The governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, has vowed that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) will never get close to power.

Otu, while receiving the endorsement of repentant members of the ex-Bakassi Defence Force for his 2027 re-election bid in Calabar, described ADC members as kwashiokor politicians.

He said the ADC was nothing but a gathering of detractors bent on dragging Nigeria back into hardship.

“We have heard that there are some kwashiokor persons making moves to take over power. They call themselves ADC. They are nothing more than detractors, a distraction! They can’t take Cross River back to Egypt,” Otu said.

The governor also dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party, as another “sickly group” incapable of returning Nigeria to what he called “the dark days.”

“As one who was once in opposition, I know detractors when I see them. They cannot achieve anything. It is glaring that people don’t like the truth, but we have seen those who put Nigerians where they were before we came in. They won’t succeed,” he added.

Otu, however, insisted that his People’s First administration would not clamp down on dissenting voices, stressing that democracy guaranteed freedom of association and expression.

“Well, we are in a democracy. And so, we won’t stop them from exercising their rights of speaking and grouping for political purposes,” he said.