Hundreds Storm NDC Secretariat in Calabar Over “Stolen Mandate”. How a 3-Vote Aspirant Replaced the Real Winner With 354 Votes
Calabar, Cross River State – June 9, 2026
The internal democracy of the emerging Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) faced a severe test on Tuesday as hundreds of registered party members stormed the NDC State Secretariat in Calabar.
The demonstrators converged to protest what they described as a brazen manipulation of the primary election results for the Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency ahead of the 2027 House of Representatives election.
Carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Restore Our Mandate,” “No to Imposed Candidates,” and “Hon. Barr. Ankot Cobham is Our Winner,” the aggrieved protesters accused certain party officials of colluding with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to alter official collation sheets.
The protesters in Calabar presented a strongly worded petition addressed to the National Chairman, alongside a letter signed by 50 card-carrying members, to the Cross River State Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Akpama, Goddie Achibong.
According to the petition, authentic results collated from the field showed a landslide victory for one of the aspirants:
Hon. Barr. Ankot Cobham: 354 votes
Hon. Ekpo Christopher Edet: 3 votes
Mr. Clement Ene: 1 vote
Mr. Edim Edim: 1 vote
The petitioners alleged that despite Hon. Barr. Ankot Cobham’s overwhelming victory, his name was mysteriously expunged from the national collation sheet and replaced with Hon. Ekpo Christopher Edet, who reportedly scored only three votes based on a leaked, unverified party result sheet.
Insiders at the national level have reportedly hinted that the leaked sheet did indeed exist.
“We have video evidence of the counting and declaration on the field,” a protest leader told journalists in Calabar. “This is daylight robbery of the people’s will, and we will not accept it.”
The petition further alleged that the substitution was part of a well-funded sabotage orchestrated by elements within the NDC working in tandem with the ruling APC in Cross River State to weaken the party’s chances in a highly winnable constituency.
The protesters also pointed fingers at the NDC Cross River State South Vice Chairman, Mr. Clement Ene (who was also an aspirant in the primary). Ene reportedly told associates that “the real action is done in Abuja” and that the grassroots primary election was irrelevant.
Demands for Intervention
The concerned members laid out two major demands to the national leadership: the immediate reversal of the alleged fraudulent collation to restore Hon. Barr. Ankot Cobham’s name, and full respect for the votes cast by grassroots members.
They also appealed to high-profile national figures within the party coalition, including Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, His Excellency Peter Obi, and Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, to urgently intervene to rescue the Cross River State chapter from “opposition-sponsored saboteurs.”
Receiving the petition, State Chairman Mr. Akpama, Goddie Achibong promised to escalate the grievances to the national secretariat.
However, the protesters vowed to sustain their mass action and explore legal avenues if their demands are ignored.
The demonstration comes amid a broader national effort by the NDC leadership to douse internal tensions. In a press statement released by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, Esq., the national secretariat explicitly stated that the NDC has not officially released any primary election results across the federation, urging members to disregard any lists currently in circulation.
How the national secretariat reconciles the field results with its official processes will serve as a crucial litmus test for the relatively young NDC in Cross River State.
With political analysts warning that the Calabar Municipal/Odukpani episode could trigger widespread voter apathy and fracture the party’s grassroots support base in the South-South zone, all eyes remain fixed on Abuja for the final resolution of the primary outcomes.
