I STAND WITH AYADE 2019

Former Presidential Aide, Obono-Obla Calls For Probing Of Ex Cross River Governors, Donald Duke, Liyel Imoke Over Inappropriate Expenditures, Staggering Loans

A former senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on prosecution Chief Okoi Obono-Obla has called on the citizens to mount pressure on two former governors of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke to give financial accounts of how they utilised the various loans they took from various banks and sources during their tenures of 16 years.

In a statement, Obono-Obla who was also chairman of Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property said that the mountains of loans which are being deducted at source have crippled Governor Benedict Ayade’s administration.

He singled out Duke as one that collected the most loans for the building of TINAPA.

Obono-Obla said: “It is time for us to demand from the two former governors an explanation.

“They should tell us what projects they executed with these loans!!”

He disclosed that in the year 2000, he challenged the resolution passed by the Cross River State House of Assembly, which approved the loans for Governor Duke in Court but that the case was frustrated when he won an appeal against the State over a ruling made by the High Court.

However, he expressed sadness that another Judge was directed to hear the case of the High Court, but that the order was never implemented.

“I wanted the High Court to pronounce the legality of Governor Duke collecting loans to execute projects such as Tinapa and Obudu Ranch Resort without appropriating these monies as stipulated by the Constitution.”

Obono-Obla said he sympathised with Governor Ben Ayade whom he said made a startling revelation recently that when he took over power in 2015, he inherited a whopping debt of N328 billion!

According to him, Ayade lamented that he has been taking home pittance of N1.8 Billion or less from the monthly allocation from the Federation account.

“The abysmal allocation Governor Ayade gets every month from the federation account is because the previous PDP government in Cross River State signed an irrevocable letter of credit with a financial institution it was indebted to, which permits it to collect almost every allocation meant for the State from source coming from the monthly allocation from the Federation accounts.

“With the meager resources at the disposal of Ayade, I have been wondering how he has been able to manage the affairs of the state these past six years!

He alleged that Duke and Imoke are among the people who want Nigerians to believe that Ayade is doing nothing yet are those who mortgaged the state.

He lamented the attitude of the elites in the state for allegedly being fixated with enjoying patronage from every government in power, so that they cannot ask leaders appropriate questions.

RE - I WON'T IMPOSE ANY CANDIDATE ON CRS PEOPLE - WIKE, AN INSULT OF THE HIGHEST LEVEL ON CROSS RIVERIANS - APC

What appeared to be a joke by the paralyzed opposition PDP after the exit of His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ayade and his team to APC has graduated from comedy into a full-fledged insult on the people of Cross River State.

While the internal Supremacy struggle of the two former Governors was a disaster waiting to explode, the recent balkanization of the PDP into four irreconcilable groups namely, the Dollar for Dollar comedians, the knocked caterpillar engine arrogant front, the ventilator aided group and the other group of Innocent but confused people which ordinarily is not our business because the monkey's (PDP) diarrhoea is not a concern for humans (APC) but to maintain reticence over the insult on the sensibility of Cross Riverians by this emperor whose intermeddling in the political affairs of Cross River State has remained a recurring decimal will portend serious danger for the polity of our State and the halcyon that we have enjoyed overtime.

While we know that Cross Riverians will not allow themselves to be reduced to a tissue to wipe the filth of one alien emperor masquerading as political do-gooder, we want to say enough is enough!

We want to use this opportunity as a responsible Political Party that is guided by sensitive and passionate feelings of our people and their quest to ensure a successful and peaceful succession of power, to assure Cross Riverians that our Party the APC will not allow any mechinery to be imported to create any disaffection in any Political Party in our State including the suffocating PDP that is surviving on ventilator.

The New Cross River State which is now socketed to the centre will use every legal and constitutional power as contained in S. 14 (1) and (2) of the CFRN 1999 (As Amended) to guarantee the welfare and security of our people including their freedom of choice to choose their leaders without allowing any external interference or aggression as being boasted by the meddlesome interloper.

We call on traditional rulers, Elder Statesmen, Political leaders, market women, Youths and students groups to join hands with our Party to resist the show of shame being instigated by some desperate, namby-pamby urchins arrogating to themselves the power that belongs to God.

Cross Riverians must stand up and place them in the sanatorium that is meant for them. Never again shall we allow a group of people that plunged us into a perilous over Four hundred billion (N400 000 000 000.00) debt which Governor Ayade has as at December 2021 paid almost One hundred billion naira (N100,000,000.00) to take us back to Egypt.

Never again shall we allow those who conspired to cede our oil rich Bakassi Peninsula and loss of our 76 oil wells to take us to political Golgotha.

Never again shall we allow those men who sequestrated us and made a mess of our youths by entangling us in a shackle and manacle of political oppression, economic stagnation, emotional recession and administrative subterfuge for 16 years before the great liberation ushered in by Sen. Prof. Ayade that emancipated us from the pestilential, diabolical neolithic order where youths of Cross River State were consigned to the cesspit of emotional flotsam as political thugs.

We have left Egypt (PDP) and have landed in our promised land of Canaan city (APC).

Never again shall we allow PDP deceive innocent people of Cross River State with their skulduggery.

Enough of this insult orchestrated by PDP.

Erasmus Ekpang
State Publicity Secretary elect,
APC Cross River State.

2023: No going back on returning power to Cross River South- Ayade

Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade, has again reiterated his commitment to ensuring that power reverts to the Southern Senatorial District of the state come 2023.
Speaking at the Governor’s Lodge at the weekend, Ayade said his decision to return power to the South is based on morality.
“During my campaign for second term I went to the South. I said support my second term bid and when l win I will support South to take over from me because by natural process, you are the next senatorial district to produce the governor."
The governor insisted that the South has credible people with capacity to be governor.
According to him, before he became governor, “there was no chance that the North was capable of credible candidates until l came on board. So there is no senatorial district that does not have the right candidates to be governor of the state."
Governor Ayade who decried the nature of democracy as currently being practiced, arguing that there was need to infuse the sensitivity of the African culture "because we inherited a brand of democracy which is not afrocentric, neither does it have the sensitivity of the African culture and morality.
"Democracy is so primitively blind that it reduces itself to numbers. The higher your population, the more you win. So there is nothing like balancing, there is no equity in democracy. There is no moral conscience. Democracy is blind to ethnicity, it is blind to religion, it is blind to fairness, it is repugnant to natural justice."
He called for a paradigm shift, even as he flayed the lack of opportunities and inclusion for the disadvantaged in the polity.
"So, if you are in the majority population, you can continue to rule forever because you have the higher voting strength. It denies the child of a poor man from one ethnic group who is well trained and has everything to lead the state or the country, from becoming governor or president because he is from an ethnic minority. That is a failed society because the chance for my child and your child is differentiated not by their quality or character, not by their content or proficiency but by just a mere geographical place of birth."
Ayade who dispelled speculations that he is backtracking on his commitment to return power to the South said: "So to be able to balance that, as governor, I still uphold my declaration that my successor will come from the South and indeed, he would come from the South. And for emphasis, yes, he would come from the South."
The governor said he could not and would not play God by being specific on who his successor will be.
According to him, "to make further statements as to where in the South, l will be acting God and to decide who in the South that will be suceeding me l would also be acting God. My role is to be fair. The South had taken turn to produce a governor in Donald Duke, the Central had also produced a governor in Senator Liyel Imoke and the North has produced one in me.
"So it is common sense that we must go back to the South for equity. Every zone should know that their turn would come one day. But to be blind and leave it to crude democracy which was not customized to reflect African sensitivity, that if l have had it, and no matter the circumstance, let another too have it.”

CROSS RIVER'S 140-BED HOSPITAL WILL BE REFERENCE POINT IN AFRICA -AYADE

Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade says the state’s 140-bed specialist which is at an advanced stage of completion in Obudu will be a reference point in Africa.

Governor Ayade who was in Obudu to inspect the progress of work at the ultra-moderm hospital, said given the reputation of the partners involved, Siemens and Coscharis, it will no doubt be a touchstone in quality healthcare in Africa.
“This is Siemens hospital basically. Siemens is number one in hospital equipment. Even in American hospitals, they have more of Siemens equipment, so we are convinced that our MRI, CT scan, radiology, diagnostics and dialysis equipment will be world-class,” Ayade disclosed.
He said he was convinced the hospital will be a first-class hospital especially given that it will have its own oxygen plant to produce oxygen, even as he disclosed that the hospital will have “a special covid unit, which will cater to covid-19 patients in a special way with oxygen fully generated from within the system.”
The hospital is also fitted with a solar power system to guarantee 24-hour power supply, thus not being dependent on the national grid
On the hospital’s bed capacity, the governor quipped: “We have a total of 120 beds, plus an additional 20 for those who are going into the recovery phase. So we are going to have a total of 140 beds hospital. Massive!
“So I am very excited this hospital will be the reference hospital for Africa, not just Nigeria. Before we took this design, we had studied all the hospitals in Nigeria in terms of all the critical equipments, even in Abuja, both public and private hospitals. We are convinced that the level of sophistication will be unmatched. Our dispensary unit has an outdoor station, you drive through, sit in your car and a robot delivers your drugs to you. You swipe your card, get your drugs and you are gone without any human interference. The human element is our secondary phase, should the robotic services fail you.
“We also have a partnership with a German firm for drug revolving program and also with Canadian team to support us with drugs. Of course, Cross River State has a pharmaceutical company. So we will also be producing drugs as a state. The hospital will also buy drugs from the Calapharm. I think the circle is completely proper and the social benefit is unquantifiable, it’s a thing of joy for me.”
On staffing, the governor disclosed that a team will be sent to Germany for massive training, six months to commissioning.
“We have a lot of Cross River doctors who will be sent to Germany for training to come back here because this is actually Cross-German hospital, a partnership between Cross River State government and Siemens under the catalysis of Coscharis. Our excitement is actually bringing the best hospital in Africa to Obudu.”
Ayade gave reasons why the hospital is sited in Obudu.
According to him, this an axis that is lacking in terms of medical care. Abuja is quite extremely out there, Lagos is far out there. And because we are building an international airport here and because Obudu Ranch Resort is a tourist attraction, we have high level, high profile citizens who will be coming on tourism here. The British Canadian University will be taking very elitist students, so we would not want any challenges. We will need a hospital that can provide for these primary footfalls that will serve as the initial base of patronage. I see Benue, Ebonyi, Cross River and some of the South South states coming here because of the sophisticated level of equipment we will have here.”

Breaking: Governor Ayade Assents to Legislative and Judiciary Autonomy Bills

The Cross River State Governor, His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade has signed two bills passed by the state house of Assembly that grant autonomy to both the state legislature and the state judicial arms of government.

The two bills, Legislative Fund Management and Other Matters and Judicial Fund Management and Other Matters, were signed into law in the government house council chambers.

According to the bills, all moneys due to the House of Assembly and Judiciary for capital and recurrent expenditure shall be paid by the Accountant-General into the their accounts in monthly instalments, in accordance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

While signing the bill into law, Governor Ayade stated that the bills were very important in the life of his administration, explaining that it is a win for the APC led government.

He thanked the lawmakers for their cooperation and collaboration, noting that his administration had achieved a lot because of the cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Eteng Jonah Williams, in his remark applauded his colleagues of the 9th Assembly, saying under his leadership they have recorded giant strides in the quality of bills passed and assented to by the Governor.

“We have made history with this signing into law today, it is my strong conviction that we will continue to work as partners for the growth and progress of our dear state and the good people of Cross River,” he noted.

Group Seeks Review Of Appeal Court Judgment Sacking Senator Odey

A human rights group, Global Center for Conscious Living Against Corruption has called for a review of the Appeal Court judgment which sacked Senator Stephen Odey and declared Agom Jarigbe as senator-elect, Cross River North Senatorial District.

The Executive Director of the group, Dr. Gabriel Nwambu, made the call while briefing journalists in Abuja, on Friday 6th August, 2021.

He claimed that the appellate court gave a wrong verdict in its decision declaring Jarigbe as the winner of the by-election to produce a replacement for late Senator Rose Oko who died in March at a medical facility in the United Kingdom.Consequently, he urged the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the leadership of the National Judicial Council to commence an investigation of alleged irregularities in the appeal court judgement.

According to the group, three main irregularities were observed in the said judgement
Nwambu said: “In pursuant to Section 285 (13) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), an Election Tribunal or Court shall not declare any person a winner at an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the election, thus rendering the order made on the 30th July, 2021 on INEC to issue a certificate of return to Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe who admitted before the trial tribunal that he was not given INEC Nomination forms and that his name was not forwarded by PDP (his political party) to INEC as its candidate.”

“Pursuant to Section 141 of the Electoral Act, 2015 (as amended), an election tribunal shall not under any circumstances declare any person as a winner in an election in which such a person has not fully participated in all the stages of the said election.”

“Thus making the order of the Honourable Court made on 30th July 2021 on INEC to issue a certificate of return to Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe who admitted on oath not to have been nominated pursuant to section 32 (1) of the Electoral Act 2015 (as amended) for the bye-election of Cross River North Senatorial district held on the 5th December 2020 and his name not forwarded by his political party to INEC as its candidate is without jurisdiction and illegal.”

He also alleged that Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme who headed the three-man Appeal Court panel, which sat in Calabar last week was very hostile in court on the 30th of July, 2021.

“Her Lordship shouted down on all the counsels in court and allowed only the counsel to Hon. Jarigbe to address the court. This raises a lot of curiosity.
“If not for corruption, how could a Justice of the court of Appeal Jettison Section 285 (13) of the 1999 constitution (as amended)? How could a justice jettison Section 141 of the Electoral Act 2015 (as amended)?

“How could a Justice use a pre-election matter for which Senator Odey and even the PDP, (a party Hon. Jarigbe claimed to have won a primary election) not joined in the matter held in Abuja (a court without jurisdiction) to determine an election matter thus violating and contradicting the fundamental principles of elementary law.

“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, an election tribunal delivered a judgment in so much hurry. It commenced sitting on Tuesday and ruled on Friday. There were three appeals with all the processes, objections, motions, etc., with very voluminous documents. These documents were not read nor even opened,” he said.

The coalition, therefore, urged The National Judicial Council (NJC) to probe the Appeal Court panel over the controversial judgment which removed Senator Odey.

Abuja to Calabar by road 14 to 15k.
Abuja to Calabar by CallyAir 17k

Sir. Ben Ayade is truly a magician

Press Release:

Ayade thanks Cross Riverians for their solidarity

The state governor, His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade notes with delight, the infectious broom revolution sweeping across the entire length and breadth of Cross River State since he joined the All Progressives Party (APC).

His Excellency particularly salutes the love of millions of Cross River youths who have so far, without prompting, taken up membership cards of the All Progressives Congress, APC in solidarity with him.

His Excellency restates that no individual or group no matter how highly placed can stop this mass movement.

Events of the past weeks show clearly it is a movement Cross Riverians have been yearning for. They only needed a triger to ignite it.

His Excellency recognises that no other love and appreciation for what he has done in Cross River these past six years can be greater than this massive solidarity.

His Excellency appreciates and thanks Cross Riverians for their understanding as to why he moved to the APC which is to socket Cross River to the centre.

The effusive show of love Cross Riverians have showered on His Excellency has made him realise that the best investment anyone can make is investment in the people.

Consequently, His Excellency hereby announces that he will further expand the frontiers of government and put food on more tables as soon as certain discussions with the federal government crystalize.

signed

Christian Ita
Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Governor

YALA ACHIEVER'S AWARD: AN EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION TO SWIFT DEVELOPMENT.

By Lord Oleja De Great.

Blessed is the hand that giveth, blessed is the man that helps for his charitable donations covers multitudes of sin, great is the man who put the interest of others first, perpetual blessings await those who are always there for the masses, goodness and prosperity is for such persons who have touched the lives of others positively and history must not forget them; the rationale behind the coming to be a Courageous Award titled "YALA ACHIEVER'S AWARD".

The exponent of this Classic Award Mr Odey Odey D Comedian is a promising young man whose interest is to keep encouraging Philanthropists and also a motivation to those who have, but refused to help or develop their community (ies)... WETIN YOU DON DO FOR YOUR VILLAGE?

Mr Odey d uncommon comedian is from Ijegu-Yala, in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. He is a comic comedian who have distinguished himself with outstanding comedians in Nigeria. He is very talented and smart, easy going and highly Industrious.

This year event is going to be a blast and preparation is already going on making sure the best comes out. Sociological lens already beamed at this year awardees and we are hopeful and optimistic about the success of the function. WETIN WE GO TAKE THE REMEMBER YOU OGA/MADAM?

The award cut across all stratas, denuded from Politics, strictly for meritorious Personalities with track record of Achievements in relation to Philanthropy. Yala Nation must be rebranded from funding burials instead of helping and saving lives, and or developing the vicinity. WHO YOU DON HELP?

This is the fourth edition of the Prestigious Award in Africa. We are poised to give you the befitting entertainment ever, and to this end men with charitable heart are also encouraged to extend their hands of fellowship to the organiser Mr ODEY D COMEDIAN on the following number: 07030956395.

If you have not helped anyone before, try and embrace the spirit of charity! If you cannot help others, help your immediate family! Let's build Yala! let's build leaders! let's abrogate craftiness! Let's erode poverty from our nation! Let's develop YALA.

YALA ACHIEVER'S AWARD ON MERIT WE GO!

Yala Achiever's Awards 2021.

Bigger And Better

Nomination Is Now Open
Pls call 07030956395

The much anticipated YALA ACHIEVER'S AWARDS has promised to honor well deserving Cross Riverians and beyond...

This year award night,It promises to be mind blowing event full of glitz,glamour, style and bottle popping...

These award goes to men and women who has added values to humanity and impactful played a major roles in development of Yala Nation.

This year lots of people are going to be part in this event,we are looking at Humanitarians,Young Entrepreneurs, Politicians, Entertainers And Educationalist Etc..

SATURDAY:-
28th AUGUST,2021.

SANTUS RESORT AND HOTEL.
OKUKU YALA, CROSS RIVER STATE.

12NOON

Let's honour and encourage them.