 The all-progressive Congress in Cross River State has begun mobilization for grassroots support and PVC collection in 3,281 polling units in the state. The state chairman of the party, Alfonso Zerba, made this known on Thursday at a news conference in Calabar. He alleged that the opposition was destroying APC candidate billboards and charged party members to exercise restraint and not to take laws into their hands. Joining us to discuss this tonight and shed more light is Alfonso Zerba, he is the APC chairman in Cross River State. Thank you for joining us, Mr Chairman. My pleasure. Thank you so much. Great. Let's talk about this mobilization that the party has undertaken and it's in at least 3,000 plus polling units within the state. How has that process gone and why did you decide to undertake it? Okay. Thank you very much. You will recall that when I came on board, I came with the mantra of political evangelism and it was targeted towards winning souls into our party, the APC. My target was to bring in one million fresh members into the party. And don't forget, Cross River State used to be a traditional PDP, so the endless political revolution that happened on the 20th day of May 2021 led to the complete lobotomy of PDP. And so when they came on board of all the new members of APC, there was need for us to widen the dragnet and bring in more people. And I commend that evangelism on the 11th of November 2021, as of today, we have over one million registered members. Interesting. So how would I change that kind of fit? And with the collection and registration of PVC almost coming to a close, I was again divinely inspired to embark on a holistic mobilization drive. And that was why I had to launch that drive. I am happy to announce to you that in consonance with article 12.18, 19, 20, and 21 of our party constitution, all the polling unit structure, the youth wing, the women wing, and the people living with the ability wing, which we have constituted, have been working day and night in this PVC registration and proper mobilization for collection of those who are registered before now. Okay. The good news is that even when I started a section in the first quarter of the registration, my registration jumped from 56,000 to the 1,102,000 now. What we could not achieve in three sections of quarters? We have achieved double in the fourth quarter. Interestingly, I see that your movement is towards the grassroots, which is very interesting. But what happens to the people who live in the suburbs, the people who live in the main town, the people who are somewhat second class? What about them? Are they not also part of the drive? Because you see the average second class person is the one that parties should be targeting, even though we see that it is the grass-routers that actually show up on election day. So why target the grass-routers and forget about the guys who live in the cities? No, it is holistic. It is not just targeted to the grassroots in the hinterland. We have 3,281 police units in cause and effect as of today, and this is scattered both in the urban and rural centers. So the launch of this, and don't forget, the governor Ben Ayadez, administration, has a proper grassroots administrative structure, where in every polling unit, you have a pointee of government, not less than five, that food is being put on their table every month, even for doing nothing, until we came up with the idea. I'm sorry, Mr Chairman, hold on, how do you mean food is being put on their table even for doing nothing? Because I know that there are people who are complaining that pensioners have not been paid. There are people that are being owed. So where is this food coming from and how is it happening? That's what I'm explaining to you. It's a social intervention program. It's a social intervention program to lessen the social tension in the community. So you don't even need to do any work. But in every community, you just have to come together, put five persons together, that drives, I mean that drives nothing less than 30,000 Naira from government. And I'm going to tell you the partnership we are doing with this person that is giving us this result. We have gone to them, and they're pleased for this good thing that the government is doing for you. Let us strengthen and increase the voting strength of Cross River State. So you're saying that the government of Cross River State is... All you need to do for us in return... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mr Chairman. ...is to join the mobilisation. I'm so sorry to talk over you. Are you saying that the government of Cross River State on the Professor Ben Ayade is bribing people with 30,000 Naira to register in their parties and then of course go and pick PBCs? Because this is what you're trying to tell me. I think you are getting me wrong. Please explain. It will be wrong. You are getting me completely wrong. Okay. I am telling you, the army of young men and women that we are partnering with, they have been so engaged since seven years now. And we only went to partner with them. And that means get involved in this march mobilisation. So what I do extra is to take the measure that makes them government to fund the polling unit structure. That is why you can see the whole new state, the effect of the work going on. I see. Let's talk about voter education, which is also a responsibility of political parties across the country, which you are a Chairman of the APC. Aside from telling people to get their PBCs, are parties educating people on their rights during the elections, before the elections and after the elections? Is it just about telling them to go and vote for you on election day? What are the parts of voter education is the APC in cross-strait state engaging in or engaging the people in? I didn't get that question very well. So I'm talking about voter education. It's not just INX job to educate the voters. It's also a responsibility of political parties across the country. And I'm asking you, as the party Chairman, how much voter education is the APC in cross-strait state doing for not just the young people, but every single person who holds a PBC? And even those who are yet to get one, is there any form of engagement of the people on what their rights are as voters? Of course. We have told that for such thing this PBC is their right to have to choose the kind of leaders you want. If you are not satisfied with our performance, the only thing that gives you power to change us is this PBC. And when politicians come to you to make and pay promises, the only weapon you have to hold them to the actualization of those promises is your PBC. I really went as far as telling them that the Ayadeh can help programs that we are implementing in cross-strait state. It will get to a point in time that if you do not have PBC, you cannot start the Medicare. So our people are now enlightened. And that is why you can see the rush in every residential center today. The crowd is always cheering to capacity. And I want to give you the opportunity to appeal to our next that we need to think of with this one month's grace. We must see who can continue doing it in August, possibly. Okay. Let's talk about the APC's internal democracy. Recently, a former personal assistant to Mr. President, Obama, the Buhari, on prosecution, or called Obonobla, predicted that the APC in cross-strait state can suffer a massive defeat if elections are held in Nigeria today. I'd like to quote him directly. Obonobla, who was allegedly defeated during the just concluded Cross River Central Central Primary, has made this prediction in a statement that he released. He emphasized, and I quote, if elections are held today, the party will surely suffer a massive defeat. Aggrieved aspirants, angry with the callous and vicious manner. The Potenac and his conquering army manipulated the primaries. I'm sure he's talking about the party and Mr. Governor. He's saying that there are several lawsuits against the party in the state and these people are seeking for redress. He says these plethora of lawsuits were filed by aggrieved aspirants of the APC panel, set up to hear complaints arising from the primaries, but they failed to hear these complaints. I always say this, a house that's divided against itself can't stand. And if the APC is going against not just the PDP now, we have the Labor Party and recently many of some of your party members have moved, I hear, allegedly to the Labor Party. If you must be able to win in the 2023 elections, is your house in order? I can barely hear you. All right, I'll ask again. I'll ask you again. Is the APC's house in order? Obonobla is saying that if elections were to hold today in Kosovo state, the APC will be defeated thoroughly. And he's saying that that's because the committee that was put together to address grievances of party members and even those who lost elections has not been able to address any of the issues. Can you speak on that? I don't know, okay, I don't know. Well, I'll say it once. Can you? An election is held today in Kosovo state, if anything will fail. Yes. Is that what you have? Yes, that's what Obonobla is saying. And he's saying that this is because the issues within the party have not been addressed. And I'd like to hear your thoughts. Mr. Barista, Obonobla is our very respected member. He ran a lecture recently. I lost in the primary. I know, perhaps, he is still not a very happy man yet. That statement, I cannot show you, was made in anger. It does not represent the reality. I try not to speech. I like acting. Nobody believe we're going to win or go die a lot by elections. We won. When I told everybody that we won in a public constituency, but the area where we won, there was violence, I ruptured. And we're going to get it at the tribunal. So they have been vindicated. One thousand seven hundred and something both were invalidated. And the tribunal has given an order for the withdrawal of the federal return that was issued to the Philippine candidate. APC is the party of the discussion. If the election is to hold today, APC will win. I am aware that when people construct elections and lost out, there is a great tendency for them to be angry. OK, because if you can, I think about that fact. Because we're out of time, because we're out of time, our time is far spent. On the last week on Monday, I had to put a reconciliation and peace duty committee that is already working on all this. And we hope that there will be proper reconciliation and the funding will be united again. Well, I want to say thank you, Mr. Alfonso, to Aiba is the chairman of the All Progressive Congress in River State. We're hoping that all freed nerves will be calmed for cross river states. I beg your pardon. Thank you so much, Mr. Aiba, for speaking with us. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Thank you very much. All right. Well, that's it on plus politics tonight. No, thanks to the connections, but we hope that you had a great time with us tonight. We'll be back tomorrow talking for development and bringing you the biggest political stories across the country. I'm Mary Anna Kohn. Have a good evening.