The deputy gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Ekpo Okon has returned to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
Ekpo Okon, who joined the APC in 2018 and was running mate to Senator John Owan-Enoh during the 2019 gubernatorial election, was formerly received by the former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke.
The reception, which was held at the PDP secretariat annex along Mary Slessor Avenue in the heart of Calabar, the capital of Cross River State attracted passersby and held traffic to a standstill for several hours.
Duke said that Ekpo Okon, who at the time served as State chairman of the PDP, was instrumental to the various successes achieved during his tenure between 1999 and 2007.
Retrogressive leadership
The former governor, who berated the leadership of the ruling APC in Cross River for its governance style, said that by now the state would have been among the 5 wealthiest in Nigeria today.
Duke said, “those that are stranger elements came in and we opened the door for them; and we allowed them occupy seats that founders should have. Those, who are in charge of the state do not know where we came from and are taking us to the wilderness.
“I know where we ought to be. This state should have been among the five wealthiest in the country but our benevolence got the better of us,” said Duke.
He emphatically said that Cross River remained a PDP state and nothing else, urging party men to rise up to the occasion to reclaim the state from the ruling APC.
In a remark, the state chairman of the PDP and former national publicity secretary of the party, Mr. Venatius Ikem said that the PDP under his watch was poised to bring back to the fold those who left the party for one reason or the other.
Ikem explained, “so that we can save the state from other parties”
Overwhelmed by the show of solidarity and welcome, Okon, who also served as a Commissioner on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, alongside his successor, Dominic Edem, said he decided to return to PDP because of the rot in ruling APC in the state.
According to him, “when I went to the other side, I thought we were going to improve the economy and security. But my experience there has proven that I made a mistake.
“I am coming back to the party to rework and make progress in the state. I promise to work hard to ensure that our state returns PDP to power,” Ekpo said.
Thousands joined the political gladiators to decamp to the PDP.
Dominica Nwabufo
