The group said in a statement made available to Newsmen during a Press Briefing in Calabar that the PDP Governorship Candidate,Prof. Sandy Onor has developed a penchant for ethnic politics and has recently backed it up with the thuggery option.
Signed by the POOSO Secretary,Chief Edwin Usang and captioned "We vehemently reject Sandy Onor's Politics of Ethnicity and of Violence in Cross River," the group recalled that an Aide of Sen. Otu,the APC Candidate, was attacked by thugs loyal to Prof. Onor at a recent event in the state capital adding that the PDP Candidate has also introduced the politics of violence and divisiveness by playing the ethnic card.
The group however urged Security Agencies to intervene in the plot and bring perpetrators to book no matter how highly placed.
Full text of the Press Statement as signed by the organisation's Secretary,Chief Edwin Usang is presented below for your perusal.
WE VEHEMENTLY REJECT SANDY ONOR’S POLITICS OF ETHNICITY AND OF
VIOLENCE IN CROSS RIVER.
BEING A PRESS STATEMENT BY THE PRINCE OTU/ODEY SUPPORT ORGANIZATION
(POOSO)ON THE PDP GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE’S RESORT TO ETHNICITY AND
THUGGERY CAMPAIGNS. DATE; TUESDAY
Saturday, March 18, 2023, will see the people of the state lineup to vote for the
Governor and House of Assembly members of their choice. In the run up to the
elections, the All Progressives Congress, APC Governorship Candidate, Ntufam, Sen.
Prince Bassey Edet Otu has canvassed for the support of the people by telling them
what and how he intends to govern if given the mandate.
Through his People-first Manifesto,Sen.Otu has highlighted his priority areas to include the economy, job creation, industrialization, infrastructure, human capital development, health, education, tourism and general good governance.But unfortunately, for the PDP Governorship Candidate,Sen. Sandy Onor,his focus has been to initiate and project desperate measures to the campaigns. He was first in the
court to see how to bring Sen. Prince Otu down over spurious claims.
Having failed in that attempt, he now resorts to playing the ethnic card and recently the violence option, as the last straw to cling on for his existence in the Governorship race. Thankfully, while this lasted, the popularity index of Sen. Prince Bassey Otu surges.
Prof. Sandy Onor was quoted as saying somewhere for instance,that the Southern
Senatorial District has produced all the Vice Chancellors in the University of Calabar.
But he forgets that two of those VCs are/were of Ejagham extractions; that is Late Prof. Charles Effiong and Late Prof. Bassey Asuquo, just as Prof. Kelvin Etta from the Central Senatorial District is also of Ejagham stock.
Seeds of discord and hatred which Sen. Onor’s style politics portrays have never led any society to sustainable peace and development but to backwardness,
underdevelopment and the attendant disintegration.
Historically speaking, until Sen.Onor’s emergence as PDP Governorship Candidate and his campaign activities in the state, the Ejagham and the Efik people have had no conscious consideration of tribal or ethnic divide between them.They live together as brothers and sisters and have close affinity with one another. Infact, they agree socially and culturally through marriages, traditions etc.
What Sen. Onor’s campaign has attempted to achieve is to distort this long sense or
history of unity, brotherliness and affinity between brothers through a jaundice
political consideration. Truly, Prof. Sandy Onor only attempts to foist on Cross
Riverians an awareness from a failed and an unacceptable academic thesis or
presentation. This too has crashed! Democratic Politics is beyond such agenda and distortions of history.It is about harmonious relationship and peaceful coexistence amongst people of different backgrounds and not the divisive tendencies which the PDP campaigns portray.
Unfortunately,this recent development of Sen. Onor shows he has lost touch with
democratic realities. Again unfortunately, for the PDP candidate, the APC’s Sen.Prince Bassey Otu continues to gain an amazingly huge popularity amongst the people of the state coming from his(Sen. Otu’s) rich democratic credentials and good rapport with the people.
Cutting across ethnic and religious biases, Sen. Otu has been massively endorsed and accepted as the man who has the pedigree and character necessary to lead Cross River State and put in place a renewed aura of peace and prosperity in the land.
Recall has been made severally of his unprecedented people oriented programmes including his empowerment initiatives while serving in both the Green and Red Chambers of the NationalAssembly.
Perhaps, these facts about Sen. Otu have been the reason for the evil plots by the PDP Candidate to attempt a depletion of his popularity.This in itself clearly speaks of Sandy Onors descent into the abyss of irrelevance in the current political calculus.
We would therefore wish that rather than embark on such wasteful venture, Prof.
Onor should throw in the towel and allow the popular mandate of the people of Cross River State which is already within the threshold of theAPC’s Sen. Prince Bassey Otuto take Centre stage.
Our governorship election cannot be reduced to just ethnic consideration as againstcompetence, capacity, general acceptability and pedigree.
God Forbid! We also condemn Sen. Onor’s penchant for thuggery which is already rearing its head with the recent attack for instance, on Barr. Ekpenyong Akiba, one of Sen. Prince BasseyOtu’s Media Aides among others, during a certain eventin Calabar.This is as we stoutly come against his(Sen. Onor’s)purported endorsement by some mercantilist tendencies under the guise of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.
Thankfully,real and clean members of the Fellowship including the National
Leadership of the body have dissociated from and denied their involvement in that
procured endorsement thus making jest of the entire procurement. Also to be highlighted here is the purported endorsement of Sandy Onor by Mr. Peter
Obi, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate.We can say categorically that the purported endorsement does not really add up to the current political calculus and peculiarities in Cross River State especially with the personality of our Candidate, Sen. Prince Bassey Edet Otu. Mr. Obi, we are sure, has no inklingwhat disposition to violence and backwardness, the PDP Candidate is made of and therefore would not want to dent or mix his mantra of goodwill and of advancement which informed his foray into the Presidential race with the story of violence,retrogression and of divisiveness that are characteristic of Sen.
Sandy Onor’s campaigns in the state.
However,if he does, it would only be unfortunate that the said endorsement wouldonly lead to nowhere.While we condemn these dastardly acts, we enjoin Cross Riverians to also rise up and
do same regarding this very ugly developments that have been introduced into our body politics by Sen. Sandy Onor.
There is everything wrong for a man who presents himself for the office of governor basically on ethnic platform rather than on delivery of democracy dividends to the people and of course on the fortunes of the state.
We at the Prince Otu/Odey Support Organization(POOSO) join hands with others to urge the electorate in Cross River to reject Senator Sandy Onor in the March 18, 2023 elections because he does not have anything tangible to offer Cross Riverians except divisiveness, backwardness and disintegration.
The electorate should vote for the APC that has zoned the governorship position to the Southern Senatorial District in line with the existing zoning arrangement in the state, for the sake of equity, fairness and justice.No one should be allowed to truncate the orderly and peaceful manner in which we in Cross River State transit power from one Senatorial District to another.
We should and would not transit power on the basic of ethnic considerations and violent dispositions but on peace, unity and acceptable democratic culture.
On this note, we call on Security Agencies in the State to investigate cases of violent
threats and plotsby the PDP and their Army of brigands/thugs to unleash violence during the elections especially in the APC stronghold across the state ostensibly to disrupt the process and stop the victory of our party.
Security Agencies are also urged to bring perpetrators of such evil plots to book no
matter how highly placed.
We thank you, and congratulate you ahead of our victory in the coming elections.
Chief Edwin Usang. Secretary.
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