A former Commissioner for Information in Cross River State, Chief Akin Ricketts, has said that the All Progressives Congress has the opportunity of taking over government in the state in the 2019 general elections.
Ricketts said this at Ugep in Yakurr Local Government Area shortly after hosting party stakeholders and also declaring his intention to contest for the central senatorial district in the next election as candidate of the APC.
He said that residents of Cross River were disappointed with by performance of the Peoples Democratic Party-led government of Governor Ben Ayade.
Ricketts said, “I am absolutely certain that the APC will win elections in Cross River State. The people of the state yearn for change. The people are disappointed with the PDP in the state and they want a breath of fresh air.
“We are confident that we would win. It is only the APC that can ensure an uplift in the standard of living of the people.”
The former commissioner, who served under the administration of Senator Liyel Imoke, said he was offering himself for service because the people of the central senatorial district were seeking the change that he would provide.
However, the state Vice-Chairman of the APC in the central senatorial district, Mr. Cletus Obun, said that Governor Ayade’s administration had given the APC the room to win the 2019 governorship election because of his alleged poor performance.
“The governor has virtually surrendered the state to the APC but there must be hard work to achieve that victory. The APC must set its focus on quality candidates because candidacy is key to winning an election. APC has a good chance of winning the next governorship election in Cross River but this should be dependent on the quality of candidates we would be presenting,” he said
Obun also said that Ricketts’s declaration was a good start since the Independent National Electoral Commission had already made public the timetable for the 2019 elections.
Also speaking, the state Deputy Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Jonathan Ntui, identified poor performance as the major reason why the APC would win the next governorship election in the state.
