Mr Mba Ukweni, SAN and a leader in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Cross River State has disclosed that PDP made a lot of mistakes in the general elections that took place early in 2023 both at federal and state levels.
Ukweni made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday (Oct. 2) in Calabar.
It would be recalled that the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Calabar had on Tuesday, Sept. 26 struck out the petition of PDP’s Sen. Sandy Onor against Governor Bassey Otu of the APC, concerning the March 18 Governorship Election for lack of merit.
The astute legal practitioner said before the elections, the All Progressive Congress (APC) was in power at the national level which made certain things to their advantage meaning the PDP had to work harder and smarter but it didn’t.
According to him, “Mr Peter Obi was in PDP but left for the Labour Party (LP), why did he and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar not work together as they did the first time?
“If both of them had worked together, is there any how Bola Tinubu would have defeated them?
“We made a lot of mistakes as a party in the state and at the national level; even the former President, Muhammadu Buhari made it clear that the opposition lost the election because they were overconfident,” he said.
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He maintained that for Cross River they also committed another blunder by refusing to follow the already existing zoning formula in the state which meant that power should return to the Southern Senatorial District.
He said not following that formula in the state meant that they were working against the feelings and sentiments of the people.
“For Cross River, I told leaders of my party as the chairman of the sub-committees on zoning that interfaced with the people that for the interest of peace, let the zoning continue which was how former Gov. Ben Ayade got power.
“Why won’t PDP work with that sentiment of the people, that it is the turn of the Southern Senatorial District, Sen. Sandy Onor who is from the Central Senatorial District ran, these were some of the reasons why the election ended the way it ended,” he noted.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that leadership in Cross River since 1999 had been rotated amongst the Senatorial Districts until Sen. Sandy Onor from Cross River Central came out to oppose the zoning principle. (NAN)
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