A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and former personal assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecution, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla has called on the people of Cross River State to resist the PDP governorship candidate, Prof Sandy Ojang Onor because he is from the Central senatorial district.
In a statement made available, Obono-Obla said it would be the height of injustice to allow Onor to run the election to the detriment of the Southern senatorial district.
He said the south would have been denied political power for 24 years if the PDP candidate was not resisted.
“The attempt by some hegemonists and power mongers from the Central Senatorial District of Cross River State who do not mind destroying the fabric of the bond, solidarity, and unity that have existed between our people over the centuries by insisting to contest the gubernatorial election when the tide is in favour of the Southern Senatorial District of the State must be condemned and resisted with all our electoral might come 25 March, 2023”, he said.
He described the attempt by the PDP as an “egregious injustice that will reverberate from generation to generation.
Obono-Obla cautioned that if not resisted, the emergence of Onor, who is currently the Senator representing the central Senatorial District, will disunite and destabilise the age-long bonds of the people with catastrophic consequences.
According to him, the panacea is for the people to return power to the south.
But in an earlier press statement on the power rotation, Senator Onor said the State has never had zoning as a tradition in its politics.
“In the forthcoming election, whoever is the best candidate, the votes will show. Nobody made the Southern Senatorial District the first born of Cross River politics.
“Today, I want to be governor of this State that I have given so much to and some people are hiding under the label of geography to spew ethnicity.
“This is a beautiful State, our people share commonalities that have deep historical roots, so, we must protect our people from geo-ethnic division,” he said.