The Coalition of Akamkpa/Biase Stakeholders Forum, CABS, has disclosed that zoning must be maintained in the Cross River adding that the next governor of the state must come from the southern Senatorial district and micro zoning to Akamkpa/Biase Federal Consistency.
They made this known in a press conference held at Naks Hotel Calabar on Thursday.
In a release made available to Detailing Cross River, signed by Chief Emmanuel I. Evong Biase LGA Representative and Ntufam E. Itogim Anom, Akamkpa LGA Representative(Coveners) they insisted that the existing zoning arrangement for the Office of the Governor of Cross River State and all other political offices be maintained; and by that arrangement, the Governorship of Cross River State in 2023 should be zoned to the Southern Senatorial District, arguing that over 80 percent of natural resources and revenue from the state is in Biase/Akamkpa and since the advent of democratic rule in 1999 they have not tested the position of governorship.
“The Forum, therefore, calls upon and urges fellow stakeholders from Central, Northern, and their brothers in the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State to join hands with them to support micro zoning at Biase/Akamkpa to ensure equality and equity in Cross River State,” they stated.
Citing section 6 (a) of the foremost Calabar-Ogoja Accord of 1980, CABS in a position paper signed by Chief Emmanuel Evong, Biase representative, and Ntufam E. Itogim Anom, Akamkpa representative, noted that “Governor, consideration will be as stipulated in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A very special note has to be taken of the fact of the principle of rotation, where any community/senatorial district shall not produce a governor twice in succession. Where any senatorial district produces a Governor, in the first instance, it will fall on the other senatorial district to produce a Governor during the next run.”
The group added that “Section 18 (i) of the Accord further maintains that as a necessary corollary of this agreement, the concept of Senatorial District equality and even development shall also be applied in the relation of the various clans/ethnic groups within each of the Senatorial Districts.”
Explaining the clauses of the Accord, CABS averred that “the group, community or part of the Southern Senatorial District that produced the Governor of Cross River State from 1999-2007, cannot in succession produced the next governor in 2023 when other ethnic groups within the zone have not produced a governor. In the spirit of the Accord, that is tantamount to marginalization, social exclusion, domination, and injustice.
“On the strength of the above, the Coalition of Akamkpa/Biase Stakeholders hereby draw the attention of the government and people of Cross River State to the fact that the Akamkpa/Biase FederaI Constituency in the Southern Senatorial District, comprising 15 ethnic groups (11 in Biase LGA and 5 in Akamkpa LGA) have never produced a Governor, and are accordingly highly determined and committed to producing the next Governor of Cross River State in 2023.
“We have mature, highly qualified, experienced, God-fearing, and dynamic politicians in the APC that are currently aspiring for the governorship position in the 2023 general elections. We accordingly and passionately call on all political stakeholders, elder statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, public servants, and women and youths to eschew sentiments, and objectively support Akamkpa/Biase to produce the next governor of Cross River State in 2023.”
In conclusion, they thanked his Excellency, Senator Prof. Ben Ayade for publicly declaring that his successor and next governor of Cross River State in 2023, will come from the Southern senatorial district.
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