Top PDP chieftains and stakeholders shun congress in Cross River
– Notable chieftains of PDP in Cross River state, shunned the party’s congress on Tuesday
– The congress produced Inok Edim as the PDP chairman of Cross River state
– Former PDP governors Liyel Imoke and Donald Duke and other stakeholders boycotted the congress
On Tuesday, May 10, notable chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River state, shunned the congress that produced Inok Edim as the chairman of the party in the state, The Punch reports.
Former PDP governors Liyel Imoke and Donald Duke, stakeholders of the party and eight out of the 11 members representing the state in the National Assembly, among others, boycotted the controversial congress which held at the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar.
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Edim, who is the incumbent commissioner for infrastructure in the state, polled a total of 791 votes out of the 809 votes cast to emerge the winner at the congress, which ended at about 10 pm on Tuesday.
It was learnt that the consensus agreement that brought about the emergence of the various candidates were not favourable to the majority of the party’s stakeholders.
Those in attendance at the congress, include the state governor Ben Ayade, his deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu; the Speaker of the House of Assembly, John Gaul-Lebo.
Others were the senators representing Cross River-South and Cross River-Central districts, Gershom Bassey and John Owan-Enoh; as well as the member representing Abi-Yakurr federal constituency, Bassey Ewa, among others.
At the end of the eight-hour exercise, the chairman of the 2016 congress committee for the state, Chief Talib Tebite, declared Edim the winner of the chairmanship election.
READ ALSO: Don’t seek reelection, PDP coalition warns Sheriff, others
In a related development, some chieftains in the party opposing the reelection of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the party chairman have threatened to hold a parallel convention ahead of the national convention of the PDP on May 21 in Port Hacourt.
According to Vanguard, the chieftains who are from the Northcentral, Notheast, Southwest and Southeast, are not happy with the zoning position proposed by the party.
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