…warns defaulters risk sacking, replacement by party members
All Progressives Congress in Cross River State has threatened to ensure the sack of 7,000 of Governor Ben Ayade’s appointees for failing to register with the party.
The state APC Chairman-elect, Alphonsus Eba, gave this threat at a press conference in Calabar on Tuesday.
Eba said the affected aides of Governor Ayade had yet to formally register as APC members, warning that they would be given up till December 31, 2021 to do so or risk losing their appointments on January 1, 2021.
“All the 7,000 appointees yet to register with the APC must be relieved of their appointments,” he said, adding that they would be replaced by APC members.
The state party chairman explained that Article 9(5) of the APC constitution bars members from taking appointments with the government of other political parties.
Eba disclosed that the newly elected state excos had already visited aggrieved members of the party.
“We have had interactions with aggrieved members of our party. In the last count, no fewer than 100 distinguished party members, young, old, major, minor have been visited. The belief of every party member is that APC is the party to beat,” he said.
The APC state chairman also expressed his belief in zoning, saying that it “is not a problem in the APC. It is that of the PDP.”
He also decried the politics of bitterness, adding “It is not the way to go.”