By Ebriku John Friday
The newly elected State Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Cross River State, Alphonsus Ogar Eba Esq on Thursday dedicated his emergence to all the nine survivors of the accidental discharge victims of the June 5 2021 Echumofana incidence.
This was contained in the 30 paragraphs ‘Thank You’ message her personally signed to leaders, stakeholders and delegates of the party whose voice vote at the just concluded state Congress returned him as state chairman and 35 others as exco members.
Ogar Eba in the message he entitled, ‘THANK YOU MESSAGE TO GOD ALMIGHTY, OUR GOVERNOR H.E. AYADE, MY FAMILY, FRIENDS AND MEMBERS OF APC’ noted that “The storm is indeed over, may the name of God Almighty be praised Amen.”
According to him, It was the longest political journey to the office of state chairman. Like the journey of the magi, the road was tough, the nebulous path was paved with betrayal, blackmail, bitterness and vices of all sorts but ”God hath spoke once, twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Unto thee, O Lord belongeth mercy : for thou renderest to every man according to his work. Psalm 66: 11- 12.” I return all glory, honour, praise and adoration unto God.
While appreciating the State Governor, Sir Ben Ayade, he said, I lack the most appropriate word to convey my gratitude to H.E. Sen. Prof Ayade, my Political Father, Boss, Mentor, Care giver, destiny helper, faithful defendable and dependable pillar of socio-political and economic strength.
“The time has indeed come for a linguistic embellishment to the word THANK YOU but until that is done, I want to stay by the best word and to say, Thank you Your Excellency.”
The message reads further,
I recall with nostalgia how 10 years ago, his Excellency picked interest in me and the melancholic playback of his intervention which extricated me from the shackles of oppression and menacles of injustice I went through in trying to assert myself politically in Yala.
He had pity on me and brought me into public office to head an office of trust and he surrendered his plenipotentiary powers to be regulated by the Public Procurement law of Cross River State. He made me strong when he mandated me not to bend the rules for anyone and today our record stands us out in Nigeria
Not only did His Excellency professed love, trust and confidence in me, he unequivocally practiced and manifested same which has led to the crystallization of this long journey to the political port of splendour.
Today, I have become one of his discoveries and his legacy projects that will stand the test of time God willing.
Today, through the grace of God, H. E. AYADE and all the good members of APC, I have been elected the state chairman of the largest political party in Africa that is in leadership from my polling unit, ward, LGA, state and country. This can only be God in action.
While I remain eternally grateful to God, my Governor, my party members, family and friends, whose prayers accended as a memorial before God, I want to also recognize all those whose negative roles in the form of blackmail, betrayal, back bite, backstab, insults and spiritual attempt at my life all in an attempt to stop my light from shining made me an enigma.
With this victory, which I see as victory of God over the devil, good over evil, I want to again return all Glory to God and I want to state from the depth of my heart that I have forgiven you all.
I want to also use this medium to apologize to all members of our party who have ill feelings towards me on account of my doggedness in 2019 and 2020 elections when I was in opposition and any wrong impression about my person to please forgive me and work with me and our team and you will know who the real Alphonsus Ogar Eba esq is.
I also want to take responsibility to apologize to all members of our party whose aspirations were not met with the desired expectations to please accept our emergence as the will of God.
It is our prayers that God will favour you next time. We therefore extend our hands of fellowship to you and we call on aggrieved persons to join hands with us to unite every member to grow our dear party to enviable heights. I promise to be fair to all.
As we commence our political evangelism agenda, we will give special attention to all genuine concerns of aggrieved members with a view to carrying everyone along. I want to sincerely assure every member that is sincerely committed to APC that we will give due respect, regard and attention to all members because we value you. Please join hands with us to build an all inclusive, virile, vibrant, and impenetrable APC political family that will continue to retain and sustain the occupation of Government house and governance of Cross River State beyond 2023.
We salute the sportsmanship displayed by majority of our members. While we are not unmindful of the complaints of a few of our members for which we are prepared to address, we want to appreciate our party Elders/Leaders, major stakeholders particularly our serving and former NASS members, serving and past ministers, speaker of CRSHA, serving and former members of the House, Serving and former LGA chairmen, serving and former state chairmen of all parties that were the primogenitors of APC, serving and former members of of of Cross River State Executive council, serving and former Councillors, Chapter Chairmen/ward chairmen including their executives, all political appointees, and all party members for the concessions that led to the concensus. That was a rare display of political maturity, tolerance, understanding, unity, and vote of confidence on the leadership of H.E. Sen. Prof Ayade and his able and dependable Deputy, Prof. Ivara Ejemot Esu. We promise to reward everyone who was instrumental to this success.
The roles played by the interim Executives of our great party under the able leadership of Sen. M. T. Mbu Jr and the effective and efficient co ordination from the ward congress through the chapter to the state congress and the success thereto was legendary. My dear brother and friend, the chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon. Martin’s Orim and my Boss, Ntufam Dr Peter Ojie alongside other support staff had sleepless nights towards the effectuation of this arduous and onerous task. We remain eternally grateful to them.
I want to specially thank Distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma Egba SAN and his zoning committee for driving a peaceful, transparent and acceptable zoning arrangement that culminated in our emergence. We are eternally grateful to you sir.
To my family, particularly my beloved father and mother, I thank you for bringing me up with the virtues of humility, honesty and hard work and seeing me through to become the man that I am now. It is my prayer that God will continue to keep you strong to reap the fruits that my growth has brought.
Special gratitude also goes to the combined team of security agencies, the INEC observers, the electronic and print media and the citizens of Cross River State for their understanding and good conduct towards the peaceful conduct of the exercise.
To my beautiful, super loving, supporting wife and wonderful children, thanks for the peace of mind you give me and your prayers that keeps me going, I promise to love and care for you always.
To my brothers, sisters and friends from childhood till date, all comrades during my days in the University of Abuja, Maiduguri, Nigerian law school, Lagos campus and now in the university of calabar, my media aides, staff of Due Process CRS, my neighbors and colleagues, I cannot thank you enough, you remain the best and I promise never to fail you.
I appreciate The DG and members of the Okadigbo Vanguard, the PLUG media team, friends of Alphonsus Ogar Eba, friends of DG, Due Process, Echumofana ward political family, and Yala political family, for their matured, dedicated, descent, intelligent, issue based and committed campaigns which has contributed to our victory. As I grow, your growth is assured. I will remain committed to building future generations of selfless leaders using the Okadigbo Vanguard platform as a special purpose political vehicle under the canopy of our party.
The unfortunate event of June 5th 2012 in Echumofana ward during my movement into the progressives family and the resultant accident which occasioned serious injuries on 9 of our party men and women have gotten some sort of healing with our emergence as the joy of the injured victims and their celebration has given me a further reason to be strong. I therefore dedicate my victory to all the victims of that accident.
Last but not the least, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved party, All Progressives Congress (APC) under whose soft pillow I now rest my head with peace and joy.This would not have been possible without the great initiative, wisdom and selfless leadership of our National Chairman, H.E. Mai Mala Buni and his entire team including the impartial 7 man panel of men of integrity under the able leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Malam that conducted the most peaceful, transparent congress ever to be recorded in the history of APC in Cross River State.
In conclusion, I want to congratulate and appreciate the wonderful team that have emerged to work with me as Executives of the party at the state level. I have found them as the best team that can deliver on our commitment towards the enthronement of a sustainable human centered holistic development paradigm that is anchored on Peace, Love, Unity and Growth (PLUG) of APC in Cross River State.
With God on our side, nothing will discourage us and we will succeed to the Glory of God and benefit of our members.
Once again, we thank God for his mercy. Thank you all.”
It was gathered that the Alphonsus Ogar Eba-led exco will be inaugurated first week of November after the APC Appeal panel report by October 31.
