Eugene Upah|7 April 2017
If the news going by about the defection of distinguished Senator Florence Ita-Giwa to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the nearest foreseeable future is true, then I would simply say I am flabbergasted by the impromptu reverse gear by our own “mama Bakassi”. Politics they say, is all about interest, but certainly not every invitation a person must consider, especially when it has to do with a people who believe so much in you and (in most cases) are looking up to you.
I have always known from the very beginning that they were some people Governor Ayade didn’t need in his team, especially the “establishments”. Reason being because these people are not answerable to the Governor; they are Bosses and decision makers and takers on their own. They command influence and can decide whether to jump ship or stay tuned at any given point in time. Categorically, the Governor appointed some of these establishments into his government in order to exert influence, intimidate his opponents, get closer to the electorates and attract people oriented programs to the state because of their “already made” big names.
The gallant truth is, Governor Ben Ayade is a liberal minded thinker who believes in carrying everyone along, but is he ready to pay the supreme price. What price? Defections, betrayal and in-house romantic manipulations to smear his government. Whilst some appointees have resigned appointments leaving the Governor in the middle of the storm, others declined acceptance citing many frivolous excuses as a reason. Senator Ita-Giwa is not the only one who has defected or is planning to defect (as the case may be), more cross-overs will arise, but the question is; what should the Governor do at this time? I think, the Governor must do away with the very senior elites in his cabinet who have already carved a niche for themselves and continue with his “not too young” to hold public office philosophy thereby appointing younger people with the zeal, charisma and passion to serve (not for the money), but because they will remain loyal (at least for a while) and allow him concentrate. I am an Apostle of my own thinking and as such, maybe wrong in my assertions.
I will simply cite one instance to back up my proposal and that will be all for this publication. When the Governor was presented with “Vanguard Governor of the year” award last month in Abuja, he went with some of his elite appointees to the occasion and handed them an A-class treatment. At some point, the people who didn’t know Her Excellency, Dr. Linda Ayade mistook Senator Ita-Giwa to be first lady of Cross River State because of the tete-a-tete the Governor had with her throughout the reception. Suffice it is not to say a person’s loyalty should be accessed by the treatment s/he gets, No, it is to show you that the Governor holds such a person in very high esteem.
Former Governor Liyel Imoke, (a man I love so much) once said in a public gathering and I quote; “by the time I completed by first tenure, I went back looking through photographs of people who stood by me during my swearing in ceremony half of them were no more with me. Now this is the real business of politics”. Governor Ayade as far as I know, is the most criticized Governor in the world, with seventy percent of his distractors coming from his own axis; the North, and the remaining 30 percent coming from his own house, he must stop trying to please everybody and face the in-thing; the real business of governance squarely innit.
Eugene Upah
Concerned Cross Riverian & Assistant DG Commonsense Revolution
