The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Cross River State has called the Peoples Democratic Party’s assertion that it would regain control of the state in the general elections of 2027 a “empty boast and political comedy.”
The conflict between Nigeria’s two main political parties is reflected in the competition between the APC and PDP in Cross River.
Before cracks started to show in 2015, the PDP ruled Cross River without interruption from 1999 until 2021, when former Governor Ben Ayade defected to the APC.
The APC was able to solidify its hold on power in the 2023 elections as a result of that action, which dramatically tipped the political scales in favor of the ruling party.
The ruling party claimed that the PDP had lost its political significance in the state and lacked the strength to run against Governor Bassey Otu in the upcoming elections in a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Emmanuel Inyang, on Thursday.
Ordinarily, we wouldn’t waste time answering their bluster, but we have to remind the people of Cross Rivers that the APC won the election handily even when the PDP was stronger.
With so many of its members defecting to the APC, the PDP is now but a ghost of its former self. The declaration said, “Their 2027 ambition is dead on arrival.”
Venatius Ikem, the PDP’s state chairman, led the party to a recent gathering in Calabar, which the APC called “hollow” and an effort to give the false impression that the party still had a chance to regain power.
The APC encouraged citizens to stick with the “People First” government, promising supporters that Governor Otu’s 2027 reelection campaign was “as certain as daybreak and nightfall.”
The party emphasized that Cross Riverians had decided to move forward with the APC and insisted that “no amount of wishful thinking or press conferences by PDP leaders can alter the political reality.”
