How broom revolution is reconfiguring Cross River politics 

By Chidi Onyemaizu

On May 20, 2021, Governor Ben Ayade took the pragmatic decision to socket Cross River state to the central government by switching allegiance from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

That decision did not bring down heaven but it raised dust, reconfigured for good the political firmament of Cross River, provoked mass movement and signposted permanent retirement of politicians who hitherto determined the tenor of politics in the state.

Ayade is a refined politician who is not given to political fisticuffs. His political creed, 'Politics with Ethics' does not allow for pettiness in the name of politics.

Therefore, whether in Cross River or in the larger national polity, the Cross River state governor has no enemies to fight, to borrow from former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, a recent piece in ThisDay which has all the trappings of a hatchet job, laboured in vain to suggest otherwise.
Truth is, Ayade and the APC are not in competition with any party or political figure in Cross River, real or imagined, because verifiable evidence on the ground clearly shows that such party or politicians now only exist on the pages of newspapers, social media platforms and electronic media news bulletins having been retired by the current political realities.

Ayade and the APC are now the main embodiment of politics and political leadership in Cross River. This is an indisputable fact.
Ayade's exit from the PDP has indeed narrowed the party to the confinement of a few yesterday's men.

For the records, the taunted political wizardry of the so-called three wise men has been severely eviscerated. It will be difficult if not outrightly impossible for them to further influence the future direction of politics in the state.
Keen followers of Cross River politics can check this out: Former Governor  Donald Duke’s political relevance has since dwindled. In 2019, he contested the presidential election and got only six votes in the polling unit in front of his house, he was roundly defeated.

In 2019, the only federal constituency that PDP lost to the APC even when Ayade was in PDP was the Abi Federal Constituency, the home constituency of former governor, His Excellency, Liyel Imoke.

So, Imoke’s political strength which earned him the name, Avatar, in the opinion of many, is now questionable.

In the southern senatorial district of the state, Prince Bassey Otu, popular as Sweet Prince, remains more popular than Gershom Bassey, the incumbent senator and one of the tripods of the troika.

In the central senatorial district of the state, APC boasts of heavyweights like Senator Owan Enoh, former Senate Majority leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, Obon Obla, former Niger-Delta Minister, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, Alex Egbona of the House of Reps, Bolaji Anani, Barrister Chris Agara among others.

And in the North, Ayade's home senatorial district which he once represented in the Senate, the governor is in absolute control.

The Jarigbe-Odey debacle which ended in the former's favour and which some people have been citing as evidence of PDP's resurgence was a product of unimaginable dark litigation. It cannot be a barometre to measure a political party's popularity or relevance.

In today's Cross River, Ayade has brought to bear on it an unprecedented mass movement, a broom revolution that has planted APC in every nook and cranny of the state.

His policy of food on the table appointment also means he has an army of followers.

There is no family in Cross River, no kindred and no village that does not have at least one of their sons or daughters as an appointee in the Ayade government.

Under such circumstances, no one expect such appointees and those who depend on them for survival, not to key into the political direction of the man who puts food on their table.

His superlative achievements, especially in the areas of industrialisation and infrastructure as well as youth empowerment and job creation, also speak loudly for him, prompting thousands of youths to willingly register as APC members in solidarity and appreciation.

Cross River monarchs, speaking through their leader, Chairman of state's Traditional Ruler's Council, His Royal Highness, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, are also solidly in support Governor Ayade's defection to the APC: "It is our believe that God wants to do something out of this for two reasons: old things must pass away and old things must become new

"Past Governors of this state have always admonished us to follow the leader and in this state, the leader is the Governor. So nobody should tell us otherwise now that it is Ayade’s turn.

"Therefore, we must follow Ayade because we know that your thoughts towards Cross River State, Your Excellency,  are of good and not evil, you will lead us to a successful end.

"We know of a truth that we cannot afford to be in opposition."

Ayade does not trumpet his political strength because a Tiger does not unnecessarily flaunt its Tigerdom. However,  let no one forget that he is so far the only Cross River governor who won re-election as an opposition governor.

In 2019, Ayade surmounted the intimidating APC federal might to win re-election as a PDP governor and equally ensured that the PDP won all seats in the state House of Assembly and all but one seat in the National Assembly. His predecessors, Duke and Imoke won their first and second term elections respectively as governors of a ruling party.

If Ayade was able to snatch victories from the jaws of APC in 2019 as an opposition governor, it shows that he is the main issue in Cross River politics and that 2023 will be no Herculean task for him and the APC now that he in the mainstream of Nigerian politics.

The bitter pill which has been difficult for a feckless opposition to swallow is that Ayade moved with Cross River leaving his former party empty and shallow.No wonder some social affairs commentators now describe it as "defunct PDP"

For example, all the council chairmen and councillors have all moved, all PDP chapters and ward chairmen moved with Ayade, 18 of the 24 members of the House of assembly, including the speaker have all moved with him.

As a stamp of death settles on PDP's pallid structures in Cross River, a senior member of the party in Calabar South was at home with the grim reality of the situation recently when he admitted: "Unless a miracle happens, our party may not survive this tsunami. Never in our wildest dream did we contemplate this haemorrhage in our party.

“We thought Ayade was bluffing when he said that if he moved, Cross River would move with him”

How Ayade was able to dismantle an entrenched cabal of godfathers and in their stead enthroned a massive, consuming new political movement, a sort of revolution, is a riddle wrapped in a puzzle.

It befuddles the minds, including the disrobed godfathers who now only nourish their bruised ego with the glories of the past.

They are of course free to live in their past glories but Edna Ferber's admonition will suffice here: " Living in the past is a dull and lonely business; looking back strains the neck muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way"

Chidi Onyemaizu is Senior Special Assistant on Print Media to Gov. Ayade

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