By Kelvin Obambon and Cletus Asuquo
A group of All Progressive Congress (APC) members in Cross River have locked the state secretariat, vowing never to unlock it until, the party chairman, Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba, resigns.
The aggrieved members, numbering up to hundred, on Wednesday, sang, chanted and displayed placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Okadigbo Must Goooo’, ‘APC in Cross River State Deserve a Leader, not a Ruler/Terror’, ‘Our Chapter Chairmen and Secretaries Cannot be Crazy and Stupid’, ‘APC Cross River Deserve Fresh Air’, among others.
Recall that on Tuesday the forum of chapter chairmen and secretaries accused the state chairman, Alphonsus Ogar Eba of fund diversion, high-handedness, and actions capable of destabilising the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
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The group in a communiqué alleged that Eba had withheld stipends meant for party officials at the chapter and ward levels for three months, while diverting party funds for his personal use.
The chapter chairmen and secretaries accused him of “lopsided allocation of statutory party funds,” claiming that while the state executive of 36 members received over N40 million, the 5,778 officials at the local government and ward levels were left with just N9.2 million. They also alleged failure to remit statutory percentages from the sale of nomination and delegate forms during the 2023 general elections, coercion of local government dues, and a high-handed approach to party administration.
But in a swift reaction, Barr. Alphonsus Ogar Eba dismissed the allegations, and insisted that the claims were baseless.
He said the alleged withholding of stipends was due to embezzlement and mismanagement by some chapter officials, who he claimed had failed to remit funds meant for wards and chapters.
“I gave them a template of monies they should be paying as salaries, and they defaulted. Each of those people have been embezzling small stipends that should go to their colleagues at the chapter and ward level,” he said.
He added that only 17 chapter chairmen were implicated in the defaults, and that funds for all other structures had been paid directly.
“If we have a structure of close to 6,000 party officials, and 17 that are bad are kept out for punishment, we have not been high-handed at all. Whatever they are looking for, they will get it,” Barr. Eba said.
He also revealed that the Governor’s office has been directly funding the chapters and promised that going forward, stipends would be paid directly to account holders at all levels to prevent further diversion.
