The leaders and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River have passed a vote of no confidence on the executives of the party in the state for allegedly mismanaging N350 million meant for successful electioneering campaigns.
The members also called on the national leadership of the party to ensure the removal of the state chairman, Usani Usani, to save the party from extinction in the state.
The members on Saturday took the decision at a stakeholders meeting organized by the party’s South-South Zonal Chairman,Hilliard Eta, in Calabar, the Cross River capital.
Eta described the meeting as a post mortem to ascertain why the party in the state performed very poorly in the elections.
The APC performed poorly in the general elections in the state where it lost the presidential, governorship and parliamentary elections and was unable to get 25 per cent in the first. The party has, however, accused the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state of electoral irregularities.
Eta also lamented that many members of the Cross River State Executive Committee boycotted the meeting. He described their absence as an act of insubordination that would no longer be tolerated, saying they had been duly informed of the meeting days ago.
“If the party at the national level worked like Cross River chapter then we won’t have the victory we got today,” he said.
“After getting over N350 million, the party is still where it is. Over N100 million for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, N24 million accrued to the state chapter from the sale of forms and others came in under various subheads.”
The party leader also confirmed reports that the Rivers State governor helped to finance the APC in the South South.
“I cannot say exactly how much the Rivers Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, helped the state with,” he said. “I know candidates who went to election with empty hands irrespective of the huge money gotten.”
“I wanted a situation whereby the entire state executive members will be here to discuss as a family, so they explain how more than N350 million was used.
“Money is meant to be in the account of the party not an individual account and accessed when the party has need for it”.
Other leaders of the party from across Cross River also spoke during the meeting.
One of the leaders from the northern senatorial district of the state, Lazarus Undie, said one of the reasons for the failure was the inability of polling unit committees to meet due to lack of funds.
Eta promised to investigate the allegations saying those found wanting would be dealt with according to the rules of the party.
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