Efio-Ita Nyok|25 January 2016|5:10am
While fielding questions from journalists at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport recently, the incumbent governor of CRS, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade is reported by one of his media aide, Emmanuel Ulayi, to be justifying his present cordial relationship with an APC President in the person of Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Ulayi, Governor Ben Ayade opined that: 'We did not seek office for the mere sake of politics, politics is for service to your people, it is not politics for the sake of politics, and so for me, I am focused on ensuring that I work with the President (Muhammadu Buhari) for the good of my people in Cross River State'. Ayade, according to Ulayi, further drove home his point when he submitted that: 'he (Buhari) did not seek election to be APC president, he sought to be the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that is who he is and what he has continued to exhibit'.
With the above submissions, Ayade, is understood to have rationalise as well as justified his relationship with the governing APC despite the fact that he is a leading member of the opposition PDP. Albeit, the present author wishes to disagree with His Excellency. I wish to ask: Why is Ayade changing his language now with barely just 8 months into office and in view of the speech attributed to and made by him on 27th February 2015 during GEJ's presidential campaigns at Ikom LGA? In the said event he said concerning President Muhammadu Buhari thus: 'When a man compromises his conscience, when you allow your conscience to be conquered by greed, by religion or ethnicity, you cannot see. That is the only reason that a man at 72, who has no education, no culture, no finesse, is made to run an election against a doctoral candidate. A man without exposure'. Ayade even made bold to posit that: 'A man who has already turned 72 and is tired, he's reduced in body and in spirit. A man who lacks capacity and exposure. That's the man you are comparing. If it is not ethnicity, if it is not religion, do you think we have election at all? We don't have an election. The gospel truth is that when you turned 65 and you are seeking a public office, you are simply a dinosaur'. Did I just say Ayade referred to the then Major General Buhari-now-turned-President Buhari as 'simply a dinosaur'!? Yes, that was our burgeoning politician with ethics! This is the dinosaur Ayade is now eulogisingly running to in Aso Rock. Who is fooling who!?
The above anti- and pro-Buhari statements credited to Ayade put him in negative light, for Ayade blows hot and cold all at the same time; it absolutely neutralises his politics-ethical mantra: 'politics with ethics'. The second ground upon which the present author will upturn the table of argument against Ayade is based on the idea of the tenets of politics. Students of politics would agree with my thesis that 'politics is all about alternatives'. This is owing to the fact that politics is characteristically ideological. There are variegated opinions as to how to address a given societal challenge. Some ideologies are conservative whereas others are liberal. We even have leftist and rightist political sentiments. These political conceptual frameworks are embodied in parties. It's in view of these ideological differences that one could say, a given party is the governing/ruling party while another is the opposition. In which ever case, it's the ideology, as championed by the given party, that the electorate cast their vote for. By voting for the said party, they are saying, this is the method we are quite comfortable with in addressing our problem. This ideology, in our perception, seems more successful in neutralising our challenges. The opposition party's responsibility is to fault the ideological approach of the governing party in the attempt to address a social teething palava. That is to say, the political contention is intellectual, ideological, conceptual, etc but not emotional or myopic. Now, given this preamble, it should be emphasised that the preceding ruminations on ideologically based politics seem to be what Ayade is running away from.
Gov. Ayade is now heard to be saying: 'We did not seek office for the mere sake of politics, politics is for service to your people, it is not politics for the sake of politics'. And I am compelled to asking Ayade what he defines the term 'politics' to mean. If it wasn't for the purpose of advancing human happiness why/how would have the social phenomenon itself first evolved? Should not the game be played according to the rules? Must the collective interest of Cross Riverians be mortgaged on the altar of Ayade's personal relationship with the presidency? It seems to be that the professor-now-turned-governor is being hypocritical and economical with the truth.
Again, just as Ogon Bonaventure Ojar observed, why is the governor busy witch-hunting Barr. Venatius Ikem, Prince Goddy Jedy Agba, etc upon their defection to the APC? I think he should be commending them for defecting to the all loving APC. Or, is APC-Obudu not the same APC at the National front? Why is Ayade not patting them in the back but rather seen to be asserting thus: 'I am a PDP governor in all my spirit. I am a strong member of the party and I believe in the party'.
However, my candid opinion concerning Ayade when he noted that 'I think it is only natural for us to show him this level of respect by going to him for consultation, giving him progress report' is unnecessary. The first and last group of persons to consult and give progress report is the over 3 million Cross Riverians whom he superintend over. Besides, what is he consulting the president over? Nothing is happening sociopolitically, socioeconomically or socioculturally under his watch, so what's the consultations(s) all about? To what end is his interfacing with the presidency? Is it for his private or our collective interest?
Be that as it may, it should be sounded as a note of warning, that Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade has a party to consult and the masses. President Buhari and the APC should be the last thing in his mind now. Or, he should desist from persecuting Venatius Ikem, Goddy Agba, etc but rather give them a state award for defecting to 'his APC'.
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroid Haven
effioitanyok@gmail.com
