The call by the state chapter of Inter Party Advisory Counci (IPAC) on Cross River State governor, Senator Prof. Ben Ayade to resign, has been described as not only puerile, but a futile and febrile exercise oiled by a N100million financial inducement.
Dismissing the call by IPAC, Deputy Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayade, Mr. Linus Obogo said it is not surprising, given the timing and venue of the press conference by those he described as anarchists and desperados whose stock in trade is blackmail.
According to Obogo, “For a long time, members of the Cross River chapter of IPAC have tried everything in the books to blackmail the governor into parting with huge amount of money so as to earn their support. But the governor has consistently refused to be on the same page with them. And so, given the time and season we are in, they have found a willing financier in Abuja, who, like them is also desperate about his political future.”
While faulting the state IPAC’s claim on the N1.3trillion 2018 budget, Obogo said: “I am gutted by the sheer moronic display of illiteracy and idiocy by these characters with regards to the 2018 budget. It is rather sad that in a bid to hustle for survival, some people would shamelessly choose to go to Abuja to showcase their shallow knowledge of what a budget represents. A budget is purely an aspirational estimate of expected income and expenditure over a given period.
“Governor Ayade has not said he has a huge amount of money stashed somewhere to address his capital as well as recurrent expenditures in 2018. What he has so far estimated is well within his realistic expectation, ambition and vision.
“That is why I am incredibly benumbed by the lunatic call on the governor to resign over his expectations for 2018.”
While reacting to the charge against the governor for not conducting the council poll, Obogo queried: “I wonder why IPAC has failed to play this same servile and hypocritical advocacy role in almost all of the APC states where council elections have never been contemplated. In any case, is the governor CROSIEC or is he the one to fix the timetable for the council election? It is lamentably ironic that while the governor is needlessly being crucified for his alleged refusal to conduct the council poll, in the same breath, state electoral umpire is being persuaded to carry out the exercise. Why then is the shot at a wrong target? “
In similar vein, the governor’s aide laughed off the call on his boss not to seek reelection in 2019. “It is nonsensical as it is “imbecilic and idiotic for any person or group of persons to appropriate to himself the authority and temerity to seek to disenfranchise others.”
Continuing, Obogo said: “While we concede to the state chapter of IPAC the liberty to seek to justify their hefty paycheck, they however cannot abridge the governor’s constitutional rights. Besides, it is preposterous to make such a call on one of the country’s best performing governors.”
On security, the Deputy Chief Press Secretary said: “Honestly, nothing can be more ludicrous and canine than their lack of appreciation for the governor’s unrelenting commitment to the issues of security in the state. In the past two years Ayade has continued to reinvigorate, re-energize the security architecture in the state as well as capacitate the various security agencies. It is the reason why as of today over 26 countries are already in the state for Miss Africa Climate Change beauty pageant slated for December 27. Also, 30 countries have begun arriving the state for the international carnival. It is rather cynical that this has gone unnoticed by these hustlers trying feverishly to seek relevance in a body clothed in credibility deficit.
“What this clearly reveals is that the elements in the state IPAC are too far removed to know exactly what is going on in their own states. Even in their roguish press conference, they could not as much as tell their gullible audience that the governor has since paid the state workers December salaries in November. They are also so obtuse not to have appreciated the many ongoing projects of gigantic proportion dotted across the state such as the Calabar Pharmaceutical Company, the state of the art cocoa processing plant in Ikom, the automated rice mill in Ogoja, the 134 kilometres Mbok-Yala-Bekwarra-Obudu ranch dual carriageway, the Boki east west road, at various stages of construction.
“Sadly, IPAC is yet to ask where the money is coming from in the face of zero allocation from the centre. No doubt, the state IPAC is blighted by the obdurate pursuit of handouts from persons whose political future is approaching an inexorable terminal end.”
