Cross River Threatens To Sack Appointees Without APC Membership Cards

In a bizarre twist to politicking in the state, the Chairman-elect of the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State, Mr Alphonsus Eba, has threatened that appointees recruited by the administration of Governor Ben Ayade who fail to obtain the party’s membership card that they may lose their jobs.

A visibly angry Eba, who is yet to be sworn into office, said there was no way appointees will be receiving salaries without registering to be members of the ruling party.

Eba, speaking at a media briefing in Calabar on Tuesday, warned that anyone who fails to register as a member of APC by December 31, 2021 would be relieved of his duty on January 1, 2021.

Ayade had made large appointments in fulfilment of the promise he made during his defection ceremony.

However, many workers apparently dissatisfied with being forced into partisan politics and decrying the deplorable state of affairs in the state, have refused to follow the governor to the APC.

Eba, who failed to clinch the chairmanship position of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, before his emergence as APC Chairman-elect, warned that, “All the 7,000 appointees yet to register with APC must be relieved of their appointments.”

Majority of the appointees had problems getting registered.

In some wards, the APC does not have party executives to carry out registration thus hampering workers who are willing to register to save their jobs.

But Eba said failure to register will result in mass sack while their positions will be filled by APC members.

Citing article 9(5) of the APC constitution, which he said bars members from taking appointments with the government of other political parties, he said it was compulsory for civil servants to register and identify with the party in power.

A statement issued after the press conference sighed by Mr Erasmus Ekpang, the party’s State Publicity Secretary-elect quoted Eba as saying, “Non-members of our Party should not be given appointment in our Party in accordance with Article 9/5 of our Constitution”.

Adding that, “The ground of the welfarism we think is not to bitterate the kindness and humanitarian concern of the Governor.

“Here as a party, we want to make it known today, that all Heads of Government at Local Government level and at the State must follow the provision of our Constitution, with effect from 1st January, 2022, those appointees of Government that are yet to be registered and fully participate in activities of the Party shall cease to hold their respective offices.

“We therefore call on Local Government Chairmen, who today have over 20,000 appointees of five persons per polling units to the 3281 polling units and on the State Government payroll, we call on the Auditor-General to take note that the over seven thousand to eight thousand appointees of Government who are yet to be registered in APC must be relieved of their appointments henceforth”.