Obambon|15 February 2019
The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party in Cross River State, Barr. Eyo Ekpo, has on Monday, denied the allegation that he collected the sum of one billion naira from the People's Democratic Party in order to shelve his governorship ambition in the March 2nd poll.
Eyo Ekpo who reacted to the alleged 'settlement' while fielding questions from newsmen during a press briefing in Calabar, debunked the rumours and said they exist only in the figment of imagination of whoever is peddling such rumours. He wondered why he would pretend to run in an election with the sole aim of getting money from incumbent to chicken out of the race, when there are better ways for him to earn a good living. Ekpo however added that the fact that he is still campaigning across the state is enough to lay the rumours to rest, saying there would have been no need to campaign further if he had indeed collected money as alleged.
He said, “while I cannot stop these stories from circulating, I can certainly say, most categorically, that they are figment of imagination of whoever is spreading the rumours. They are utter rubbish. I can think of better and more creative ways to earn a good living for myself than to do such a thing. If I had collected 1billion naira from the PDP, I can assure you I will not be sitting here at this point in time. I think action speaks louder than any rumour you may have heard. The fact that we are still continuing with our campaigns is an answer to the question.”
The governorship hopeful said there is no amount of money anyone could offer him that can undo the absolute collapse of governance in Cross River State of which he is out to fix. He declared that as long as he is concerned, nothing would derail him from the mission to rescue and restore Cross River.
“I don't think anything can be paid to assuage the total failure of governance that Cross River State has suffered. As far as I am concern, no such thing is going to happen regarding my candidacy in this race. We are going to the very end of it and I'm sure we'll emerge victorious.”, Eyo Ekpo declared.