I left when Liyel Imoke turned PDP into personal property

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Senator Ndema Egba, on Monday said that former Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State turned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state into his personal property. The former senator said that he was forced out of the PDP, with some other prominent members, when Imoke pocketed the party in Cross River State. He said that his exit from the PDP with others have affected the party’s performance in elections in the state.
Egba, speaking on ARISE NEWS television on Monday, monitored from Lagos by National Daily, said that when the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections came to Calabar for campaign, he asked why prominent PDP members in the state left the party.
According to Ndema Egba, “I was thrown out of the PDP. When Atiku Abubakar came to Calabar for campaign, he asked how come Senator Ndema Egba left the PDP, how come Senator Florence Ita-Giwa left the PDP, how come Bassey Oti left the PDP…
“Then, Senator Liyel Imoke answered him, they left but we are still winning elections.”
Egba noted that winning elections is about people, noting that himself, Florence Ita-Giwa, Bassey Otu, were prominent leaders that left the PDP and that the party needed them to win elections. Egba declared: “Let them come and win elections let us see.”
Speaking on the National Assembly leadership issue in the APC, Ndema Egba expressed support for the zoning of the Senate President to the southeast. He said that since the southwest has the president, the northeast has the vice president, the north central, the national chairman of the party, the southeast should have the senate president for equity. He argued that since the APC already has Muslim president from the south, and vice president, it would be proper for a Christian senate president to emerge from the south, adding the northwest cannot have the senate president in the new administration.
Ndema Egba recalled that when Olusegun Obasanjo was president from the southwest, the Atiku Abubakar was vice president from the northeast, the senate president was zoned to the southeast; saying, “we can go back to that arrangement.”
Ndema Egba noting that the south-south could also be considered, he was of the view that for inclusiveness, the southeast should have the senate president as in the Obasanjo administration.