Teddy Bai
Diana Okon-Effiong, Calabar
Mr Teddy Bai, Secretary, National Congress committee of the APC says logistics and difficult terrain were some of the reasons the chapter Congress in Cross River was rescheduled to April 15.
Bai, who stated this in a telephone interview with our correspondent Sunday in Calabar, explained that the party’s chapter congresses were slated for April 12 nationwide.
It will be recalled that the party’s ward congresses in the state was also rescheduled from April 5 to April 9 for similar reasons.
Bai said: “The State committee cited reasons of terrain and logistics for the postponement. After the wards congresses because of the difficult terrain in some areas it took about two days for some of the results to come in.
`”Getting the personnel to get to work in these areas the must be trained, properly motivated. For that reason the party had to move it (Chapter congress) to Tuesday that will be more convenient to stakeholders.
`”All these will be done on Tuesday and results will be announced. I am sure that by the evening of Monday, April 14 all be sensitive materials will be in place and by noon Tuesday all local government areas would have started their congresses,’’ he said.
Bai said that apart from Odukpani and one other local government area results of ward congresses have been received’
`”Results of the party’s ward congresses in 16 out of the 18 Local Government areas of the state had been declared. INEC staff were involved in the exercise and certified delegates’ results from 16 local government areas. Delegates had conducted themselves well so far, ‘’ he said.
Mr Hillirad Etta, an APC chieftain in Cross River also confirmed to our correspondent that the chapter congress was shifted to Tuesday due to what he called some difficult terrain which hampered return of results as well as logistics.
But Chief Cyprian Igban, APC leader in Obubra, told our correspondent covering the exercise in the area that the chapter congress could not hold because of non-availability of sensitive and nonsensitive materials.
He said that the members have petitioned the congress committee and the APC national office, adding that if nothing was done to the petition before Tuesday, they were not going to participate in the exercise.
He alleged that the interim hierarchy of the party in the state created some problems in the Obubra ward 1 and 2 “by trying to handpick candidates as delegates’’.
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