Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State has vowed that any members of the National Assembly or the State House of Assembly who do not represent the people well, or who are indolent and arrogant, will be recalled.
He vowed to activate the process, especially when, by the grace of God, he returns for a second term.
He addressed APC members, including those who lost the recently held National Assembly and State Assembly party primaries and have become aggrieved and disrespectful to the party.
He warned that the party is supreme, and decisions taken are for the overall interest of the party and the state and must be patiently respected by all members.
He warned lawmakers against being insolent and arrogant to their people to the extent of shutting them out after each election, saying such would no longer be condoned.
“So I am appealing to all of you. If you were born with arrogance, please just drop that ticket here.”
He hinted that after the next cycle of elections, the process of recalling lawmakers who made themselves “tin gods” would be activated.
“Well, they say they don’t recall people from parliament, but this will be the first time.
“Anybody whom the people say they are tired of will be brought back home. Anybody who goes and forgets his people completely and doesn’t care, thinking that during elections he will come and pretend to be a good man, will be brought back.
“And we are making this very, very clear. We will not fail in what we have said. I am working tirelessly; I don’t sleep. If you are going into office during this period, there will be no sleep for you.”
He advised politicians not to ignore their people, who hold the power, insisting: “You cannot overlook them and become so arrogant and pompous that you don’t know your people.”
Otu also warned members of the ruling APC who lost the just-concluded party primaries in the state not to defect to opposition parties like the NDC or ADC.
He said if they did so, they would suffer untold hardship and would not make any political headway.
He described the parties as “kwashiorkor-ridden,” meaning they are beset by hunger and hardship.
“There are some kwashiorkor parties that are registering people. Such parties are wasting their time and not even my time. They cannot do anything.
“I don’t want anybody to suffer the fate I suffered. That’s why I’m warning those aggrieved aspirants who lost not to go the way of those parties to avoid unnecessary suffering.
“I don’t want anybody to go that route. It’s an absolute waste of time, energy and people’s future. Because at the end of the day, you will drag people into that bottomless pit.
“And when you drag them there and can’t take care of them, you begin to rot, you begin to die. May God give me the energy and power to sustain.”
He appealed to the aggrieved APC members, saying: “There’s nothing that we cannot settle. God’s time is the best. Whatever we’ve done is for the common good of all of us.”
He explained that the party primaries were carried out without sentiment and in a way that he, as a person, did not favour anybody.
“Whether you are my brother, whether you are my sister, I have tried to explain from day one that, please, marry your people. If your people say I should let you go, even if you are my enemy, you will go.
“It was not about me; it’s about our state. I said so. Some people did not even consult their wards, not to talk of their local government.
“If the people tell me you should not go, you will not go. Some people have raised the issue that I did not come to address everybody as usual. I apologise.”
Otu further explained that the party has the capacity to handle any issues bordering on politics and leadership.
“But the situation where you insult the party and accuse the party, where you look down on the party, know that the party is supreme. You will suffer for it if you persist. There has to be discipline in this party.”
