What happened in Ikom yesterday the 18th of May was not a primary election in the democratic sense of the word; it was a carefully scripted political ambush clothed in the tattered garments of party procedure. It bore all the ugly fingerprints of manipulation, exclusion, executive intimidation, and institutional betrayal. No serious political observer can, in good conscience, describe that charade as a free, fair, transparent, or credible exercise. It was, by every measurable standard, a kangaroo primary, an electoral caricature designed to impose a predetermined outcome on the people of Cross River Central Senatorial District.
For a party that seeks to present itself as the custodian of progressive democracy, the All Progressives Congress must understand that what transpired in Ikom has already inflicted dangerous wounds on the moral legitimacy of the party in Cross River State. The exercise was conducted under a suffocating veil of secrecy, with delegates and stakeholders kept in the dark while predetermined actors emerged from political backrooms to announce a winner that many within the party structure neither expected nor accepted.
Most disturbing is the brazen attempt to foist Hon. Oden Ewa on the party despite widespread reports that he was neither cleared nor qualified by the national headquarters to participate in the contest. If indeed a disqualified aspirant was smuggled through the backdoor and subsequently declared winner, then the entire exercise collapses under the weight of its own illegality. A process built on procedural fraud cannot produce political legitimacy. One cannot build a cathedral of justice upon the swamp of impunity.
The APC national leadership must rise immediately and decisively to rescue the party from this self-inflicted catastrophe before irreversible political damage is done. Silence at this moment would amount to institutional complicity. What makes this tragedy even more politically reckless is the humiliating treatment meted out to Senator Eteng Jonah Williams, the sitting senator and arguably one of the most visible and impactful representatives Cross River Central has produced in recent times. To reduce a performing incumbent senator to a “third-place finisher” in a manipulated exercise is not merely an insult to the man; it is an insult to the intelligence of the people of Cross River Central.
Senator Eteng Williams did not emerge from political obscurity. He earned his place through years of grassroots engagement, legislative visibility, strategic empowerment programmes, infrastructural interventions, educational support schemes, youth inclusion initiatives, and sustained political accessibility. Across the six local government areas of the district, his presence has been felt in roads, schools, constituency projects, scholarships, economic empowerment, and responsive representation.
Unlike many politicians who disappear into the luxurious silence of Abuja after elections, Senator Eteng remained politically visible and socially accessible to his constituents. He has maintained the difficult balance between party loyalty and grassroots connectivity. Even his fiercest critics cannot honestly accuse him of political absenteeism.
The APC must therefore ask itself one painful but unavoidable question: why would a party deliberately destroy one of its strongest electoral assets in a senatorial district that remains politically volatile and strategically crucial ahead of 2027? Politics is not conducted in the cemetery of emotions. Human beings are not robots. Political structures are sustained by loyalty, trust, inclusion, and reward for performance. If Senator Eteng Williams is denied the ticket through what many already perceive as a fraudulent process, the consequences for APC in Cross River Central and perhaps the entire state, may be devastating.
It is also to be noted that since 1999 when we embraced democracy again, Senator Eteng Williams is the first Senator to have emerged from the old Obubra division as against Ikom division that had produced all the other senators. For real inclusivity, Senator Jones has to be allowed a second term.
The bitterness already brewing within the party base could mutate into mass voter apathy, silent rebellion, strategic sabotage, defections, or protest voting.
The APC risks walking blindly into the 2027 elections with a fractured house, wounded stakeholders, angry supporters, and disillusioned grassroots operatives.
The presidency must not underestimate the political implications of this crisis. Cross River state must not be won through arrogance and intimidation. It must be won through consensus, fairness, credibility, and respect for political realities on the ground.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC national leadership must understand that every political injustice creates unintended political refugees. A wounded political structure rarely dies quietly; it either revolts internally or collapses externally.
History is replete with ruling parties that destroyed themselves not because the opposition was too strong, but because internal injustice consumed their moral authority.
The APC must not become another tragic case study in political self-destruction.
The way out of this dangerous labyrinth is neither complicated nor impossible. First, the national headquarters must immediately nullify the Ikom exercise and order a fresh, transparent, and nationally supervised primary election where every cleared aspirant is given equal opportunity under strict procedural integrity. Second, the party must investigate allegations surrounding the clearance status of aspirants to preserve institutional credibility. Third, APC leaders in Cross River must embrace reconciliation instead of political conquest. Victory achieved through humiliation often becomes defeat in disguise.
Finally, the party must learn to reward performance rather than promote political ambushes. A governing party that punishes effectiveness and rewards manipulation sends a dangerous signal to both elected officials and voters alike.
This is not merely about Senator Eteng Williams. It is about whether the APC still possesses the moral courage to defend internal democracy, institutional fairness, and political justice.
If this injustice is allowed to stand, then the APC may discover too late that the road to electoral defeat is often paved by the arrogance of those who mistake temporary power for permanent control. And when that day comes in 2027, history will remember that the warning signs were visible in Ikom, but pride prevented wisdom from listening.
Dr. Bassey Eku
Discover more from The Legit News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
