11 February 2018
I feel so shocked by recent endorsement of Ayade for a second term. Should I be really shocked? I may not really be shocked especially knowing the fact that most people live according to the dictates of their stomachs and not by any principle. If not for greed and poverty, no one would have endorsed Ayade for a second term because everybody around Ayade practical bleeds at some form of betrayal and distrust of Governor Ben Ayade over some form of neglect and betrayal. It is natural to Ayade not to keep promises. Everyone that has supported Ayade has an ugly tale to tell because what they invested have not been recovered.
The Ayade style is to continuously starve those around him to create a god image making everyone run to him as their last hope despite the frustration they constantly encounter as a result of betrayal of trust. A round check around most rich politicians during the days of Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke tells a story of poverty. I know of some top politicians that can no longer feed themselves nor meet their needs and are left constantly seeking audience with the governor and most times waiting to see him for weeks without accessing the governor.
It was a political norm in the days of PDP to give seasonal gifts to elders in the form of hampers, monetary assistance, and medicals to those in the national, diaspora, state and local government to aid them solve some challenges and keep them fit after their services. But the reality on ground shows total neglect of the Cross River State elders especially those in PDP.
Ayade's concentration is on the youths that can easily be satisfied with peanuts. The interest of the Governor is basically to have a crop of sycophants who constantly sing his praises even when still living in abject poverty. Just take a look at youths crowding around Ayade, they are the real poor people. Their counterparts that chose farming and entrepreneurship skills are much richer than Ayade's sycophantic praise singers. Check around and it is easy to confirm my assertion.
The second group of people that eats good money from Ayade are some APC stakeholders eating big from fat contracts, as it stands now Ayade is personally building a mansion for one top APC stakeholder in State Housing. Ayade's interest in funding most top APC stakeholders is to completely kill the voice of opposition and allow himself unhindered access to state's funds. That is why top APC stakeholders are silent over some forms of attacks on it's members, that is why no APC is sponsored to counter the false narrative given by Ayade's hype in Channels TV, NTA, and AIT. Even when Nigerian Customs Service seized rice from the government of Cross River State, no APC made noise as done in other APC states like Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa. The Ayade's balkanization of APC is so strong that even some national officers of APC feeds fat from Ayade.
Unlike APC stakeholders that feeds fat from Ayade, the PDP structure gets no funding from the governor. No fund has been extended to build the PDP structure since the inception of Ayade's administration. In fact, some funds generated from illegal sale of forms for the chairmanship and Councillorship elections were said to have been embezzled by Frank Ayade. Ayade does not care about the PDP stakeholders, he practically does not take their calls and has been withholding their legitimate statutory allowances and severances.
Cross River State is yet again up for sale, who shall be the beneficiaries of the new sale? The only project of Ayade that gets the best fundings is the endorsement charades.
I am sitting at my one corner, and watching the sale of Cross River State to Ayade for peanuts. I do this in conscience because it is appearing more and more that the gullibility of most people will create a smooth ride of Ayade back to power.
Joseph Odok
Social Change Agent
