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C’River LG Polls: APC Crisis Deepens As Factions Submit Separate Lists
Crisis in the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a more dangerous dimension as two factions submitted lists of candidates for the March 28th local government elections in Cross River State.
Our correspondent gathered that the APC in Cross River State is led by two groups, one led by Godwin Etim John and the other led by Sir John Ochala.
Already, the two factions have submitted lists of their candidates for the Cross River State Independence Electoral Commission (CROSIEC).
Speaking with newsmen in Calabar yesterday, the Chairman of one of the factions, Godwin Etim John, said he does not know about any faction in the party.
“I don’t know about two factions in APC,” he said.
Etim said if two persons are fighting and they go to court, it is only the court that can settle the matter.
“When Buhari and Atiku fought during election, was it not court that settled them? When Alex Egbona won election and John Gaul went to court, was it not court that settled them? he asked.
“So if I won my congress, and they took me to court and court gave me judgment and said I won, why do you talk about two factions. The only party that government recognizes is Etim John-led APC, no other one and I have submitted list of my candidates, I have confidence CROSIEC will conduct the election.
“They are the only legal body empowered to conduct the local government election in Cross River, it is the only legal body constitutionally empowered to conduct local government election.
“If people are not satisfied with the CROSIEC election, they can approach the court but let them allow CROSIEC to conduct their election,” he stated.
Also speaking, the Chairman of another faction led by Sir John Ochala, said, “We are fully prepared for March 28th 2020 local government election in Cross River State, we have submitted the names of our candidates to CROSIEC, we have done our primaries and candidates emerged and the names have been submitted.
“We don’t have confidence in CROSIEC conducting credible election in the.
“This is a constitutional matter, you may be recall that they fixed the time, sometimes in February, when we brought this out to them, and they hurriedly shifted it to March 28.
“There is also a constitutional matter that says that there must be voter’s register review for all major elections to allow who were not 18 years as per the last election and are 18 years now to get registered, it is a constitutional provision but there was no voter’s review, you don’t get up in a hurry and conduct election without following the lay down rules that guide such elections..
“Fundamentally, Governor Ayade dissolved all parastatal and commissions in the state, hence the Cross River Judicial Council took him to court that he has no locus standi to do that, however, from the time he wake up, he ask CROSIEC to conduct, he did not reconstitute them, these are fact that one can challenge, the law are very clear on that.
“However, CROSIEC Chairman is a public officer, he is a lecturer in the University of Calabar, when the commission was dissolved he went back to the University of Calabar and continue with his work.
“We are following the time table to fulfil all righteousness, to actually being in a good legal frame to challenge them when we approach the court, because if you don’t participate, you don’t have the legal authority to challenge them.`
“Already, we are in court with them, we have written to CROSSIEC asking them not to recognise the splinter group from APC, these are very clear issues, there had never being two chairmen at the same time, CROSIEC should look at the law and stop dealing with Etim John led splinter group.
The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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