By Edem Ekpo
Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State has dismissed the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a “kwashiokor movement” without vision or direction, declaring that the people will not allow the party to drag the state “back to Egypt.”
The governor made the remarks in Calabar during the empowerment of ex-agitators and farmers, where beneficiaries shared an ₦800 million grant.
Otu mocked the ADC as a gathering of “kwashiokor politicians” who, in his words, will never get close to power.
“We have heard that some kwashiokor persons are making moves to take over power. They call themselves ADC. They are nothing but detractors and a distraction. They cannot take Cross River back to Egypt. Their gathering is a kwashiokor movement,” he said.
He also dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing it as another “sickly group” incapable of restoring Nigeria to what he called “the dark days.”
“As one who was once in opposition, I know detractors when I see them. They cannot achieve anything. Nigerians know those who kept the country where it was before we came in. They will not succeed,” Otu added.
The governor, however, stressed that his administration would not clamp down on dissenting voices, noting that democracy guarantees freedom of expression and association.
“Well, we are in a democracy, so we will not stop them from speaking or gathering for political purposes,” he said.