Former lawmaker, Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross River State, Mrs. Nkoyo Toyo, has said it is dangerous for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to go into the 2023 elections divided.
In a chat with The Guardian at the weekend, the former PDP governorship aspirant said: “We must remember that everyone, who comes into an election, comes to win and when push comes to shove, people will deal with the reality of what is before them.”
At the Cross River State level, she said: “Today, access to power and all the instruments to power are in the hands of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and APC is competing against the PDP.
“To me, to put it mildly, it will be foolhardy to think we in PDP can face this election, firstly as an opposition; secondly, without the resources of Cross River State, and thirdly as a divided party.”
She blamed division in the state on loyalty to different politicians, saying: “I think there is sense in which some candidates owe their success to Wike.
“I can name them, Jaribe in the North, Sandy Onor as governorship candidate, and, by extension, few other persons here in the South got their tickets courtesy of that arrangement.
“So, you do not expect them to get up and do whatever they like, as Wike has been the source of funding for them.
“In the absence of other funding sources that are dedicated to their elections, they have to be careful about which direction they take their anger and concerns to.
“So this so-called crisis we are dealing with is an artificial construct.”
According to her, a united PDP would win the election, but laments that campaigns have been drawn along conflict lines.
“If you watch the election campaign pattern, it has been quiet on the candidacy of the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, while campaigning for Wike’s candidates,” she said.
She, however, expressed hope of reconciliation and unity, saying: “The hope is that, at some material time, some wisdom or revelation will come to everybody and make us realise that it is more important that we unite and win this election.”
She argued that anyone pushing for division few months to elections would be stretching the argument too far.
