Alphonsus Eba, an ally of ex-Cross River state governor, Senator Ben Ayade, has resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and returned to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Eba announced his defection in a statement issued on Thursday, citing alleged intimidation, political repression, and internal crises within the APC as reasons for his decision.
The lawyer and politician previously served as Director-General of the Cross River State Due Process and Price Intelligence Bureau before emerging as APC chairman in Cross River State.
Before his exit from the APC, Eba was involved in a prolonged leadership crisis within the party.
In November 2025, the forum of APC local government chairmen and secretaries demanded his resignation over allegations of high-handedness, financial mismanagement, and failure to remit funds to grassroots party structures.
The officials also accused him of sidelining party stakeholders and withholding stipends meant for ward and local government executives.
The crisis escalated in December 2025 when 30 out of 32 members of the party’s state executive committee passed a vote of no confidence in him and announced his removal as chairman.
The APC subsequently appointed Ekum Ojogu as acting chairman. Eba, however, rejected the decision, describing his removal as unconstitutional and politically motivated.
The former chairman approached a federal capital territory high court in Abuja, seeking protection against what he described as an unlawful attempt to remove him from office.
The court later granted an interim order restraining the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from enforcing resolutions aimed at removing him pending the hearing of the suit.
Despite the court order, the APC later announced his expulsion from the party over his decision to institute legal action without exhausting the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms.
Eba was among the political allies who defected with Ayade from the PDP to the APC in 2021.
The former APC chairman said he could no longer remain silent in the face of what he described as continued oppression within the ruling party.
“I can no longer maintain my dignified silence in the face of the continuous subjugation and infractions on our freedom of expression, association and private life, exacerbated by intimidation, oppression and repression of people who hold contrary views against the system,” he said.
Eba said he formally withdrew his membership of the APC and requested that his name be removed from the party register on May 7, 2026.
“I decided to withdraw my membership of APC and requested the delisting of my name from its hard copy and digital register on May 7, 2026,” he said.
The former APC chairman disclosed that he received invitations from three opposition parties before deciding to return to the PDP.
Eba said the PDP’s national leadership crisis had been resolved by the Supreme Court and called for efforts to rebuild the party structure across the state.
“I have humbly agreed to be one of the beasts of burden and prolocutors towards the effectuation of this noble task,” he said.
