By Sixtus Uket (Calabar)
A socio-political group in Cross River State, The Northern Cross River Progressives Forum, has urged the State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade to concede defeat and accept the outcome of the Northern Senatorial District Election held on February 25, 2023, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group made the call in a statement signed by the Chairman, Ntufam Ogar Odey, and Secretary, Comrade Peter Agaba, and made available to journalists in Calabar, the State capital, Friday, shortly after an emergency meeting held to review the outcome of the last general elections in the state.
They described the National Assembly Elections conducted in Cross River North as free, fair and most credible and called on the State Governor to “leave Senator Jarigbe alone because he won the election, freely and fairly.”
The group further described the decision of Governor Ben Ayade to challenge the victory of Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe in the Senatorial election as “the height of insensitivity given the overwhelming support enjoyed by Jarigbe across the north which is attributable to his achievements despite a short spell in the Senate.
“Our stand has become inevitable in order to caution and restrain individuals without any direct positive impact on our developmental aspirations from continuously depleting our common patrimony in pursuit of their selfish motives, since our former lawmaker, late Senator Rose Oko passed on in 2020,” the Forum stated.
It added that the people of the Northern Senatorial District of the State decided to vote massively for Senator Jarigbe across party lines given his visible projects across the 54 political wards, stressing that “Ayade as a Governor for about eight years could not achieve half of what Jarigbe did in about one and half years as a Senator.
“Let the Governor not provoke our people by wanting to use the State’s treasury to prosecute his tribunal case. Let him desist from stoking the flames of violence and disunity amongst our people using politics.
“Our people were resolute, even in the face of thuggery, intimidation, destruction of property, and bluntly rejected huge amounts voted for vote buying during the National Assembly polls,” the Forum noted.
According to the group, “we are monitoring proceedings at the Election Petitions Tribunal and are aware that the Governor has already misfired by pleading for Presidential Results which includes Forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C and EC8D as against Senatorial Elections results which include Forms EC8A1, EC8B1, EC8C1 and EC8D1.”
The group further maintained that “in law, the evidence tendered, must support the pleadings.”
It would be recalled that Governor Ayade of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lost his bid to return to the Upper Chambers of the National Assembly to his arch rival of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the incumbent Senator representing Northern Senatorial District, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, who polled 76,145 as against his 56,595 votes as declared by the Returning Officer for Cross River North Senatorial District Election held on February 25, 2023, Dr. Emmanuel Emanghe.
