BASSEY EWA's CALL FOR POLITICAL DETOX AND DEMOCRATIC RENEWAL IN PDP CROSS RIVER CHAPTER
By Francis Effiom
If political rebirths ever had a postal address, then on Tuesday, October 8, 2025, that address was Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria. There, the newly appointed Caretaker Committee Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Rt. Hon. Bassey Eko Ewa, presided over the inaugural meeting of the 18-member Caretaker Committee. A gathering many already describe as “the meeting that reset the PDP compass in the state.”
Others have called it, with a hint of irony and reverence, “The Sermon on the Mount.”
Gone was the air of suspicion that had long trailed PDP meetings in The Cross River Chapter. In its place was a cautious but unmistakable optimism. For the first time in years, party faithful listened to a chairman who spoke not from a fortress of factions but from a place of humility, collective responsibility and unmistakable authority.
Ewa’s tone was firm but not fierce, authoritative but not arrogant, and above all, sincere.
He began by enumerating the wounds everyone knew but few had dared to diagnose. “For too long,” he said, “personal interests and narrow leadership styles divided our great party.” In that simple admission, he broke the tradition of denial that had long kept the PDP trapped in cycles of denial and self-inflicted crisis.
The speech that followed wasn’t the usual roll call of promises. It was a political autopsy, that was honest, measured, and restorative. Ewa spoke of the need for what he called a “political detox” — a cleansing of the party’s internal bloodstream, long poisoned by exclusion, ego, and intrigue.
His words struck a chord. For a party whose name had lately become synonymous with division, the new message felt like fresh air. Delegates nodded, applauded, cautiously at first, and then with unbridled conviction.
It will be recalled that the National Working Committee (NWC) had dissolved the previous state executive and suspended the contentious congresses that deepened internal fractures. The new 18-member Caretaker Committee, one representative from each local government areas, has a mandate to Reconcile, Rebuild, and Restore the party’s structure and spirit ahead of the next congress.
Ewa framed the committee’s task as both moral and managerial: He opined that, “We are not here to take sides,” he went further by reveal to the hall that - “We are here to make peace and rebuild trust. The PDP in Cross River Chapter must be Fair, Open, and Transparent again.”
He promised a leadership style anchored on Consultation, Inclusivity, and Fairness, the kind that listens as much as it leads. “The opinion of a few,” he warned, “must never again become the law for all.”
As the meeting wound down, the atmosphere inside The Metropolitan Hotel was almost surreal. There were no parallel attendance lists, no angry walkouts, no side caucuses. What lingered instead was a sense of calm, fragile though, but genuine nonetheless.
When Ewa rose to close the meeting, his final words carried the cadence of both invitation and benediction: He assured everyone that "The PDP is your home. The door is open for everyone to return".
The room erupted in applause , not the perfunctory clapping of protocol, but something that sounded like relief.
For many, it was the first time in years they’d heard a PDP chairman who sounded like a healer rather than a headmaster. One elder statesman was overheard whispering, “Maybe this time, the healing will hold.”
By the time the meeting ended, the whispers in Calabar had changed. No one was asking “Who’s in charge?” anymore. Instead, the question on many lips was “What next?”
Ewa may not yet have all the answers, but in a political environment long fuelled by grudges and fatigue, he has done something rare, he’s restored belief.
Belief that unity is still possible!
Belief that PDP, once again, can speak with one voice!!
Belief that all can indeed be well again!!!
And most importantly belief that RENEWAL, true Renewal, can begin right h
ere at the PDP - Cross River Chapter.
