Ifere Paul|2 December 2015|5:24am
It has been independently verified that Professor Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State is in a serious fix.
The governor, whose future to continue as governor is hanging on the shoulders of a Court of Appeal judgement is running around all over Abuja looking for people with the connections to the Court of Appeal judges in an attempt to buy the impending judgement to his favor.
Prof. Ben Ayade position as governor is being challenged by Joe Agi (SAN) who believed that Ben
Ayade emergence as the governorship candidate was faulty. Joe Agi (SAN) went further to amend his case in the High Court to include falsification of birth certificates. The matter in the High Court favoured
Ben Ayade. But Joe Agi (SAN) disagreed with the judgement and hence, seeked for grounds to appeal
the case in the Appeal Court.
Governor Ben Ayade, who already is aware that he has a bad case in the Appeal Court has been going around town begging people who are close to Joe Agi (SAN) to intervene on his behalf. Ayade has been working tirelessly to thwart the judgement. He has been working around the clock to get the approval of party big wings of the APC in a bit to use his connection at the Federal Level to prevail on the judges to give him a favorable judgement.
It is also possible that Ben Ayade has not removed a hat trick of financial compensation for the judges in order to get the best verdict. Expectations are high in Calabar after so many promises have been broken by Governor Ben Ayade. Opinion polls for Ben Ayade has drastically declined due largely by a penchant of talking too much and less action.
With a knack of ruling the State with a draconian approach, the youths who were the strongest support base for Ayade have lost hope in his style of leadership, and anxiously hoping that a change of hands at the helm of affairs can salvage the
deteriorating situation from further collapse.
A former strong supporter of Ben Ayade, Undie Jeremiah has this to say….
"when prof came in as the governorship candidate, some people loved him, and I voted for him. He promised us a general
hospital in Obudu, but til now, he has turned his face away from that. I can authoritatively tell you that the
Garment Factory is a constituency project of the northern senatorial district. He has taken this project to the southern district and has added it to the signature projects. What kind of leader is that?"
"The Obudu school of nursing and midwifery is no longer existing. Crossriverians and students from
Benue State, and other States used to come to Obudu to study nursing. Now, even the new Abakeliki school of nursing is growing faster. A lot
of young people in Obudu and northern senatorial district no longer believe in his leadership. He has failed us. Every well meaning CrossRiverian will be happy to hear that there's a change from this style
of ruling. People are praying that he losses the case."
"A group of young men from Cross River State are warming up to say enough is enough. He's attempts
to bribe the judges this time will not work. We pray that the judges themselves be careful this time."
Ifere Paul
Is a Public Policy Analyst & Environmental Activist
