By Okoi Obono-Obla
From 1999 to 2015, the people of Cross River State were one-directional in their political leanings, voting consistently for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP was a behemoth before its implosion and was the governing party in Cross River State from 1999 to 2021.
Under the Fourth Republic, Cross River returned to democratic governance beginning with Donald Duke (1999–2007) of the PDP, succeeded by Liyel Imoke (2007–2015), also of the PDP, followed by Benedict Ayade who initially won under the PDP. The PDP governed Cross River uninterrupted from 1999 until the defection of former Governor Ben Ayade to the APC in 2021.
Despite this unflinching loyalty, we derived no tangible benefits. Rather, we lost the Bakassi Peninsula and our oil wells. The dispute traces its roots to the geopolitical reshaping following the 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ceded the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon. It was handed over to Cameroon on August 14, 2008 following the ICJ ruling in 2002 and the Green Tree Agreement of June 12, 2006.
In 2012, Nigeria’s Supreme Court ruled that after Bakassi’s cession, Cross River no longer possessed a maritime boundary and therefore ceased to qualify as a littoral state for offshore derivation purposes.
Some of us fought to ensure that this one-directional approach was brought to an end. Gladly, in 2021, the then-incumbent Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, moved to the centre and aligned Cross River State with the mainstream of national politics by defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Ayade alongside his deputy was elected on the platform of the PDP in 2015 and 2019, but defected to the APC on May 20, 2021.
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, a national consensus was forged that led to the formation of the APC in February 2013 through the amalgamation of disparate political interests aggregated across diverse ethnicities and philosophies. We must continue to be part of such a coalition in the interest of the present and future generations.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has courageously put in place economic and political agendas to reset and recalibrate the national economy and pull it out of the abyss. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which is a signature project of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is one of the greatest investments this country has ever seen. The project is intended to connect Lagos with Calabar, the capital of Cross River State. It is a 700 to 750-kilometre highway intended to pass through nine states: Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River. It was flagged off on May 24, 2024, as a flagship infrastructure project of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
There is also the Bakassi Deep Seaport, which President Tinubu has approved as one of five new deep seaports under his administration. The Federal Executive Council approved it in December 2025 with an initial investment projection of $3.5 billion, which the Federal Government has described as a national asset aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
In addition, the Federal Government has approved the comprehensive modernisation and upgrade of four major ports in the South-South: Onne Port and Rivers Port, Delta Port, and Calabar Port in Cross River State. The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Ports Authority, is expected to invest about $1.1 billion in the rehabilitation of six existing port locations, including Calabar.
We wish President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Bassey Edet Otu a successful presidential rally today in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
