6 June 2019
Following the snailing disposition of His Excellency the Executive Governor of Cross River State, Sen. Prof. Benedict Ayade to announce cardinal appointments into designated offices, to wit, Chief Press Secretary, CPS Secretary to the State Government, SSG and Chief Protocol Officer, CPO there has been numerous calls for the overdue appointments into these hallowed offices NEGROIDHAVEN can say authoritatively.
The latest of such calls is from the influential social commentator, Simon Utsu, who incidentally hails from the Obudu the local government area of His Excellency the Governor.
Utsu has charged Ayade to appoint either of Agba Jalingo the publisher of CrossRiverWatch or Iwara Iwara the publisher of CaliTown as Chief Press Secretary. On SSG he suggested former speaker of the 8th Cross River State House of Assembly, CRSHA John Lebo. Inyang Asibong won the admiration of the social commentator as he charged the state CEO to announce her as Commissioner for Health.
His words reads in part, 'I feel he should deviate from the norm of appointing veterans in the traditional media as Chief Press Secretary – he should move with the times and go for someone with new-media expertise. Two names easily come to my mind – Agba Jalingo and Iwara Iwara. The former recently irritated me when he broke the rules of engagement by sharing screenshots of a private chat he had with Governor Ayade- that notwithstanding, he has a very good rapport with the Lagos media and I think he'll make a good CPS albeit a slightly controversial one. Iwara is level headed and comes to the table with a wealth of experience in both the print (online) and broadcast media even though he stirs the Hornets nest every now and then. I'll go for either of them- 50-50.
'As for SSG, I'm of the opinion Ayade should go for a level-headed someone with an understanding of both politics and administration; a lawyer most preferably. In the private sector, the Multinationals and Banks often always make use of experienced lawyers as their company Secretaries. So out of the few names being mentioned, I think the immediate past speaker, John Gaul Lebo fits bill. Appointing him in that position will also be a suitable gift from the governor to the political grandfather of the state, Liyel Imoke and his Abi LGA.
'As for Health commissioner, I think the immediate past commissioner Inyang Asibong performed well enough.The state run General hospital is in dire need of attention though. I am of the opinion she should be reappointed to consolidate on her previous efforts. The ministry needs someone who possesses both maturity and emotional intelligence to run it.'
However, following his recent criticism against the disposition of the CRSG to cite an international cargo airport in Obudu, Jalingo has ruled out working with the present state governor. Again, our correspondent yesterday cited a social media thread dismissing allegations that Lebo is hankering for the choice office of SSG.
