The National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr Betta Edu, has disclosed that her party has opened talks with the Labour Party to form an alliance ahead of the Saturday, March 11 governorship election in Cross River State.
Edu said this while speaking on an Arise TV morning programme on Saturday, March 4, 2023.
Recall that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won the highest number of votes in Cross River in the just-concluded presidential election, leaving the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates in second and third places respectively.
This development has led to suggestions that the ruling party is in danger of losing the state in the governorship election, especially because the outgoing governor, Ben Ayade also lost his senatorial bid in the Saturday, February 25, elections.
However, Edu disagreed with the prediction, insisting that the APC still remains the party to beat in the state.
She said, despite losing the presidential election, her party still won most national assembly seats in the state including two senatorial seats and all but one House of Representatives seat.
"I guess you know that all other senatorial seats in Cross River State were won by APC and also want to put this to the fore that the House of Representatives seats were won by APC except in the northern zone. So APC won in the central zone, and APC won in the south. We only lost in the northern part of the state and when you see the difference between the APC and the Labour Party that won the state, you will see that it's a little margin and that was because of the northern senatorial district," Edu said.
Speaking on the APC chances in the governorship election, the former Commissioner expressed confidence that the party's candidate, Senator Prince Otu has the full support of the people and will emerge victorious.
She also said the ruling party are in talks with the Labour Party on a possible alliance that will further bolster the APC's chances in the March 11 election.
She said, "But definitely going into the next election, our candidate in the APC, Senator Prince Otu, is very popular. He has full support on the ground, and he has the support of Cross Riverians and we're very sure he's going to win. Remember the PDP in Cross River didn't come second, they came third, a very far third, so PDP is basically out of the picture.
"We're going into the next election, Labour Party doesn't have a candidate and most of the people who voted for the Labour Party are actually full supporters of the governorship candidate of the APC and they would vote for him.
"For PDP, we're not worried about them, they're not a threat to us. The Labour Party, we're discussing with them and working hand-in-hand with them because they do not even have a governorship candidate, they would work with us in APC and we will achieve victory for Senator Otu."
Meanwhile, as opposed to the APC National Women Leader's claim, the Labour Party did field a candidate in the Cross River governorship contest in the person of Ogar Osim.
Osim, who is a clergyman in the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, also doubles as the party's State Chairman.
He was asked to stand in as the Labour Party governorship candidate in Cross Rivers by the national body after noone showed an interest in picking the ticket.
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