Ex-PDP guber candidate,  Duke dumps party for APC in C’River 

From Ene Asuquo, Calabar 

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Deputy governorship candidate in the 2023 general election in Cross River state, Emana Duke Ambrose-Amawhe and her teeming supporters numbering over 1,000,  formally  dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The defection took place at the weekend, in her ward, Edem Odo in Akpabuyo LGA of Cross River state.

Emana asserted that she was prompted to join the APC following the development stride carried out by the party at the state and the national level.

“I’m excited to now be a part and parcel of the All Progressive’s family. I was a deputy governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, and a daughter of Cross River South”.

“I took a decision to cross over to the All Progressive’s Congress. First off, seeing the good works my governor His Excellency Bassey Otu has been doing. It’s only the blind, even the blind hears when good things are happening”.

“Then, at the national level, there are those who would say, things are hard, the economy is not looking up, and all of that. I would like to tell them that nothing good happens overnight”.

“The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has placed the right pegs in the right holes. Bit by bit, day after day, we are moving closer to an uptick in our economy. All the other good things put together, these are the reasons why I decided to come back to the All Progressive Congress as a Cross Riverian. 

She noted that her defection is not preempted by hunger or seeking for appointment but to work together with people in power in order to deliver the dividends of democracy to her grassroots, urging those still in opposition to join hands building the state instead of being a keyboard critic.

“I’m a nation-builder, that’s why I am now part of the APC. The thing is that nobody is being forced to join the APC. If there is going to be opposition, we need viable opposition parties.

“When the opposition parties are not able to put their acts together, and there’s a lot of dissension within the ranks of these opposition parties, it’s obvious they are not ready to do the business of the day. So, for me, I’m a business-minded person, so I go where people mean business, and they do not just mean business, they are working towards achieving those dreams.

“Don’t be a keyboard warrior, criticizing government. Come in, bring your ideas, come and partner, come and join hands to build the better Cross River and a better Nigeria, she emphasized”. 

Welcoming the defectors, the state secretary, APC, Patrick Asikpo warned them not to join the party with the mindset of coming to fight or cause coerce in the party, assuring them that all privileges accorded every APC members is theirs henceforth.

“Let me assure you that a complicated peace is better than a small war. And today all our brothers and our sisters have defected to a great party, APC. All privileges and what is meant for APC member is accorded you from today. There is no new APC, there is no old APC. You are APC member from today ongoing, he said.

On his part, the former minister of tourism, Edem Duke, who is the ward leader of Edem Odo Ward in Akpabuyo LGA expressed optimism that 2027 will be a walkover for APC following the defection of such bigwigs.

“I feel very glad because this is the defection of the most senior political office holder, potentially, of the PDP. And for her to have come to the ward today sends a signal to the rest of that and other parties that the political family, the political architecture, and the political landscape of Cross River State is changed. And it is changing for the better and changing in favor of the APC.

APC stalwarts who witnessed the defection include; the commissioner for Commerce, Abigail Duke, the executive chairmen of Akpabuyo and Bakassi, state party excos and  chapter chairmen across other LGAs.