By Friday Olokor
A human rights organisation under the aegis of Joint Action for Good Governance on Wednesday raised the alarm over plots to assassinate the character of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State.
The civil society organisation also raised the alarm of further plots to blackmail the governor in the days preceding May 29 handover date and even on the handover day.
The organisation said the plots were being spearheaded by some desperate politicians because Ayade challenged the outcome of the Cross River North Senatorial election.
The JAGG, which threatened to “expose the politicians behind the plot,” vowed that henceforth, “there will be a tit-for-tat for anyone who maligns the governor.”
It also advised those planning to sponsor miscreants to cause a crisis during the inauguration of the new administration on May 29 to desist “because it will be fire for fire.”
The CSO raised the alarm in a statement by its chairman, Jude Imbufe, barely 24 hours after an allegation by Network Against Corruption and Trafficking that the governor misused public funds.
According to him, the allegation was part of the scheme to malign the governor, adding that it was sheer blackmail.
Imbufe slammed the NAAT for “It’s ridiculous, false and baseless allegations against Ayade,” insisting that rather than lend itself to executing the hatchet job for desperate politicians, the NGO should applaud the government for its transparent and judicious management of the lean resources of the state.
He said, “We dare say without fear of contradiction that Governor Ayade has been very transparent in management of resources of the state and has been above board. Cross River State gets the second lowest revenue allocation in the country. What the so-called NGO said is the most incredulous falsehood of the century.”
The JAGG described the activities of the NGO as a poor imitation at fabrication, stressing that “all that these hirelings needed to have done was to have gone to the Federal Ministry of Finance to get their facts right.
“But because they were on a mission to disparage and destroy, they would stop at nothing to concoct falsehood”, the organisation stated.
Imbufe said despite the lean resources of the Cross River State, the records of achievements of the Ayade-led administration were unmatchable in the area of industrialisation and infrastructural development.
Describing the governor as a silent achiever, the group listed some of the achievements of the Ayade-led administration to include the world-class Teachers’ Continuous Training Institute in Biase; the Obudu-Germany Hospital; the British Canadian University of Law and Medicine, Obudu; the floating of a state airline with two Boeing 737 aircraft; the ongoing Obudu Cargo and Passengers airport; the dualisation of the Calabar-Odukpani highway with the spaghetti flyover; the dualisation of the 148km Mfum-Okpoma-Bekwarra-Obudu-Obanliku highway and the 23km Boki East-West road.
Continuing, it also listed the numerous industries built by the Ayade-led administration, including the 24,000 birds per day chicken processing factory, the ultramodern rice mill in Ogoja, the 30,000 tons cocoa processing factory in Ikom, the Cross River Garment Factory, Calabar, the Kissmie Noodles Factory Calabar and the Cross River Pharmaceutical Factory, amongst others.
The JAGG, therefore, advised the “hired goons” to desist from acting the script of failed and desperate politicians who are bent on giving the governor a name that is not his.
Source: The Punch
