Cross River APC Vows Massive Support For Tinubu, Otu In 2027

The Cross River State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chris Etta, has pledged to mobilise party members across the state to vote massively for President Bola Tinubu and Governor Bassey Otu in the 2027 elections.

Etta made the pledge in Calabar during the inauguration of the 30-member executive committee of a support group, Cross River Arise for Prince Bassey Otu and Peter Odey.

He said the support was driven by what he described as the achievements of the Tinubu and Otu administrations, particularly the restoration of Cross River’s status as an oil-producing state.

According to him, the state’s recognition as an oil-producing state followed the efforts of Governor Otu, working with President Tinubu, to secure recognition for 36 oil wells.

“Even the oil wealth, we have already gotten 36. That has already put us now in the list of oil-producing states. The contracts have been signed. The companies are moving in,” Etta said.

Cross River lost the Bakassi Peninsula and several oil wells to Cameroon on August 14, 2008, following the 2002 International Court of Justice ruling and the 2006 Green Tree Agreement.

The state subsequently lost 76 oil wells to neighbouring Akwa Ibom State on March 22, 2009. The development deprived Cross River of its 13 per cent derivation allocation and eventually led to its removal from the list of oil-producing states.

Etta described Tinubu as the first president since 1999 to directly address what he called Cross River’s long-standing concerns over oil, Bakassi and the state’s economic challenges.

“We have no option as Cross Riverians, because he is the only president, right from OBJ, to Jonathan, to Buhari, who has given us a listening ear on our oil, Bakassi, and bankruptcy problem,” he said.

The APC chairman also defended the removal of fuel subsidy, arguing that increased federal allocations had enabled state governments to meet their salary obligations and implement higher minimum wages.

“You see the benefit of subsidy removal. When salary and minimum wage used to be 30,000 Naira, governors were unable to meet their salaries obligation. Now that the minimum wage has risen up to 70,000, the governors are paying those salaries without hitch,” he said.

He described calls for the return of subsidy as “an avenue or conduit pipe for public officials to cart away public funds.”

Etta further listed the proposed Bakassi Deep Seaport among the major projects he said would benefit the state under the Tinubu administration.

“The Bakassi Seaport is actually coming on stream. The construction work is going to start very soon. The local content law allows those within the catchment to be given first priority,” he said.

He also disclosed that three federal commission, the Bakassi Development Commission, Extended Continental Shelf Commission and Gulf of Guinea Commission Secretariat would be domiciled in Cross River if Tinubu and Otu are re-elected in 2027.

“And in achieving it, three commissions are going to come out of it. You are going to be the people to be employed there,” Etta told supporters.

He charged representatives of the 3,200 support groups at the event to mobilise voters at the grassroots and avoid internal rivalry, describing the 2027 election as an “intentional election” for the future of Cross River.

“When it comes to this election, we Cross River are not voting based on any sentiment or emotion. We are voting for the heart and mind of our state. We need you as a full soldier to drive the process,” he said.

Earlier, the Director-General of Cross River Arise for Prince Bassey Otu and Peter Odey, Chief Felix Idem, urged members of the group to return to their wards and mobilise more supporters for the APC, stressing that elections are won through effective grassroots mobilisation.