A new faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) believed to have been formed by two aggrieved governorship aspirants of the party in Cross River state has emerged.
The aggrieved aspirants are former minister of Tourism and Culture, Chief Edem Duke and Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong, who had both aspired for the governorship ticket of the party ahead of 2019 general elections.
They alleged that the national Vice Chairman (South-South) of the party, Hilliard Eta, favoured another aspirant, Senator John Owan-Enoh.
According to them, this enabled Owan-Enoh to lead in the about to be concluded APC governorship primaries in the state, which is being supervised by Dr Matthew Ochigbe.
They have since announced publicly that they would champion protest votes for opponents of the party come 2019 general elections.
Meanwhile, the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, have been declared winner another faction of the APC in the state led by Mr Godwin Etim John.
Pastor Usani floored four other aspirants to pick the APC gubernatorial ticket for Cross River state.
The primaries which were conducted by the Etim John-led exco of the APC observed the direct primaries as directed by the national leadership of the party.
Announcing the results on Monday, the Chairman, Coalition Committee for the governorship primaries in Cross River state, Ntufam Emmanuel Anom, said the primaries were conducted in all the 196 wards of the state.
He said Pastor Usani polled 47,313 votes to win the primaries.
“Edem Duke came second with 1,322 votes; Senator Eno came third with 1, 236 votes, Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong followed with 1,162, and John Ukpan Odey had 1,099 votes.
“The elections were witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as all security agencies in the state and was largely peaceful except for minor disruptions in Abi, Obubra, Ikom and Yakurr but that did not substantially affect the outcome of the exercise”, he said.
In his reaction, the factional state party chairman, Etim John said the journey had been very turbulent but commended members of the party across the state for their steadfastness and appealed to the winner, Usani Uguru to be magnanimous in victory and reach out to his fellow contestants.
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