By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
CALABAR— GOVERNOR Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has emerged Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate for the rescheduled April 2012 election in the state.

Imoke, Monday, defeated his opponent, former Nigerian Ambassador to Mali and former PDP state chairman, Chief Soni Abang, with 737 votes against three, in a primary election conducted at the U. J.  Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

Meanwhile, Abang has described the primaries as a charade.

He said: “I participated in the primaries. I am a member of the PDP. Whatever we saw today (yesterday) was far from being a contest. It was electoral manipulation of the highest level we have witnessed in this country.

“You know I am contesting against an incumbent governor. We were supposed to go through the process of selecting ad hoc delegates. That process was hijacked. My representatives went to the media to say these people were doing a list and they went ahead and did that list.”

A total of 747 delegates were accredited for the primary, which was supervised by Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, led by the Cross River State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Mike Igini.

Speaking after declaring the result, chairman of PDP Electoral Committee for the primary, Senator Ahmed Zanna, described the process that produced Imoke as free and fair and in tandem with the party’s guidelines.

He advised Imoke to be generous with the victory by reaching out to his opponent, Ambassador Abang and extending a hand of fellowship to him. He also told Abang, who lost, not to feel isolated, but rather to remain in PDP, so that the party will win the April election, adding that the contest was not between enemies but between brothers.

Mr. Igini said the state had set a standard on what free, fair and credible election should be, noting that the primaries were important to the main election expected to hold April this year.

He said: “We have been carrying out our oversight function. For us, the procedure is very important. In areas where things were not properly done, we said no. What we saw was a commendable and recommendable departure of what happened in other parts of the country.

“With every sense of responsibility from what we saw, it was a good exercise and should be used as a rebranding point.”

Cross River State is now number one in terms of sanity,” he added.

In an acceptance speech, Governor Imoke thanked the delegates and people of Cross River for their loyalty, adding that the victory was not for him but the entire people of the state.

He said, “The delegates of our party have and the people of Cross River have spoken. The victory is not personal to me but to all of us as a family.”

Imoke enjoined his supporters not to rest on their oars until the final victory was achieved in April and promised to continue the good works in the state, if elected for the second tenure.