….Says governor’s
re-election unstoppable
Few days to the March
9 governorship election in Cross River State, the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo
Okon Abasi Otu V, yesterday directed every son and daughter of the Efik Kingdom
to vote massively for incumbent Governor Ben Ayade.
The first class monarch said nobody or force can stop the re-election of
Governor Ayade.
In what appeared a royal proclamation, he said: “From today, no matter the
party you have been tagging along with, wherever you have been going, if you
are an Efik son or daughter and from the southern senatorial district, withdraw
yourself back to the PDP and let us move forward and vote massively for
Governor Ayade to complete his four more years, and nobody else.”
Alluding to the power rotation principle in the state, the monarch said nobody
can distort what is on ground.
And turning to the governor, he said: “we have sat as traditional rulers and
spiritual fathers and we came to a conclusion. We made a statement and that
statement holds. Nobody, no power can take that second term from you.”
The Calabar monarch further directed all Efiks to “come back home
and let’s do what we have to do. Come back and let us form the nucleus
and let’s build up and vote our sitting Governor and his deputy”
Assuring the Governor of total Efik votes, he said “there is no vacancy in
Government House. It is you that we want.”
Turning to his Cabinet, the Obong told them that Governor Ayade has done a lot
for Cross River and for the Efik nation in particular to deserve re-election..
“There are so many things he has done…we all àre aware he doesn’t need
to come here and begin to tell us because when you walk out, you will see most
of this things or feel them. If you look at the whole state, it is calm and
quiet. We have a governor and we are not looking for another one”, he
said.
In his reaction to the royal endorsement , Professor Ayade told the Obong and
Etubom in council that his vision and master plan was to create a new cross
river state that would shift from third world to first world noting that he is
a Governor with the fear of God who is committed to the industrialization of
the state thereby creating jobs for the teaming youths.
“I am not a product of complex, cheap politics, I am a product of
calculated, sophisticated and well thought out process set on a mission to
decouple the state from dependenc on federal allocation”, he said
Ayade explained that upon assumption of office in 2015, the state was at the
verge of economic collapse having lost its oil wells. “Our people
had been reduced to want in body , spirit and soul and so we needed to
construct a new economy”, he stated
While cataloguing his achievements in three and half years, governor Ayade said
inspite of the state being the third most indebted and 35 out of 36 state of
the federation in terms of federal allocation, his administration is not
owing salaries and pension, and has engaged over 8000 appointees and
avalanche of industries built across the state.
He assured the Obong that after his second term in 2023 power will rotate
to the southern Senatorial district in line with the state’s power rotation
formula.