Inyali Peter|29 May 2016|7:15am
The peaceful transition from the then ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) to the opposition party, All Progressive Congress (APC) orchestrated by the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 stabilized Nigeria's democracy according to the gubernatorial candidate of the APC in 2015 general elections in Cross River State, Mr. Odey Ochicha.
In a statement issued in Calabar to mark the 2016 Democracy Day, Ochicha said that although the PDP failed to develop the country as expected considering the abundant resources at its disposal, Nigeria's democracy has witnessed tremendous progress by the civilized transition from one political party to two party system which the whole world has acclaimed.
The APC chieftain went further to accuse Cross River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade of deliberately destroying the sixteen years legacy of the state. He pointed out that, the state which prior to the reign of Ayade, was regarded as the greenest and cleanest as well as the most peaceful in the country has now become the dirtiest and a haven for criminals.
Ochicha maintained that Ayade's one year reign has been a great loss to Cross Riverians describing the situation as a state with a governor but without a government. While regretting the increase of kidnapping activities in the state, he advised the government to collaborate and provide the necessary logistics to security agencies in the state to combat the crime.
"I want to congratulate Nigeria and Nigerians for celebrating seventeen solid years of uninterrupted democracy. Although PDP may not have developed the country as expected but the peaceful and civilized transition from one political party to another in 2015 showed a remarkable progress in our democracy journey.
"After the manipulation of the governorship result by PDP in the last elections, I refused to approach the tribunal because election to me is not a do or die affair but a contest of ideas. I conceded defeat for democracy to continue to grow and for our dear state to match forward in terms of development.
"However, I had expected Ayade to repay my gesture by giving Cross Riverians responsible and responsive leadership but his one year in office has been a great loss for us. It has been characterized by recklessness and nepotism without a clear policy direction. He has destroyed our sixteen years legacy of the most peaceful and cleanest state in Nigeria".
The former governorship candidate expressed concern over the incessant cases of communal war in the state and advised government to look for a lasting solution to the issue.
"I'm worried by the incessant communal war in the state. The government with a lot of community relations officers, community relations ministry and peace and conflict resolution unit should easily tackle this menace rather than allowing people to die like flies as Ayade has done".
Taking about the signature projects of the governor, he advised that the government should concentrate on projects that the state economy can afford rather than going for quantum and unrealistic projects.
He noted that any project shrouded in fraud will be strongly resisted even as he said the future of the younger generation was greater than the selfish interest of the current leaders; therefore government should avoid growing the state's debt profile as is currently the case.
"I commend the governor for conceiving wonderful dreams of establishing a garment factory, deep seaport, super highway amongst others. "However, the governor should be realistic to embark on projects the state can fund. The projects should not be shrouded in fraud like the issue of the ownership of the garment factory which is still in doubt. While I accept that we want super highway, we should consider feasible projects and I want to urge the state government to collaborate with the federal government to rehabilitate the Ikom/Ogoja/Obudu highway which is most expedient to save the lives of innocent Cross Riverians from dying on that terrible road", he said
Inyali Peter
Writes from Calabar
