Imoke, Ndoma-Egba and Cross River 2015

Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State and Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) representing Cross River Central Senatorial District in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly are known to be very good friends. The duo, no doubt, can be said to have been working together for the overall growth and development of the state since the entrenchment of democracy in 1999.

There has been an extremely smooth cordial relationship between the two political heavyweights in the country, such that Ndoma-Egba was seen to be fully there for Imoke during the period he was out of the country for medical vacation. Ndoma-Egba, it was, who constantly gave a true picture of the situation when Imoke’s absence became a thing of great concern to the people and causing some sort of tension in the state.

The three-term Senator and Majority Leader of the Senate was among the first to visit Imoke while he was on medical leave abroad. He was also the one that allayed fears of his possible impeachment by the state House of Assembly, on the grounds of ill-health, insisting that he fulfilled the necessary condition for a governor to go on leave, whether medical or otherwise, by transmitting power to his deputy via a letter to the Speaker of the State Assembly.

To now hear that these two leading politicians in Cross River State are at war over 2015 may be surprising to many. But then, it only remains one of the words of Benjamin D’Israeli (December 21, 1804 – April 19, 1881), a British politician, novelist, essayist and one time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), who had said sagaciously of politicians that, “We have no permanent friends. We have no permanent enemies. We just have permanent interests.”

Media reports indicated that the root cause of their quarrel is the Cross River Central Senatorial District ticket for 2015 on one hand, and the battle on who becomes the next governor after Imoke on the other hand. While Ndoma-Egba has spent three terms in the Senate and appears to want to continue to serve his people beyond 2015, there are insinuations that the governor who is from the same zone with him, is equally preparing to occupy the seat, as if it has become a right for every governor after his second term in office to retire to the Senate. Some say he may present somebody against Ndoma-Egba should he decides not to contest.

There was the allegation that the Senate Leader took Mr. Godwin Jedy-Agba, a formidable governorship aspirant from Cross River North to President Goodluck Jonathan, introducing him as the most suitable person to take over from Imoke, without the knowledge of the governor while he was outside the country on medical leave. But the number-three man in the Senate promptly denied it saying: “First of all, Mr. President is alive. We know, quite a number of Cross Riverians have access to him. All you need to do is to ask Mr. President ‘is it true that Victor Ndoma-Egba brought anybody to you?

And he will tell you no such thing has happened. It is just some fiction that they find very very convenient to peddle.”

However, commenting on the view of some political stakeholders from his district who came out openly to ask the governor to single-handedly pick his successor from the northern senatorial zone, the Senate Leader, a though in strong support of the next governor coming from the northern axis of the state, maintained that it has to be through consultation and not unilaterally by the governor, noting that “I believe that whatever position the governor takes at the end of the day would reflect the will of the generality of the members of the PDP, arrived at through a democratic process.”

It is definitely going to be a tough battle should Imoke eventually decides to vie for the Cross River Central Senatorial seat against Ndoma-Egba in 2015 or sponsor somebody to contest with him as also being speculated. I say so because the Senate Leader has succeeded in endearing himself to his constituents, such that they seem to be very willing and ready to allow him continue beyond 2015.
Members of a group called Positive Impact (PI), in a statement jointly signed by their national president and national secretary, Ezeani Bruno and Joe Twigi respectively, had reportedly described Imoke’s supposed senatorial ambition as unfair,an act of mischief and conspiracy against the people of Cross River Central.

In the same vein, the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur during the flag-off of the local council election campaign in Calabar gave the senate leader a clean bill for his re-election.
Hear Tukur: “If you have a person like Senator Ndoma Egba in the Senate, be rest assured that we have quality representative. If you are watching the debate and discussion in the Senate and Senator Victor Ndoma Egba has not spoken then you know that the quality is not guaranteed, so we need people like him at the Senate to continue.”