How Tinubu Saved Cross River APC From Zamfara's Nightmare

Owan Enoh's new demands on Ayade

“I wish to call upon the leadership of the party in Cross River State to open a new page in the party based on this new development. On this new page there should be unity, love and justice for all May we continue to invest faith in our party for a better future.”

It was with these demands that former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman and All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate for Cross River State, Senator John Owan Enoh, announced his retirement from any re-judicial interrogation of the May 2022 Party Governor's Primary. Having succumbed to the ambush laid in his path by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Senator Enoh, elegantly pushed the moral burden of reconciling and reintegrating diverse interests into the party for a genuine cessation of hostilities. The events that led to Enoh's surrender hinged on party leaders' efforts to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara debacle that cost the party the important North West state in the 2019 poll. the December 20 town hall meeting by the APC Presidential Campaign Council in Calabar, Cross River State was seen to have been scheduled differently. It was evident from the planning stage that the party's presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was determined to keep the state on the side of the APC as the general elections approached. Everything was done to save Governor Ben Ayade from political humiliation and imminent failure. Governor Ayade made headlines when he quit the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) on which he was elected for a second term as Governor of Cross River State . Additionally, prior to Ayade's arrival, Cross River's eighth senate representative John Owan Enoh, whom he defeated in the 2019 gubernatorial ballot, was also oiling his structures in preparation for a new gubernatorial contest in 2023. But, after joining APC, where he initially aspired to the party's presidential ticket to step down for Tinubu, Ayade's plan to implant a successor landed him in another political crossfire. and legal with Senator Owan Enoh. With his pedigree as a grassroots politician, farmer and philanthropist, the former Cross River Central senator was determined to push the APC state chapter down a dangerous cliff similar to the one his US counterpart Zamfara State suffered in 2019. Incumbent Governor Abdullaziz Yari decided to block Senator Marafa. governor's ambition and replace him in the Senate. The infighting led to the disqualification of APC candidates from Zamfara State for the 2019 ballot. So it was in an effort to avoid such an ugly experience that Tinubu and APC PCC held their meeting at the town hall in Calabar. Not only are Ayade and Cross River the only APC governors and states in the South-South geopolitical zone, but their strategic position for electoral propagation forced Tinubu to intervene vigorously in the deep political crisis caused by the battle for supremacy. of Ayade against Own Enoh. Perhaps, beneath the bitter rivalry between Governor Ayade and the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, lay the governor's insistence on donating the CPA governorship and central senate tickets to his pawns. favourites. Furious at this authoritarian political disposition, Owan Enoh and Mary Eta decided to recover their mandates in court. Both legal challenges had the ability to disrupt the Cross APC into a massive political disruption of earthquake magnitude. Although the Federal High Court and the Calabar Court of Appeals ruled against Owan Enoh's lawsuit, the senator was confident the Supreme Court would do justice to the APC governor's primary issue. Owan Enoh had complained about the manipulation of the fictitious poll, claiming that Senator (Prince Bassey Edet Otu) had been "unfairly and illegally" voted the winner despite his refusal by the selection and appeals committees set up by the party. In his petitions to the party appeals committee, Senator Enoh noted that Otu's academic records are filled with questionable flaws, even though he pointed out that the contender's participation in the gubernatorial primary was in complete violation of the established rules and party constitution. But, showing great leadership and political experience in the town hall meeting, Tinubu publicly urged Owan Enoh and Mary Eta to desist from dangerous litigation. the APC presidency revealed how he met Senator Enoh at the airport and pleaded with him to end the legal dispute for the sake of the party, adding that he was repeating that call again." Mary Eta and I have no started today, we have been friends a long time ago. And Senator John Owan-Enoh, no matter what...