By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
Chairman of the Cross River State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Christopher Eta, has dispelled the rumour making the rounds in certain quarters that the party was involved in the political violence that occurred in Bakassi during an event organized by the African Democratic Congress, ADC.
Etta debunked the allegation in a media chat yesterday with journalists ahead of Saturday’s national convention in Abuja.
He averred that his party, the APC does not shy away from opposition and suggested that people may have taken advantage of the situation to implicate the party.
He said, “I actually enjoy contesting ideas in the marketplace of ideas. That is what gives me my energy.
“I don’t shy away from opposition and actually love the opposition.”
He stated that the violence was born out of the internal conflict within the ADC, with one faction attempting to take over a secretariat from another faction.
He enthused, “What happened there was not from us – APC. From our own findings, they had two factions.
“One faction was opening a new secretariat or taking over a secretariat which the other faction had. And that was where their problem came from.”
Eta expressed confusion as to why the APC was being implicated in the violence, wondering, “But how they echoed APC is what we still cannot understand ourselves. Maybe people took advantage of it and injected APC into it, because that is what makes noise, and that is what makes sense.”
He added that the APC has nothing to gain from the violence and is not afraid of any opposition.
He said, “What is APC to gain? The way you are seeing this state currently, does it look like we are afraid of anybody?”
Commenting on the forthcoming zonal congress of the party, the chairman stated that the state chapter is going into the congress as a united family, with all contending issues resolved.
He said, “Where we are right now, all issues of disunity, issues of conflict, had been trashed. I took a clean slate.”
