By Odu Gilbert Bofa
As a concerned Cross Riverian, I write not out of malice, but out of a sense of duty to our dear state.
In recent months, a political structure known as the Evidence Group, operating under the motto “Operation Show Us Your Polling Unit Results,” has become increasingly dominant in our political space. While youth mobilization is an essential part of democracy, it is imperative that we interrogate its legality, funding, and sustainability.
First, On Legality and Protection of Our Youths:
Every legitimate government empowerment program has a legal framework, it is either a Ministry, Department, Agency, Commission, or a CAC registered entity with clear terms of service, tenure, and accountability. Where does Evidence Group derive its legal backing? It is not found in the 1999 Constitution (as amended), nor in the Electoral Act, 2022. Its appointments carry no statutory protection, no pension, and no enforceable tenure.
Our youths must understand a settled principle of law: political promises are not enforceable in court. If you accept a leadership position in a structure with no legal backing, on what basis will you enforce your entitlement tomorrow? This is a pertinent question that every beneficiary must ask before celebrating an appointment.
Second, On Fiscal Responsibility and Opportunity Cost:
Reports in the public domain suggest that enormous collective resources are being channeled into the procurement of buses and cars, funding of rallies, feeding of crowds, hotel accommodations, and payment of temporary stipends that are coterminous with the election cycle, for a private political group.
The question is not whether mobilization is good. The question is about opportunity cost. The cost of 20 buses can mechanize 200 young farmers in Boki, Ikom, and Obudu with cocoa processing equipment. One month’s expenditure on rallies and hotel bills can revamp the Obudu Cattle Ranch, the Ikom Cocoa Factory, or the Calabar garment factory to create durable jobs for 20 years. Are we choosing temporary mobilization over permanent industrialization?
Third, On The Historical Pattern of Use and Abandonment:
Cross River politics has developed a worrying pattern of slogan based mobilization. Yesterday, the rallying cry was “Prince is Coming.” Loyal party faithful across the 18 Local Government Areas laboured, defected, and invested their resources. Today, many of those foot soldiers feel abandoned and forgotten. Today, the new slogan is “Evidence Group.” With the inevitable power contestations that define politics, where power confronts power and the lesser bows, what guarantees that today’s mobilizers will not be tomorrow’s abandoned?
Our brilliant youths from the Northern, Central, and Southern Senatorial Districts are being recruited into a system whose future they cannot predict, to help legitimize expenditure from their own commonwealth.
The Way Forward:
We do not oppose youth inclusion; we demand genuine inclusion. Genuine empowerment is not a branded bus, a uniform, or a stipend that expires after elections. Genuine empowerment is a factory, a functional farm, access to credit, skills, and markets that create independence.
Therefore, we respectfully call on the Government of Cross River State to:
1. Publicly disclose the budgetary allocation, funding source, and sustainability plan of the Evidence Group beyond the 2027 election cycle even after he lost the elections
2. Clarify whether the group is designed to build independent youth entrepreneurs or dependent political followers;
3. Redirect collective resources towards industrialization that will outlive political slogans.
In other states, youths demand accountability and production. In Cross River, we have normalized dependence and christened it loyalty. We cannot continue to write eloquent essays on Independence Day while remaining economically and politically dependent.
Cross River is too blessed to be reduced to slogans. Our collective wealth must work for all Cross Riverians, not for the sustenance of any group. Our youths are too brilliant to be used and dumped.
Let us build industries, not just groups. Let us create jobs, not just crowds for a better and responsible future of our dear state
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