Leaders across the Cross River State health sector have met to brainstorm strategies for coordinating support for Governor Bassey Otu’s re-election bid and other All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The strategic meeting, held on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at the Ministry of Health Headquarters in Calabar, brought together heads of departments, statutory agencies and other key stakeholders to discuss a coordinated framework for the sector’s participation in the party’s political activities.
Convening the meeting, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk, said the gathering was intended to enable leaders across the sector to agree on an agenda for supporting the Otu administration and its re-election bid, while emphasising that participation in the proposed mobilisation was voluntary.
“As a health workforce, we need to organise ourselves to be able to support the election of Prince Bassey Edet Otu and all other candidates of the party. It is not compulsory for everybody in the health workforce to participate, but I called this meeting of leaders from the various sectors and subsectors to agree on an agenda and determine the best role we can play in supporting this administration in the upcoming 2027 elections,” he said.
Dr. Ayuk explained that the proposed strategy would explore opportunities to engage communities through the health sector’s activities, including medical outreaches, public health campaigns and social mobilisation around emerging health challenges.
He said the goal was to coordinate the contributions of willing health sector stakeholders and establish a committee to develop an implementation blueprint for the proposed activities.
“What we are planning is to maximise every effort and opportunity we have in the health sector to support Governor Otu. A lot of things will be done between now and the election, including medical outreaches and social mobilisation around emerging health challenges,” the Commissioner stated.
He added that the committee would be responsible for developing proposals and providing the leadership required to coordinate the initiative.
The Director-General of the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, Sir Godwin Iyala, pledged his agency’s cooperation, noting that health professionals could contribute their expertise and community-level experience to the proposed engagement.
“The Governor has done well in the health sector, and we are going to expand on that. I pledge my agency’s full cooperation to ensure that this initiative works,” Iyala said.
Also speaking, the Impact Project Manager, Dr. Paul A. Odey, commended the meeting’s organisers for clarifying the proposed operational structure and highlighting the role of personnel working directly with communities.
Other participants included the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Offor J. Inyang; the Director-General of the State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), Dr. Idara C.; Diufua Tom Tom; Louisa Ocoro; Dr. G. Esuabanga; Dr. Nsamu Esuabanga; Ajube Ayo; Mary Ijein; Effa Utery; Ukam Ekup Edodi; the Head of Food Safety, Nutrition and WASH, Dr. Obogo Simon; Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Bateye Anpo; and Alphonsus Ukpong, among other health sector officials and stakeholders.
By Kingsley Agim
