Cross River guber: Gershom Bassey breaks silence on ambition

The Chairman of the Cross River State Wa­ter Board, Mr Gershom Bassey, has broken his silence over his speculated ambition to succeed his friend and political ally, Senator Liyel Imoke.
He spoke against the back­drop of the widespread report that the governorship slot had been zoned to the North Sena­torial District of the state. There have been some disquiet within the ranks of the Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP) as to whether or not Bassey who hails from the Southern part is qualified to contest for the office since the party had already zoned the seat to the North Senatorial District.
Already, two other members of what is popularly known in the state as the three muske­teers-Donald Duke (from the South Senatorial District) and Liyel Imoke (Central Senato­rial District) have occupied the office.
Addressing the media on the issue, Bassey did not however say whether or not he was going to run. He, however, urged all those who are speculating about his ambition to wait and see.
He said: “I think the key has been that we play the politics of collective and not politics of self. We think this is the best thing for the collective. We are not playing games; we are ac­tually saying the truth. To me, I personally think that we have said it and the proof of the pud­ding would be in the eating. So, there is nothing we can do than to wait and see.”
Although his posters are al­ready flooding the state, Bassey refused to confirm or deny the speculation that he is interested in the race. “The issue of where the successor will come from has been addressed. The gov­ernor has addressed it, the PDP caucus in Cross River has ad­dressed the issue, and there is nothing else we can say except to wait and see,” he declared.
When he was asked to spe­cifically say if he was going to contest in the event that the party caucus asked him to do so, he replied thus: “I have always said that I will do anything that the collective says I should do, provided it is in the best interest of the collective.”
“I know that I have discussed with his Excellency, the gover­nor, I have discussed with the former governor, (Duke) but it’s been a few months now since the three of us sat together to discuss the future of Cross River State. But from our social interactions, we don’t have to talk too much because I think all of us are on the same page. Our aspiration for our state is very clear. We need to take our state to the next level because since 1999, successive governments, and when I say successive gov­ernments, I mean Donald Duke in his first and second term, Imoke in his first and second term-have done better than pre­vious governments, and what we all want is for us to continue doing well,” he stressed.
He disclosed that people had approached him and urged him to contest so that he could suc­ceed Imoke and carry on with the collective vision for the state.