Cross River Central Senator Onor commented during an interaction with local journalists on Saturday in Ikom, Ikom Local Government Area.
Onor stated that "Cross Riverians" (or Cross River people, as they prefer to be known) were resolved to vote in a new political direction in the 2023 general election. Onor spoke on various subjects, including BIVAS use and the PDP's internal issues.
He bemoaned the security status, noting that it had descended into abduction.
“Our state is enveloped in darkness as far as good governance is concerned, and in history, we say darkness is not a subject of history.
“This wasn’t the kind of governance we (PDP) offered in the state. In comparison, what we have now is stagnancy.
“The civil servants are not happy, local government staff are despondent, and the ordinary citizens are in a very dark and bad place.
The people of the state “are very willing to demonstrate that with their votes,” he said, so “you will see that the choice is very clear.”
Onor claimed that a group of persons were lobbying against using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) in the upcoming elections because they were determined to win at any cost.
Despite the Senate’s best efforts, he says, “BIVAS has come to stay, and we are very happy with INEC because INEC has insisted.” He claims that INEC resisted pressure to abandon BIVAS.
“We will be BIVAS-compliant, and that is where our confidence is hinged.
“On our own, we are taking nothing for granted; we are working very hard and very convinced that we will win the elections,” he said.
Concerning the rift within the PDP, the Cross River gubernatorial candidate indicated that Atiku Abubakar would be safe if he made peace with Wike’s faction.
Not only that, but he said that the Wike’s camp, to which he belonged, was open to peace talks.
“If he (Atiku) does his job well and reconciles with his party, with Gov. Wike and with all of us, it will be an easy ride for him, and that is what I hope for the party.
“The Wike camp where we belonged to and the Atiku camp are both saying they are ready for reconciliation, and we hope reconciliation will happen.
“Every right-thinking PDP person is looking forward to that reconciliation, that is the position now, and I don’t want to be pessimistic about it,” he said.