Opposition parties attack PDP chairman as CROSIEC unveils LG polls timetable

Many leaders of opposition parties in Cross River State have attacked the chairman of the major opposition party, PDP, Venatius Ikem.

The hot exchange between other opposition leaders and Ikem happened after the chairman of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC, Dr Ekong Edet Boco, on Wednesday afternoon, gave them one month to prepare for the local government chairmanship election.

Ikem had expressed displeasure that the chairman of political party monitoring in IPAC, who also is chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the state, Dr Ekpenyong Ambo, was speaking for too long instead of giving a vote of thanks.

Pandemonium ensued as former IPAC chairman Anthony Bissong and other state chairmen rose against Ikem, shouting at him to keep quiet and sit down.

Ikem insisted further that Ambo had deviated from what he ought to say.

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Before the wrangling, the CROSIEC boss released the timetable for the 2024 Local Government Council in the state.

He announced that the conduct of party primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from the primaries, commences as he was speaking, and should terminate on 15 October 2024.

“All the processes are to terminate on October 25, 2024, when all political campaigns should also end. On October 26, 2024, local government elections will hold in the state,” Boco announced.

He assured that all the registered political parties would be given a level playing field. “Election is not war. We are going to conduct a rancour-free election. So we need a peaceful environment to achieve a credible and acceptable election in the state,” he said.

All the political parties pledged their readiness to actively participate in the polls since it has been long overdue.

However, PDP chairman, Ikem, said they would have boycotted because of the hasty amendment of the law to conduct the election, the suddenness of the timetable and multiple adjustments of goalposts to favour the ruling party.

“We’d rather participate in protest because to boycott is a language of defeat,” he said.