Mr Hilliard Eta, the National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has assured of the party’s capacity to win elections in Nigeria’s South-South geo-political zone.
Similarly, former Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, also assured that the APC has the structures to win in any election in Cross River.
They gave the assurances on Tuesday in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar.
According to Eta the party is strong in Cross River and has the strength to win the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo.
“We are on the ground in Cross River state. We have the right calibre of people who can win elections here at the appropriate time.
“The APC is grounded in Edo politics. It is poised to win and retain the governorship of Edo. Not because we are a garrison party, not because we intend to capture Edo.
“It is simply because we are campaigning on the accomplishments of our outgoing governor. So there is absolutely no problem. Yet people impugn all manner of conspiracy theories.
“The APC has not lost hold of Edo. Its hand is firmly on the handle. The result of the election will speak to this. Only the voters of Edo would decide.
“We have shown in Kogi. We had 28 aspirants and because it was fair, not a single person petitioned the party. And that is exactly what we will do in Edo.
“In the APC we have a right to hold different opinions. That is why we are progressives.
“In the conservative fold the only thing that puts them together is how to share the spoils of office,’’ Eta said.
Ndoma-Egba, who is member APC Board of Trustees, also said the party can win Cross River by avoiding what he called the mistakes of the ruling party, the PDP.
Besides, he said that the APC leadership needed to defeat the PDP by doing what is right and through proper establishment of party’s structure in the state.
“The PDP has given us a template of how not to be a political party. All we need to do is to avoid the mistakes the PDP has made.
“One of the biggest mistakes of the PDP is the issue of ownership of the party.
“The PDP lost membership of its party and the governors became the only members and owners of PDP and the only people who matter in the party, owners of the PDP,’’ he said.
He said that what made the APC strong was that the ownership of the party is embedded in the common members of the party.
“In APC ownership of the party must reside with the common members of the party like you and me. We must protect the ownership of the party.
“The second lesson we must learn from PDP is that impunity anywhere is not sustainable. There is nothing like doing the correct thing.
“The governors decide everything. Let us apply democracy in whatever we are doing in selecting our leaders at all levels. We must apply the rules and be fair to all.
“I call for the proper establishment of structure. It is our choice to win but whether to win or lose is our choice.
“We have to make that decision. I believe that we can win and I want us to win and we must win,’’ Ndoma-Egba said. (NAN)
APC structures can win elections in South South – Etta, Ndoma-Egba
