Senator Gershom Bassey is serving second term in the Senate representing Southern  district of Cross River  State on the platform of PDP. He spoke  with Emmanuel Unah on his governorship ambition.

There are indications that other zones are jumping into the governorship race. What are the implications of this in view of the subsisting gentleman agreement known as Calabar-Ogoja Accord?

I don’t think there is any real implication here. Remember that at  other times, even when  the position is zoned to a district,  some individuals from other zones have also tried their luck.

What it, however, means is that the person is challenging Cross Riverians as a whole to decide whether they want to continue with the gentleman accord or not

What people are saying is that such a  situation may take us back to the days of anarchy and oppression

What we are witnessing is just some people in the central agitating and not the central as a district.

Truth is that the bulk of the people in the central and the vast majority of people in the north want to go by the Accord. The vast majority of people in the state understand that the Accord makes sense.

So I have not heard or seen any tangible argument against the Accord but what we are hearing is just talk.

Some people are seeing the back and forth argument on zoning as a sign that the Senators from the state who are all PDP are not united on the matter

No, the issue had always been there. The issue did not start today. What you are simply hearing is my point of view on the matter.

My view is that I believe strongly on zoning because it is fair. We had a caucus meeting in PDP  in 2014 and the decision was that we should zone governorship to the northern district and thereafter the position would move to the southern district and that decision has not been cancelled by anybody or any event and we in the south are holding the  PDP to stand by that Caucus decision because half of it has been implimented so the other half should also be implemented.

What if the party fails to keep to the terms of that meeting or decision?

For me, what I am saying is that whether zoning or not, at the right time after I conclude my consultation, if I decide to enter the race, I am not going there on the back of zoning but on my capacity to run and win to bring change to this state.

What everyone should know is that zoning is a moral issue. We have to stand by what we say. We cannot say one thing today and then turn around tomorrow to do another thing especially when it comes to a decision taken by the Caucus of the party which is the  party’s constitutional body.

Was Governor Ben Ayade part of that decision in 2014?

Governor Ayade has been talking about it. Have you not heard him talk about zoning? Ntufam John Okon was the state Chairman of PDP at the time and Gody Etta Secretary. You can ask them.

All the National Assembly members and State party  executive officials were present in that meeting. The decision was taken weeks to the primaries and just as we did in 2014, the party will again decide on the matter weeks before 2023 primaries.

The Senate has passed the bill on direct Primaries. What is your take on it?

I voted for direct primaries and I think it is what we need at this point in time. It is a larger electoral collage and every elected official needs to show his record to the people to seek their votes. I believe in direct primaries, I voted for it and I stand by it.

There are complaints that you dominate the PDP ticket for 2023?

On a serious note, without fear of being immodest, of all the aspirants on the platform of PDP some have come forth while others are yet to, I am not sure that any of them has the depth and relationships in PDP  that I have.

I am not bragging, PDP is in my DNA. look, there have been sweat, tears and pain for this party. I have gone through things where I could have left.

In 2015, for the first time let me tell you, Emma I was offered the APC ticket to contest for governorship but I declined because I believe in PDP. and what we were doing and in rotation and zoning as a matter of fundamental fairness.

When I talk about the Calabar- – Ogoja Accord, a lot of people don’t know that it is only in my family two members signed. My father and his younger brother signed that Accord. Anybody that knows my father would tell you he was a very fair man.

He was very broad minded  A lot of those meetings were done in our house and the argument was that the Accord was about equity, fairness, and  brother’s keeper for all parts of Cross River.

What they were fighting for in their minds was against oppression from one part on the others as experienced in old Cross River. They did not want that to repeat in the new Cross River they were trying to build.

When the third senatorial district was created the people of the south never never kicked against it  All they were saying is, let the spirit of the Accord apply across the three districts of the state.

Recently a Senator from Lagos State presented a bill for Lagos and Bauchi to join the Niger Delta Development Commission. What is your position on this?

That bill has gone through to second reading but then, there is still much work to be done like public hearing before it is passed. That is if it would.

If you listened to the  Senate Leader, Omo-Agege when he spoke, he said NDDC is peculiar to  Niger Delta and that if there is need to create other commissions, you could create a South West Development Commission, North East Development Commission, or North West Development Commission and that it does not have to be part  Niger Delta Development Commission.

He also argued that NDDC  is a mitigating Commission. In other words it came after an event. In the case of Lagos and Bauchi, oil is just being discovered  and there have been no oil spillage, no ecological issues and so you cannot at this stage be seeking to join an intervention programme when nothing has happened to you.

Just wait let there be issues first.  For the NDDC board, whatever is stopping it from being inaugurated should be with the executive arm.

We have done our part  over a  year ago. They have every right to change names but so far nobody  has approached us  for that. Maurice Effiwats name is still there.

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