Appeal Court resolves Cross River APC leadership crisis

The Court of Appeal sitting in Calabar has pronounced the Sir Etim John Ochala-led executive committee as the authentic leadership of the Cross River State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The political party has, in the last three years, been factionalised with John Ochala running the other group in the state.

Responding to the verdict, the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Bassey Ita, in a statement, noted: “On this note, the State Executive Committee of the party has declared that for the purpose of uniting every interest, the judgment was a ‘no victor, no vanquish’ situation.

“Our brothers from the other divide are therefore urged to close the gap of whatever divide that has existed in the overall Interest of the collective victory of the party in the northern senatorial district by-election (to start with) and subsequent ones.

“We have also one important message for our members: to realise that we need our brothers from the other divide to be part of the planning and implementation of every strategy that will lead our party to victory in those elections.”

He continued: “We see (not) the judgment as an occasion for hauling venom or tantrums at our brothers in the other divide. We have to state unequivocally that the beauty of democracy consists in the divergence of opinions, which those brothers in the other divide expressed in going to court (even though against the party’s statutes and precepts).

“Against this backdrop, we call for restraint in the outright attack of the tendencies of those members.

“We insist that those members are still part and parcel of our great party, as we have no other party than ours. We believe that together, we will achieve a lot beyond what our frailties and disunity would fetch us.”

He further pleaded: “The National Peace and Reconciliation Committee led by Chief Bisi Akande would have no business coming to the state if we are seen in the light of unity and concern for the party.

“Our strength, which should come from our unity, would then be directed at confronting our opponents in other parties to throw us up as a victorious army in forthcoming elections.”

Ochala, on his part, said:  “Interestingly, we wish to state that our efforts will require the support of every individual member. We have started the genuine process of collaboration by reaching out to our brothers from the other divide, to convince them of the need for peace building and unity. We believe that through this means, our job of uniting every interest will be a lot easier.”