By Inyali Peter
Tuesday, March 30, 2016 is a day
Cross Riverians especially residents of Calabar, the capital city of Cross
River State will not forget in a hurry as the long awaited diaspora governor of
the state, Sen Ben Ayade visited the state.
In fact, the city was agog for
the triumphant entry of the governor who is reported to have toured 11
countries looking for investors. Whether this tour is in his capacity as the
Commissioner for Tourism or as governor or he is taking advantage of his
position to run his personal businesses as alleged is left to be known.
Ayade who within his ten months
reign as governor has traveled over 71 times to different countries of the
world, arrived his liaison office (governor’s office) in Calabar at the early
hours of Tuesday with so many promises as usual.
As the most traveled governor in
Nigeria, Ayade has meritoriously earned himself a “Diaspora” tittle which
implies that he has become the first governor in the history of the state to
have unofficially moved the seat of power from Calabar, Nigeria to a
yet-to-be-known destination outside the country.
It will be recalled that Ayade
has spent the last nine weeks outside the country without duly informing the
state house of assembly or asking his deputy to act on his behalf. This is not
strange as it is widely rumoured that the deputy governor, Prof. Ivara Esu has
been boxed to the corner by his boss even as the assembly has constantly been
accused of being a rubber stamp to the governor.
The recent foreign trip of the
governor has caused uproar in the state not only because he didn’t empower
anybody to act on his behalf but because he deliberately denied the state from
participating in the just concluded National Economic Council Retreat in Abuja.
As other governors and top
government officials were gathered brainstorming on the immediate solution to
the national economic recession, the governor was set to be signing a
memorandum of understanding with a Dubai based firm that will provide 24 hours
light in Calabar. While it can be argued that the agreement will boost economic
activities in Calabar that will affect the state’s economy positively, the
relevance of the retreat cannot be quantified.
Similarly, the said agreement has
come under serious scrutiny owing to the fact that the governor has never
considered accepting that public power supply is the responsibility of the
state government. During the 2015 annual carnival festival, a group of traders
protested at the Christmas village over poor power supply and the Chief Press
Secretary to the governor, Mr. Christian Ita while reacting to the issue
through a telephone call said that “public power supply is not the
responsibility of the state government”. While the assertion can be said to be
true, Cross Riverians are yet to understand the governor’s sudden change of
mind by signing an MOU for public power supply when he knows it is not his
responsibility. Could this contradiction be that the CPS’s reaction was not the
opinion of the governor? As things continue to unfold, maybe much explanation
would be given.
Just like Cross Riverians were
trying to get over the frustration of missing out in the NEC retreat, their
dear “ digital “ governor was seen in the All Progressive Congress (APC)
national leader, Bola Amed Tinubu’s birthday party. What has really
caused discontent even in the camp of the governor was how he could value a
birthday that according to a reliable source, he was not invited to a NEC
retreat that he was statutory mandated to attend. Political watchers are still
pondering over the rationale behind his preference. Again, it was reported that
Ayade was the only PDP governor in the event as even PDP governors from the
south west region were not invited or shunned the party.
This development has left most
people in mixed grill. Questions have been asked without any immediate answer.
For instance, Could it be that since a video appeared online showing how the
governor practically murdered the image and reputation of the then APC
presidential candidate and now President, Muhammadu Buhari, the governor is
looking for an avenue to mend fences? Could it be true that he has been
declared persona non grata in the villa so he can only have access to the
President in an APC program? Is it because he denied the APC access to stadium
for their mega rally that he is now romancing with Tinubu in a bid to appease
the party leadership? Could it be that the President is angry that he was
hoodwinked to believe that the EIA for the proposed supper highway which he
(Buhari) did ground breaking ceremony was yet to be done? These and many more
questions are still left unanswered.
However, it will be unfair to
completely rule out the fact that the governor came back with some great news
for the state. While he has been advised by erudite and quintessential leader,
Mr. Odey Ochicha to consider reviewing all the MOUs he has signed so far to
determine the progress of the agreement, the governor has announced again that
he has signed more MOUS. Within ten months, Ayade has signed approximately 62
MOUs which Cross Riverians are yet to see or feel the impact.
Within his first two months, the
governor said that investors have tabled €500m for the construction of the super
highway project and the deep seaport. But his statement on Tuesday as reported
by his social media aides, Emmanuel Ulayi that four companies were scrambling
to invest in the deep seaport has brought the authenticity of his frequent MOUs
to serious public scrutiny. The €500m from his initial estimate was enough to
complete both giant projects but now that more companies have indicated
interest, it is incumbent on the governor to tell Cross Riverians what happened
to the already tabled money.
Also, when you consider that a
state like Adamawa in three months has built and commissioned four roads
without signing a single MOU, one will begin to wonder why the case is
different with Cross River State. By all standards, Cross River is still ahead
of Adamawa in terms of natural resources and Internally Generated Revenue.
Although, statistics shows that since distinguish Dr. Peter Oti resigned his
appointment as the chairman, Board of Internal Revenue Service, the state
revenue generation has reduced drastically. Ayade has signed the highest MOU
but have accomplished the least.
While the governor deserve to be
applauded for the rapid work going on in the proposed garment factory as well
as his vision to make the state an industrial hub in Africa, it is also
pertinent to constantly remind him that Cross Riverian are becoming inpatient
with his daily promises of doing everything. His well-wishers have prayed
that the popular cliché that “jack of all trades master of none” should not be
the case with governor Ben Ayade.
As a matter of fact, the governor
needs to reduce his frequent foreign trips and face governance. This is not the
time for politics, it is time to work. We have gone beyond campaign promises to
the real act of governance. The time is ticking. Wherever he has relocated the
state seat of Power to Dubai, London, US, Afghanistan, China or Sheraton where
he was rumoured to have lived while in Senate, Calabar is calling him to come
home.
It is time for the digital
governor as fondly called by his admirers to forget the charity abroad and come
back home. The fantacies abroad should be relegated now. He must as a matter of
necessity change from his status as a diaspora governor to a stable state
governor base in Calabar that he was voted to be.
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