New facts have shown that economic factors far more outweighed the political reasons that necessitated the recent defection of the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A top source within the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP said the economic issue played out more than the governor losing the PDP structures in the state.
THISDAY reported a bait of returning some, at least 20 oil wells out of the 76 that were ceded to Akwa Ibom by federal government, largely informed why Ayade left the PDP.
According to the source, “Since the APC lost the bids to have a foothold in Bayelsa and later Edo States, out of the desperation to have the APC in the South-south, the ruling shifted attention to Cross River State, using the bait of returning some of the 76 oil ceded to Akwa Ibom State to Cross River.”
The source explained that Governor Ayade had since 2019 sought return of some of the 76 oil wells ceded to Akwa Ibom following the ruling of the Supreme Court in 2012, saying the ceding of the oil-rich peninsula was illegal and therefore maintained that the loss of the oil wells was an “act of gross injustice and the APC jump to it as a working tool.”
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“So, the defection was imminent as the APC-led federal government want to ensure a control of a state in the South-south,” the source stressed
Giving reasons for his defection, Ayade said injustice and meddling in the affairs of his state led him to move to APC.
“It is my responsibility to bring back Cross River to the centre to enhance our fortune. We need to work ahead with our President for the future of our country”, he said, noting that the territorial integrity of the state has been interfered with and that it was his responsibility to “resocket’ the state back to its proper disposition.
However, the national leadership of the PDP, a source claimed, believed that Ayade lost the control of the party structures in the state due to his complacent attitude to party issues.