By Michael Jegede
The Secretary of the Campaign Planning Directorate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PPC), Distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has assured the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of victory in Cross River State.
Ndoma-Egba, a former Senate Leader and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), gave the assurance on Tuesday in a vote of thanks speech he delivered at the town hall meeting held in Calabar by Cross River APC to play host to the party presidential flagbearer, and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
He said the people of Cross River will vote for Tinubu as they did for the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola who contested and won on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1993 presidential election.
Thanking Tinubu and Shettima as well as all party members and supporters for their presence at the town hall meeting, the erstwhile Chairman Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), said: “Your Excellency, I remember in 1993, when you (Tinubu) came to Cross River with MKO Abiola, then Cross River was NRC (National Republican Convention) but you were received like a brother and a friend. And if you remember after that visit, for the presidential election, Cross River voted SDP (Social Democratic Party) because of your visit. Today you are here to canvass votes not for another person but for yourself. If we did it for another person on your recommendation, we will do it for you too this time around.”
Ndoma-Egba expressed profound gratitude to Tinubu for using the gathering to openly settle party members who had certain differences, describing the APC presidential standard-bearer as a peace-loving politician.
“We thank you for making peace between our brother and our sister. For we Christians we say blessed are the peacemakers. So, blessed are you for being a peacemaker. We thank you. And May that peace endure and see us to victory. I thank you all for coming. Thank you for the enthusiasm that you have shown. And Your Excellency, I want to assure you that Cross River is now fully APC. The story that Cross River is a PDP state is a fiction. It is not true. And we are going to prove it when we go into this election.”