The national Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adams Oshiomhole on Wednesday lashed out at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for ceding Bakassi to Cameroon.
He spoke at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, the Cross River State capital, after handing over the governorship flag to Senator John Owan-Enoh.
According to the party chair, the country will never forgive the past president for handing over Bakassi because he allegedly wanted a Nobel Peace Prize.
According to him, such prize was not for traitors or opportunists, but for those who have worked hard for the development of humanity.
“The only thing I want to remind the people of Cross River is that never ever can you afford to forget a Nigerian leader, in the person of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ceded part of Cross River State to Cameroon, because he was pursuing a Nobel Peace Prize.
“He (Obasanjo) handed over Nigerian territory to a foreign country and induced Nigerians to become refugees. Obasanjo has ceded our community to Cameroon. We can never forgive him. Nigeria will never forgive him.
“There is no statesman in the modern world that would voluntarily cede part of his territory to a foreign country. That crime committed by Olusegun Oabsanjo, if we are too weak to punish him, history will punish him because no leader gives away his household and sell them to slavery. If it is something that can be revised, the president has enough courage to do everything that your predecessor said was not possible.
“Those who preside over the award of Nobel Peace Prize, they do not give it to traitors. They give it to people who have worked hard to add to various spheres of human endeavor. It is not for traitors, opportunists and certainly not for those who bastardize their fatherland. This is the only message I have on today’s occasion.”
Acting State Chairman of the APC in the state, Sir John Ochala, said the state was fed up with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration in the state, which he alleged has destroyed the development of state.
Expressing confidence that the APC will win the state in the next elections, the party chairman called on the President to call the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Usani, also laying claim to the governorship ticket of the party, to order.
Ochala said the number of the teeming supporters at the rally showed the acceptance of the APC in the state, outstanding development of infrastructure in the state by the Federal Government cannot go unnoticed.
“Unfortunately we cannot say this of Cross River State because it is not well led. There is a near lack of governance in the state. Cross River State has degenerated.
“Once acclaimed as the cleanest in the state it is no longer so. Investors have been chased out because of irrational and multiple tax regime of the government. Pensioners are hungry and dying due to non-payment of their pension arrears and gratuity.
“The bail out given to the state by your government has been bailed to unknown quarters. Local government system is near collapse due to failure to conduct local government election and failure to pay salary arrears.
“These, among others, are the reasons there is a growing sense of disenchantment by the people, who are clamouring for a change. The Super Highway project commissioned by you is one of the phantom projects of this administration.
“There are other phony projects. Governance in Cross River has been reduced to a joke. We have a corrupt and clueless government. Indeed Cross River is in a state of political and economic emergency. The good news is that APC has come out with the very best in the person of John Owan-Enoh. Better days are ahead with John Owan-Enoh.
“Mr President, I would like to draw your attention to a major distraction to an otherwise easy victory for us at the polls. This distraction is caused by your cabinet member. We call on you to use your good office to call him to order.”
National Vice Chairman, Southsouth of the APC, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, said the people of the state were grateful to the President for being gracious towards them and would express their appreciation at the polls.
Senator Owan-Enoh thanked the President for the visit.
“We thank president for the rally and let me say that Cross River people and APC would not forget this day. On February 16, the president would win in Cross River. On the second of March, we would elect an APC administration for Cross River. The broom revolution that started in 2015 is berthing in Cross River in 2019.”
