Ambrose-Amawhe, others dump PDP for APC in C’ River

The 2023 Peoples Democratic Party deputy governorship candidate in Cross River state, Dr Emana Ambrose-Amawhe, and her supporters have formally joined the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Emana, during the defection ceremony at her ward, Edem Odo in Akpabuyo LGA on Friday, asserted that she was prompted to join the APC following the development strides carried out by the party at the state and national level.

She said, “I took the decision to cross over to the All Progressives Congress. First off, seeing the good works my governor, His Excellency Bassey Otu, has been doing. It’s only the blind who cannot see when good things are happening. I’m excited to be a part and parcel of the All Progressives’ family. I was a deputy governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, and a daughter of Cross River South.”

“Then, at the national level, there are those who would say, things are hard, the economy is not looking up, and all of that. I would like to tell them that nothing good happens overnight”, she added.

“The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has placed the right pegs in the right holes. Bit by bit, day after day, we are moving closer to an uptick in our economy. All the other good things put together, these are the reasons why I decided to come back to the All Progressive Congress as a Cross Riverian.”

She noted that her defection is not preempted by hunger or seeking an appointment, but to work together with people in power in order to deliver the dividends of democracy to her grassroots, urging those still in opposition to join hands in building the state instead of being keyboard critics.

“I’m a nation-builder, that’s why I am now part of the APC. The thing is that nobody is being forced to join the APC. If there is going to be opposition, we need viable opposition parties.

“When the opposition parties are not able to put their acts together, and there’s a lot of dissension within the ranks of these opposition parties, it’s obvious they are not ready to do the business of the day. So, for me, I’m a business-minded person, so I go where people mean business, and they do not just mean business, they are working towards achieving those dreams.

“Don’t be a keyboard warrior, criticising the government. Come in, bring your ideas, come and partner, come and join hands to build a better Cross River and a better Nigeria, she emphasised.

Welcoming the defectors, the APC state secretary, Patrick Asikpo, warned them not to join the party with the mindset of coming to fight or cause coercion in the party, assuring them that all privileges accorded to every APC member are theirs henceforth.

“Let me assure you that a complicated peace is better than a small war. And today all our brothers and our sisters have defected to a great party, the APC. All privileges and what is meant for an APC member are accorded to you from today. There is no new APC, there is no old APC. You are an APC member from today,” he said.

On his part, the former minister of tourism, High Chief Edem Duke, who is the ward leader of Edem Odo Ward in Akpabuyo LGA, expressed optimism that 2027 will be a walkover for APC following the defection of such bigwigs.

“I feel very glad because this is the defection of the most senior political office holder, potentially, of the PDP. And for her to have come to the ward today sends a signal to the rest of that and other parties that the political family, the political architecture, and the political landscape of Cross River State have changed. And it is changing for the better and changing in favour of the APC.