A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Francis Effiom, alongside hundreds of his supporters, on Sunday, defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Calabar Municipal local government area of Cross River State.
Among those who defected with the PDP chieftain to the APC was the Ward 8 party chairman in the LGA, Mr. Bernard Iso, claiming that their defection to the APC was to add value to the Governor Bassey Otu-led administration in the State.
“This decision is predicated on what is so obvious. The governor of Cross River State, Prince Bassey Otu, has shown capacity and willingness to touch the lives of the people.
“I am talking about my own Ward 8, Ikot Ansa, Calabar Municipal local government area.
“Within the first one year that Senator Bassey Otu became a governor, he had fixed two major roads in my community.
“One is the road leading to the highway through Zone 6 to NPC depot, to port side via the Industrial Park where you have bulk of the tank farms in Calabar.
“That road used to be almost inaccessible, until Prince Bassey Edet Otu became governor.
“Today if you drive through that road, it has become a dual carriage way from Murtala Mohammed Highway to the Calabar River where it terminates.
“On the Eastern flank of our community, the Ndidem Usang Iso Boulevard, where the road began, starting from our community. The first phase of the road, Prince Bassey Edet Otu has just commissioned that road despite spending only one year in office.
“Our local community road at Asim Itah street, that was abandoned for some years, Prince Bassey Edet Otu had fixed it.
“At that point, what else can we do? Even though we refused to allow him to win in our Ward in the last elections.
“But we in the PDP sat down and said, it will be unfair for us not to give him the votes in the subsequent elections, that is what has informed our decision to move enmass from the PDP to APC.
“We have not come to contest the local offices with our brothers who had been on ground all this while.
“We are only coming to add value, use our relationship and connections on people we know at the state and national levels to attract better things to our community and ward.
“We are not coming to struggle Ward structure, no, that is not what we are looking for,” Effiom stated.
While advising other supporters who were yet to make up thier minds to quit the PDP for APC, Effiom said, “If we who are the pillars of the PDP up to the Ward leader, Ntufam Bernard Iso, myself, the ward chairman of PDP, Francis Asi, the entire ward structure of PDP has moved today into the APC, every other person should just follow suit.
“Let me guarantee you that no other party will be mentioned in this Ward in the next coming elections.
“After all, we are the ones that held this Ward tight for the PDP, now that we have moved to the APC, automatically the Ward is now an APC Ward,” he added.