As the debate over the successor of the Cross River State’s governor, Liyel Imoke, takes the centre stage ahead 2015 elections, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports on the new twists
Months after Governor Liyel Imoke returned from an overseas trip to make a pronouncement on what was then a fierce media war over who should succeed him in 2015, uneasy calm still pervades the political scene in Cross River State, following the introduction of fresh twists into the argument for and against the zoning arrangement in the state ahead of the next governorship election.
The governor had on his return from the United States of America when the succession argument was at its hottest, announced the determination of his government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to ensure that the next governor of the state comes from the Northern Senatorial District in accordance with the zoning principle of the party.
Imoke’s position, according to him way back then, was premised on the fact that the Cross Rivers North Senatorial District was yet to produce a governor in the current democratic dispensation.
“The north should produce the next governor, as the south has had its fair share of the governorship in the person of Donald Duke in 1999 and 2003 and the central has had its turn in the emergence of my humble self as governor in 2007 and 2011,” he argued.
His position was seen by many pundits as the final clarification needed to lay to rest the fierce battle over the zoning issue. This appeared to be the case for a while until recently when opponents of the zoning arrangement returned to the political scene with fresh argument after winning to their side new and prominent supporters within and outside Imoke’s camp.
As at the last count, Imoke and his deputy, Mr. Efiok Cobham, are the latest to clash over their divergent preferences for which senatorial district should produce the next governor of the state.
While Imoke is sticking to the choice of a successor from the north, Cobham, who before now had refused to oppose his boss on the issue, has publicly declared support for the Southern Senatorial District to have a go at the plum job.
There is also the story of an alleged friction between the governor and his childhood friend-cum political ally of over two decades, Gershom Bassey, over the same issue.
Bassey, who is the Chairman of the Cross River State Water Board and one of the leading politicians from the Southern Senatorial District is said to be in favour of his district having another shot at the governorship in 2015 ahead of the Northern Senatorial District in spite of the zoning arrangement being promoted by Imoke and the PDP leadership in the state.
And the renewed battle over Imoke’s successor by the likes of Cobham and Bassey is not without a new argument. This time, they are not just pooh-poohing PDP’s zoning formula, they are saying there was a rotation accord that preceded and supersedes the much flaunted formula in the politics of Cross Rivers State.
Speaking at different fora recently, Imoke and his deputy re-echoed their divergent opinions on power shift, with Imoke sticking with the Northern Senatorial District which is yet to produce a governor, while his deputy seeks power for his zone based on what he called the Calabar-Ogoja Accord.
According to its proponents, the Calabar-Ogoja Accord was conceived in the Second Republic for political cooperation within the old Cross Rivers State in the face of Ibibio domination. This is the arrangement Cobhams and his people in the south want to rely upon to stop the emergence of the next governor from the north.
“In the Second Republic, following the dominance of the Mainland of the then Cross Rivers State now in the politics of the state, politicians of Calabar and Ogoja extractions entered into an agreement for electoral cooperation so as to wrest power from the Ibibio. That Mainland is what is now Akwa Ibom State.
“The political leaders of the two divides sat down and drew up the Calabar-Ogoja accord. And as a result of that pact, championed by the then Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas, former governor, Dr. Clement Isong, lost the NPN tickets for a second term bid.
“In his place, Chief Donatus Etiebet, an Annang man, became the party’s standard bearer and went ahead to win the election proper. Unfortunately, the military struck in December 1983 and cut short his tenure.
“Some people are saying the Calabar-Ogoja Accord died with the creation of Akwa Ibom State but I tell you our people are still pleased with the pact. Our understanding of Ogoja as a geopolitical zone is the fusion of Cross River Central and Cross River North Senatorial Districts. The zone embraces all Atam people and once an Atam man governs the state, at the expiration of his two-term tenure, power should automatically return to the Calabar axis in the spirit of the accord,” Joseph Ntiero, a leading Efik politician explained.
It is on this accord that the renewed agitation for the next governor to come from the Southern Senatorial District is built. At a closed door meeting of the Southern Senatorial District convened by Cobham recently, it was re-iterated that power shift in the state should be based on the Calabar-Ogoja Accord.
A seven-point communiqué he co-signed with Senator Florence Ita Giwa, Prof. Ivara Esu and 197 other prominent indigenes of the state recognised the existence of the three districts but argues that the spirit and essence of the Calabar-Ogoja Accord, which formed the basis of coming together of Cross River State, must always be respected in balancing and sharing of political positions and opportunities.
Though Bassey was not one of the signatories to the communiqué, political observers say he may have directed the resuscitation of his campaign machineries in view of the renewed bid by his people to make another go at the governorship.
Before Imoke’s declaration that his successor in 2015 will come from the Northern Senatorial Zone of the state, Bassey was seen by many as the Cross Rivers State governor-in-waiting.
This was based on the story that Imoke, his predecessor, Donald Duke and Bassey, before the return of civil rule in 1999, allegedly formulated a blueprint, which contains a 24-year developmental roadmap for the state. The document also reportedly contains a political succession strategy whereby each of the three men will rule the state for two terms.
With Duke having completed his terms in 2007 and Imoke presently running his course until 2015, Bassey was widely acknowledged as the heir-apparent just waiting to be crowned. But that assumption went with the wind after Imoke publicly announced that no southerner will have his blessing in 2015.
But his rumoured renewed interest in the race will surely not be an easy one as the people of the Northern Senatorial District have vowed not to be swayed by the recourse to the Calabar -Ogoja Accord.
“Today, they want us to go back to the Calabar-Ogoja Accord. This is laughable because when Chief Akpang Obi Odu challenged Governor Donald Duke’s re-election in 2003, citing the Calabar-Ogoja accord, prominent Efik politicians addressed the press repeatedly, saying the accord was dead and buried. Don’t also forget that Chief Odu hails from Mbube in Ogoja here,’ an Ogoja politician told The Nation while explaining why the renewed bid by the south to stop the northern senatorial district from producing the next governor should not be taken seriously.
“They will fail again,” he said. “As long as the Governor and other PDP leaders remain committed to the idea of equity and justice, these politicians now going about with the story of Calabar-Ogoja Accord will not be able to deceive the people of Cross Rivers State for long,” he added.
