By Abasi Ita
The Neighbour 2 Neighbour (N2N) Grassroots Mobilisation Network has taken its campaign for the re-election of Cross River State Governor, Prince Bassey Otu, to the Central Senatorial District, seeking to strengthen grassroots support for the governor and other All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The group began the mobilisation tour with the inauguration of ward and polling unit coordinators in Abi and Boki Local Government Areas, charging youths, women and other grassroots stakeholders to take its message to communities across the district.
Speaking at separate inauguration ceremonies in Abi and Boki, leaders of the organisation said the campaign was focused on neighbourhood engagement, voter sensitization and grassroots mobilisation, while showcasing what they described as the achievements of the Otu administration.
At the inauguration of ward and polling unit coordinators at the Abi Local Government Council Secretariat on Friday, August 21, 2026, N2N Director General, Dr Bobby Ekpenyong, urged voters to scrutinise candidates and demand accountability from politicians seeking their support.
Ekpenyong said, “Time has come for Abi people to screen candidates who come to campaign on fake promises just to get their votes and later return to Abuja and abandon the people.”
He recalled his involvement with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the last general election, saying his assessment of the current administration had influenced his decision to support Governor Otu’s second term bid.
“I have seen the light and have decided to throw my hat into the ring for Governor Bassey Otu because of what the incumbent has done in the area of employment and the recovery of our agricultural estates that were sold in the name of privatisation,” he said.
According to him, the administration’s efforts to recover lost oil wells, pursue new oil blocks for the state, revive Tinapa and advance the takeoff of the Bakassi Deep Seaport were initiatives capable of transforming the state’s economy.
Ekpenyong also cited the renovation of the State Library Complex, ongoing rehabilitation of the Cultural Centre Complex, efforts to tackle insecurity and kidnapping, and road construction across the state as other achievements of the administration.
“With all these things done within three years, Otu deserves our total support and should be re-elected in 2027. We are, therefore, here in Abi to solicit your massive votes to enable him finish the good works and take us to the Eldorado,” he said.
N2N Takes Campaign to Boki
At Kakwagom, where coordinators for Boki’s 12 wards were inaugurated, Ekpeyong said N2N was not established to distribute money but to communicate what he described as the achievements of the Otu administration to the people.
“We are not here to share money. We are here to preach the gospel of what Governor Bassey Otu has done in Cross River State and in Boki in particular,” he said.
He listed the Boki East West Road, equipping of the hospital at Abu Ebam and installation of solar street lights in Bawop, Kakwagom, Okundi, Kachuan Irruan and Kakwagom Irruan among projects undertaken by the administration in the area.
He charged the newly inaugurated coordinators to take the campaign to their immediate communities, markets, farms, shops and motor parks.
“Go back to your neighbourhoods, shops, farms, marketplaces and buses and preach the gospel of Bassey Otu because everybody living on earth has a neighbour,” Ekpenyong said.
He described Governor Otu’s re-election as a task that must be accomplished, arguing that supporting the governor in 2027 would help preserve the state’s established rotation arrangement.
“Don’t allow anybody, in any guise, to deceive you into distorting the existing political arrangement that permits rotation of power among the three senatorial zones in the state,” he warned.
Ekpenyong urged voters to demand the scorecards of candidates seeking their votes and ask them to explain what they intended to do differently from the present administration.
“Time has gone for us to be led by the nose again because of the selfish interests of an individual or group of persons. We now know better and we stand for the truth, which is that Governor Bassey Otu has done well and should be returned,” he added.
Youths, Women Mobilise for Otu
The Director of Youth Mobilisation, Hon. Michael Kajang Obaji, charged youths to return to their communities and mobilise their colleagues for the governor’s re-election.
“Youths must get down to the grassroots, mobilise their colleagues and take the Neighbour 2 Neighbour message to every community. Otu’s return in 2027 is a task that must be done,” Obaji said.
He argued that failure by the Central Senatorial District to support Otu in 2027 could affect its opportunity to produce the next governor, potentially leaving the zone waiting for another eight years before power returns to the area.
The Director of Women Mobilisation, Dr Silo Ekpenyong, commended women for their contributions to the governor’s victory in 2023 and urged them to intensify mobilisation ahead of 2027.
“No woman should sit on the fence anymore. The time has come for us to get down to work and deliver all APC candidates massively,” she said.
She also called for a strong voter turnout, saying the state needed massive participation to strengthen its position in the South South region and secure greater benefits from the Federal Government.
Abi Highlights Otu’s Projects
In his welcome remarks, the Abi Local Government Coordinator of N2N, Hon. Kelvin Ezor, said the organisation was committed to galvanising grassroots support for all APC candidates ahead of the elections.
He described the campaign as “operation show your strength and protect your votes”, stressing that N2N was built around neighbourhood engagement and grassroots mobilisation.
Ezor listed the Bahumono Ring Road, revitalisation of Songhai Farms, and the reintegration and resettlement of the Ebiajakara people in their ancestral home after more than a decade as some of the interventions of the Otu administration in Abi.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser on Revenue to the Abi Local Government Chairman, Hon. Ebong Pius Innocent, said the people of Abi would continue to highlight what he described as the administration’s positive interventions in the area, particularly road construction.
He said the people should reciprocate the governor’s efforts by supporting his re-election in 2027, adding that more than 1,000 Abi residents, including farmers, had benefited from various welfare packages provided by the administration.
He declared, “Only the second coming of Jesus Christ will stop Governor Otu’s re-election in 2027.”
Critical stakeholders who graced the event included Hon. Egbonyi Daniel Stephen, Ward Relations Officer to the Abi Chairman; Hon. Daniel Edet, Personal Assistant to the Leader of the Legislative Council; Hon. Peter Ikpabi, Personal Assistant on Environment to the Chairman as well as Hon. Emmanuel Godwin Ezeoke, Special Adviser on Religious Matters to the Chairman.
Others were Hon. Ebong Pius Innocent, Special Adviser on Revenue to the Chairman; and Agbor Ejar, Press Secretary to the Leader of Council.