By Onwa Ekor
The Kabiru-Turaki faction of the Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River, has accused FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Prof. Sandy Onoh of actions capable of triggering violence in the state.
The faction called on security agencies, particularly the Chief Security Officer, to scrutinize the political activities of the duo, warning that failure to take proactive measures could lead to a breach of public peace.
Addressing journalists on Thursday at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Calabar, the faction’s governorship and deputy governorship candidates, Julius Udayi and Ebri Inah, said Wike’s “stooges” led by Onoh were bent on disrupting the relative peace in Cross River.
Udayi, who presented a document signed by 38 party members, alleged that the Wike-Onoh group had continued to parade itself as the authentic PDP in the state.
“Sandy Onoh and his cohorts are not only frolicking, they are endangering the peace and order that have come to characterize our dear state,” Udayi said.
He warned that “anyone who is against the Turaki leadership of the PDP is on his own, or such persons are being used as guinea pigs for presidential experimentation in Cross River.”
The faction hinged its claim to legitimacy on a Court of Appeal judgment delivered in Abuja on Thursday, August 13, which upheld Adebayo Adedamola as the authentic PDP governorship candidate for Osun.
According to Udayi, the court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to include the PDP logo on the ballot for Saturday’s Osun election.
“Those parading themselves in the state as PDP members are chief protagonists in Wike’s playbook and not in the interest of Cross River,” he said.
When asked about the location of the faction’s secretariat, Udayi said: “We meet in hotels. We don’t have a secretariat. The PDP secretariat on Mary Slessor Street in Calabar belongs to the Wike faction, and we don’t use it.”
