By Dr Ignatius Otaye
In February 2024, there was an urgent call by some All Progressives Congress, APC members led by Chief Mark Nomba Ayo and Chief Mathias Ake placed Barrister Alphonsus Eba, the State’s Party Chairman on suspension following obvious malpractices and glaring lack of capacity to occupy such a critical party position.
The party’s stakeholders had listed many offences including breach of the APC Constitution, dictatorial tendencies, poor electoral performance in his polling unit, ward, local government area and Senatorial district, high handedness, and isolation of the other party organs in the running of the party among other offences.
The party chieftains in the state went ahead and issued a suspension letter to Eba which was sent to the National Chairman of APC and signed by Chief Noma Ayo as Chairman and Chief Ake as Secretary of the aggrieved stakeholders and concerned party members.
“Since assumption of office, Barrister Eba has conducted himself as a sole administrator and acted in a high-handed and antagonistic manner towards other Party members. We, the undersigned bonafide members and on behalf of Cross River State APC Stakeholders and acting for the overall interest, success and wellbeing of our great party and the majority of our membership across the state have decided, agreed and undertaken to suspend Alphonsus Eba as State Chairman of our great party, the APC in Cross River State”.
The Party members highlighted the sections of the APC Constitution violated by Eba to include: Articles 12.10 (State Caucus formation)
Article 12: 12 (Senatorial District Caucus formation);
Article 12: 15 (Local Government Caucus formation):
Article 14: 1 (Power of State Chairman to consult the State Working Committee before taking any decisions).
They stated that, “Barrister Alphonsus Eba since assumption of office has refused, omitted, neglected and failed to constitute the above organs of the party in clear violations of our Party Constitution and has continued to conduct himself in a high-handed manner, and sees other party members and executives as his employees, takes decisions without minding the feelings of others and carried on as a “Man Alone”.
The Stakeholders asserted further that during the 2023 elections, Eba performed woefully by losing his polling unit, ward, local government area and Senatorial district in critical elections like Presidential, Senatorial, and House of Representatives in spite of the huge sums of money handed over to him during the said elections.
“These loses have not only exposed our great Party, the APC to ridicule but have shown his lack of capacity to effectively manage the party to move it to higher heights and this if allowed to continue would spell disaster to our Party. These reasons have made it imperative to place Eba on immediate suspension without further delay,” the stakeholders told the APC National Chairman.
In conclusion, the stakeholders said after due consultation, in place of Barrister Alphonsus Eba announced Mr James Alicha as the Acting Chairman and called on Eba to stay away from the Party’s Secretariat with immediate effect.
But like a leech, Mr Eba has clung onto office for the past one year and beyond without changing his style by being more inclusive and level headed even when he knows he had lost the trust and mandate of the party members.
These acts have obviously prompted other organs of the party to call for his resignation. First, it was the chapter chairmen and secretaries of the party who called for his resignation, then 196 ward Chairmen and secretaries and finally, the State Working Committee, (SWC) of the party who have all insisted that Eba must go which has effectively sealed his days in office.
The Chapter Chairmen and Secretaries exposed the corrupt practices of Alphonsus Eba after he embezzled the sum of sixty million naira alongside other acts of misconduct as well as the non-payment of stipends to party officials at the chapter and ward levels for several months.
In a communiqué issued in Calabar, the state capital, and signed by the Forum of Chapter Chairmen and Secretaries, the group said these actions by Eba have “crippled party operations and worsened the welfare of officials across the state.”
Chairman of the Forum and Boki LGA party Chairman, Kelvin Njong, said that no previous party chairman had withheld stipends meant for chapter and ward officials, describing Eba’s conduct as unprecedented.
He also accused the APC Chairman of inciting divisions within the party by turning ward and chapter officials against their local leadership, an act he said contravenes Sections 21:2(ii & v) of the APC Constitution (as amended in March 2022).
Njong urged the APC national leadership to compel Eba to pay all outstanding stipends and remit funds generated from the sale of forms during the 2023 general elections, as well as other allocations from the national secretariat.
“In the interest of unity and progress, the State Chairman, Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba should be mandated to resign honourably for his anti-progressive actions that have undermined the party,” the Chairmen and Secretaries insisted.
Following closely on the heels of the Chapter Chairmen, the 18 vice chairmen and 196 ward chairmen also threw their weight behind the call for the resignation of the state party chairman over alleged financial impropriety and demanded his immediate resignation.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Forum of Ward Chairmen, Comrade Franklin Egbai from Biase Local Government chapter, expressed deep dissatisfaction with the treatment of ward executives. He said, “I feel sad about the allegations against the state chairman and the poor treatment meted out to ward executives. It is shameful that ward executives are given twenty thousand naira to share among twenty seven members. We are being treated as insignificant by the state chairman. Sometimes, we go home with five hundred naira per person per month as party leaders at the ward level.”
The final straw that has broken Ebas back is the backing of the call by the ward chairmen, chapter chairmen and secretaries by the State Working Committee, the highest body in the APC in the state for Eba to resign.
These clarion calls by all the structures of the party effectively highlight the fact that the February 2024 suspension order on Eba was not out of malice or hinged on personal aggrandisement but based on cogent and valid reasons. Eba’s tenure has inflicted much damage on the APC in Cross River and nothing can save him. His time has since elapsed, he should therefore vacate the place for a new lease of life in APC in Cross River.
Signed
Dr Ignatius Otaye
For Supreme Mandate Alliance
