A Governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief (Barr) Chris Agara has dissociated himself from the announcement of Senator Bassey Otu in Abuja, as the consensus candidate for the APC in Cross River state.
The governorship aspirant has also alleged threat to his life for refusing to accept the consensus option by Hon. Orok Otu Duke.
In a statement by the Director-General, Chief (Barr) Chris Agara Campaign Organization, Barr. Richard Ogbeche, the aspirant said he is not bound by it.
He said Section 84 (9) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that consensus may be used after cleared aspirants have emerged, adding that the written consent of the aspirant must be extracted before any consensus would be said to have been arrived at.
The statement read, “The attention of Chief (Bar) Chris Agara Campaign Organisation has been drawn to a comedy strip in which Honourable Orok Otu Duke is the stand up comedian. In the video Duke laboured to ridicule the disclaimer by our team in respect of the phantom consensus Governorship agreement in Abuja. While he succeeded in making his audience laugh he also made a very serious commitment to violence against those who refuse to accept the Consensus Option.
“We recognise the obvious threat to the life of Chief Chris Agara and his followers advocated in the video to the loud applause of the men sitting in the room, including the state Governor, and will take very profound measures to protect our Principal and ourselves throughout the period of electioneering. While he humoured Governor Ben Ayade in the same video for making Chief Chris Agara rich during his Governorship, our Principal who God has already generously blessed long before 2015 will make an appropriate response to this matter himself at the right time.
“One of the profound tenets of liberal democracy is the right to disagree with a decision that one feels differently about within the framework of the law. That is precisely what Chief ( Bar) Chris Agara has done. Governor Ben Ayade himself recently said openly in his interview with Channels Television that while he wishes that the Governorship returns to the South “I cannot play God and force everyone to agree with me”. We will like to remind the pseudo democrats in the room that Section 84 (9) of the Electoral Act, 2022 provides that consensus may be used after cleared aspirants have emerged. Also, the written consent of the aspirant must be extracted before any consensus would be said to have been arrived at. Cleared aspirants who must have bought the nomination form and gone through due clearance are the ones who can enter into consensus agreements not pretenders to the Crown at Peregrino Hall.
“Democratic civil rule does not confer the status of a monarch or potentate on the Governor or President for that matter, and therefore the Governor’s word or preferences cannot become law unto all. We have chosen to disagree with the Consensus Option and are fully prepared for the Governorship race of Cross River State at this time, no matter the number of comedy strips, threats of violence and all types of intimidation that we may come against in the course of prosecuting our legitimate aspiration”.
