Protest trails senator Bassey Otu"s defeat in Calabar

Supporters of Senator Bassey Otu, who represents Cross River South Senatorial District in the National Assembly, has protested against his defeat at the rescheduled Peoples Democratic Party primaries which held on Tuesday.

Otu secured 99 votes at the rescheduled exercise while the declared winner, Mr. Gershom Bassey, polled 135 votes and an erstwhile state chairman of the party, Chief Ekpo Okon garnered 76 votes.

However, the protesters who chanted pro-Otu slogan from the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar to the PDP secretariat along the Murtala Mohammed Highway accused the state government of masterminding the process which produced Bassey.

They insisted that the delegates list which produced Bassey as winner was not the original list that emerged after the conduct of the wards delegate congress.

A PDP youth leader, Mr. Ene Inyang, said, “We are not satisfied with the process leading to the conduct of the primary in the Southern Senatorial District. It was not transparent enough as the government cornered everything; they used security apparatus to intimidate delegates.

“Delegates lists were changed and those they suspected will not vote for the anointed were dropped at the venue.”

Another PDP women leader in Calabar South, Mrs. Bassey Henshaw, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, has challenged the state government to explain why an allegedly fake delegates list was used in the exercise.

She said, “We want Otu, he is our hope, father and helper. Governor Liyel Imoke should explain how they came about the fake delegates list. Without Otu, there will be no senator in the Cross River South Senatorial District for PDP.”

Also, the National President of Bakassi Students, Mr. Nkese Ita, predicted that PDP would lose the 2015 elections in the Cross River South Senatorial District if the party chose to field candidates against the people’s wish.

Reacting to the allegation, the Chief Press Secretary to Imoke, Mr. Christian Ita, said the governor has no link with the delegates list used in the conduct election.

Ita advised politicians to learn to lose gallantly, adding that Otu was beaten in a free and fair contest and should learn to accept defeat.

He said, “What has Imoke got to do with a delegate list that was sent from the party headquarters and verified by those who conducted the election? Politicians should learn to lose gallantly. It is not only in Cross River State that incumbents lost in primaries.”

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Protest trails senator Bassey Otu"s defeat in Calabar