Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State
PATRICK ABANG Calabar –
Mr. Linus Obogo, The Deputy Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has described as untrue a report by an online media (Not NATIONAL ACCORD) circulated by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that his principal withdrew #100billion from the state coffers for private use.
Mr. Obogo, made the clarification in statement issued to newsmen on Thursday in Calabar, the state capital.
Governor Ayade’s spokesman, who described the report as a big embarrassment to the state, wondered while a party that was in government would not do a thorough research to saved the party the embarrassment of not realising that between May 2015 and December 31st, 2021, Cross River’s net statutory allocation stood at about 115 billion naira.
“So, if N100 billion was allegedly stolen, how was the state able to execute projects, clear pensions, pay salaries and meet other financial obligations” he emphasized.
He further said: “When the PDP keeps making references to workers retiring and not getting their pensions, it forgets so soon that when Ayade came on May 29, 2015, Cross River was in default of about three years of gratuities and pensions”
According to him, against this backdrop, therefore, “we advise the party not to forget the age-long wise counsel: He who lives in a glass house should not hurl stones”.
“Rather than dissipate energy trying to impeach the character of Governor Ayade and his government, as a civil and serious minded government, we like to urge the PDP to concentrate on solving the hydra-headed and multi-faceted problems in its fold, namely: the abnegation of its zoning principle which is clearly entrenched in the party constitution, but is threatening to tear it apart, the internecine wrangling within its fold and how to abate the fast depletion of members”
“For a party that has literally morphed into a tower of Babel, with members at variance with one another over issues of justice, equity and fairness, its preoccupation at this point in time should not be about vending falsehood, but addressing the aforementioned concerns”
“The Peoples Democratic Party cannot cease wallowing in self-adulation. An archetypical copycat, in its haste to regurgitate, it failed to recognize how unwittingly the same online portal, Pointblanknews, had indicted its chieftains who presided over the affairs of the state as governors during the period in focus”
“To underscore the party’s shallowness, which reinforces it laziness to engage in thorough research, it made no pretence in aping exactly the inconsistencies of a news platform that is grossly deficit in integrity and objectivity. It is no surprise then that the party could lend itself to what could best be described as a by-product of beer palour gossip”
“But having excited itself by investing its time in lifting the trash pointblanknews had passed off as investigative report, it will be pertinent to expose how patently flawed the PDP is in its attempt to discredit the governor, Senator Ben Ayade”.
“Pointblanknews, in executing its hatchet job, had failed to do due diligence by pushing gossip to the public space as a scoop, which the PDP in Cross River now latches onto as its feeding frenzy”. The statement said.
