this?

    The idea of budgeting over N1 trillion is irresponsible because budgeting should be realistic. The concept of budgeting is that you are working towards building from what you have. The budget helps you to define your deficit and to find out how you intend to fund that deficit. So, when you do a budget that is completely unrealistic and not making sense, it is irresponsible and I don’t support that kind of budgeting style. If you make a budget and you cannot implement about 50 percent of that budget, it is not good enough. We are having a budget of N1.3 trillion which does not define what the reality is.

    One of the projects initiated by the PDP government in the state is the Super High way project which critics say is an over ambitious project. What would you do with such a project?

    Any kind of infrastructural project is a good thing because it should improve the lives of the people. What you now need to look at is the opportunity cost. You will have to look at what you are losing to get that project done. You also need to look at the feasibility of the project and the studies carried out by professionals, the source of the money for the project and the repayment plan. However, a stakeholder approach also needs to be adopted for such a project and I think that not putting that before the people was most irresponsible. I have read reports of environmentalists not being happy with the project because they feel that the natural ecosystem will be affected by that project which will cut across the reserved forest area in the state. I am concerned about that because we are a state that is focused on tourism, which is a natural resource we cannot play with. But I am told that the environment has already been distorted. The project does not make sense and when I become the governor, I will bring all the stakeholders together and take a decision on that. Like I said, any project that will impact the lives of the people is a good thing, but you have to look at the cost. So far, it’s been all talk about that project because the governor is more interested in the fanfare. He is more interested in going around talking about the project than actually carrying it out. So, the Super High way project has not started at all, but if there have not been attempts to go and log woods there, I would have said that the project does not make sense because the cost is too high and we have an alternative. We should be thinking of how to open up the new roads in and out of the state to connect the existing federal High ways. I think building the super highway is a misplaced priority. Rather, we should be thinking of reconstructing the existing roads. A road is supposed to be an asset to the people because the government has put money into building it and when it is built, it is supposed to open up businesses for the economy to grow and as the economy grows the government benefits from it.

    One of the contentious issues in the APC today across the country is the option adopted for the primary election. In your state, what option have you agreed on?

    We held a stakeholders meeting where we agreed almost unanimously to adopt the direct primary. I have my concern about direct primaries, even though it is a wonderful idea for any political party. My concern is, how prepared are we? Once you have something like this being implemented, the worst of us will always be looking for loopholes and how to take advantage of the system to advance their personal interest. I am aware that using direct primary means taking voting back to our people. The party now has a responsibility to put in place a mechanism where this voting system is well protected and where the only people who should vote on that day are eligible party members. They should ensure that there is a system in place to make sure that the people who are returning officers, collating these results from all voting centers get those results to the centre for collation. So, if I had my chance, I would be advocating that we contract our direct primary to INEC. The party gives the register to INEC, you come there with your membership card; you identify yourself on the register and vote. We would have asked INEC to give us the cost of conducting the direct primaries across the country and we use the platform of INEC. By so doing, it will be fool proof. However, the party should be able to deliver this system in the way it ought to be.

    Cross River state has no doubt benefited tremendously from federal appointment since the inception of the Buhari government. How would you say this will impact on the 2019 General Election?

    In fact, President Muhammadu Buhari has been so kind to Cross River; we have never had it so good in the history of the country regarding the quality of appointments we are having in the state. These appointees from the state need to step up and take leadership. A situation where the big names in the party in the state are fighting each other does not help us grow as a party in the state. I believe that this election gives us an opportunity to come together and unite the APC because the people want to see a united APC because our people are tired of the mis-governance of the PDP. The people want to see the back of PDP, but they need us to unite because if we unite and stand with the principle of equity, justice and fairness, and are talking to each other and nobody is being undermined, there will be no stopping us in Cross River State.

    We must encourage robust dialogue based on equity and justice.

  • Zoning: APC group threatens to vote PDP in C/River

    Some stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State have threatened to vote for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in next year’s election.

    The stakeholders who spoke through a group, the Cross River North Solidarity Forum (CRNSF), said they would vote against their party if the governorship ticket of the party which was zoned to the area in 2014 is not retained.

    In a statement issued in Calabar by the group’s spokesman, Joseph Ogah, they said that the President Muhammadu Buhari led government has not been fair to members of the party from the zone in terms of appointment and will resist any move by “corrupt people who just defected to the party to hijack the ticket from the north.”

    The group said that if the APC does not want people from the northern senatorial district of the state in the party, they would not hesitate to seek their political fortune elsewhere where every zone will be treated equally.

    They questioned why zoning was observed in the recently held congresses from ward to national but some “greedy and self-seeking intruders are going about planning to take what was zoned to the north in 2014.”

    The statement read, “The message we have to pass in this press statement is simple; we will vote the PDP massively if the governorship ticket is given to another senatorial district.

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    “In 2014, party positions were zoned and the governorship ticket was zoned to the north. Odey Ochicha from the north was APC governorship candidate and he came second in that election. It was because of Ochicha’s effort that President Buhari had up to 28,000 votes, the highest votes an opposition party ever had in the state. He went to every corner of the state with his personal resources campaigning for himself and Buhari. The then party Chairman who is today eating large as the Niger Delta Minister never followed him for once to any campaign nor released funds for campaign.

    “Many of us used our money to work for APC but when the party won, the zone was completed neglected. No reasonable appointment was given to the north despite the numerous juicy appointments that came to the state.

    “The central alone got Minister of Niger Delta, NDDC Chairman, Career Ambassador, SA on Prosecution to the President, Auditor General etc. The South has the Head of Service, Ambassador, NDDC Commissioner, DG, National Centre for Women Development and many others. The north was left with nothing. Even the governorship candidate who sacrificed so much for the party in 2015 was not given anything reasonable.

    “Are we less a senatorial district to others? Sir John Ochala was Acting Chairman after the former Chairman was appointed Chairman, the central fought that he must relinquish power to them or nothing. There was a mini Congress where a substantive chairman was elected from the central in line with the zoning arrangement. But today, the same people that said the north cannot keep state chairman and governorship ticket have turned back to fight that central should that has the state Chairman should produce governorship candidate.

    “The national chairman of APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and other National Working Commitee members are product of zoning. Nobody from the north contested against Ntufam Hilliard Eta, the National Vice Chairman (South South) because the position was zoned to the southern senatorial district. Nobody from the north contested against Dr. Achigbe because the state Chairmanship position was zoned to the central. So why are people struggling what was zoned to the north now? Are we slaves in APC?”

    “If APC is ready to win Cross River State, aspirants from other zones must jettison their selfish interest to allow the north field a candidate. Failure to do this will mark doom for APC as the PDP will have 100% support in the north in all positions.

    “We also want to advice some APC leaders who have collected money from aspirants sponsored by PDP to sell out to tread with caution as a day of reckoning is just by the corner.

    “Those who last year were shouting that the north must do eight years like others but are now saying different things because of the bribes they have collected should trade with caution. APC must avoid another Governor Ortom and Saraki experience in Cross River State. Some aspirants are only in APC because they want a platform to achieve their desperate political ambition after which they will destroy the party and return to PDP. APC must be careful.”