By Jonathan Ugbal: Government House Correspondent Follow
@NaijaJonathan
Cross River Governor, Senator Ben Ayade has explained the
rationale behind expanding government pointing out that his bid to industrialize
the state will be meaningless if the people were hungry.
Mr. Ayade who said he has a total of 3,843 appointees pointed
out that the statistics have clearly showed that his decision was a good one
which according to him was evident in the voluntary payments of utility and
medical bills amongst others.
“When you look at Section 14, sub section 2 of our constitution,
the welfare and security of the citizens is the primary purpose of government;
of what essence is the Superhighway, the deep seaport or whatever when my
people cannot feed?” said Mr. Ayade Wednesday, in Calabar, the state capital
while addressing a crowd of over 7,000 drawn from the seven local government
areas that make up the southern senatorial district who had gathered to endorse
him to seek a second term in office.
He continued: “That is why I expanded government not because I
have, but because ultimately, God sees my heart. As difficult as it appears,
everything looks so cheap and easy for me because I care.
“Ordinarily, under the circumstance of our times, what we should
have been doing is oligaramizing the economy; we should have done a helical
constriction, to focus on the core needs of governance. But, I have chosen to
serve my people because I come from your own history; I come from your heritage
and your origin; I understand you, I feel you; there is a tympanic
relationship.”
t ympanic relationship.”
From L-R: CRS PDP Chairman, Inok
Edim; CRS Dep. Gov, Ivara Esu; CRS Governor, Ben Ayade; DG Seven Alive Group,
Asuquo Ekpenyong Sr; PDP BOT Member, Stella Attoe and Former CRS PDP Chairman,
Ekpo Okon at the endorsement rally for Mr. Ayade in Calabar, Wednesday (Credit:
CrossRiverWatch/GHPC/Jonathan Ugbal)
On the effect of
these, Mr. Ayade averred that: “Today, look at the statistics, voluntary
payment of school fees, house rent payment, medical bills payment, Cross River
has noticed a significant improvement, you will notice that more flights are
coming into Calabar today.
“You are realizing
that Skolombo boys are over, you are realizing that we are having a finer class
of society. We may not have eliminated crime in totality, but there is
progress. There is homeland security taking care of that.”
He announced that he
will be appointing 3000 more appointees to take the number above 6,000 and
maintained that his ideology about human existence and not politics as well as
the commendations from the people is what inspired his decision to focus more
on the people.
“It is against that
strength that I am here before you. But, I know very very well that normally in
traditional societies where there is always focus on the bottom line which is
money, governments don’t focus on people; they focus on projects and things
that will get them reelected.
“But I have focused on
the stomach, I have focused on the intellect and the future that you have got
that I know that it is bigger than even mine; that I feel that this intercourse
that we are having will bring a better tomorrow for you,” he said.
The crowd under the
aegis of ‘Seven Alive’ led by business mogul, Mr. Asuquo Ekpenyong kept singing
customized tunes urging Mr. Ayade and his deputy, Professor Ivara Esu to seek
another term in office in 2019.
And, after several
speeches from different leaders, a motion for the endorsement of Mr. Ayade and
his deputy was moved by the Deputy Speaker of the Cross River State House of
Assembly, Mr. Joseph Bassey (PDP, Calabar South 1) and seconded by Mr. Ogban
Ogban.
Mr. Bassey said the motion was borne out of
a careful evaluation of Mr. Ayade’s performance and other factors. He said
that: “On behalf of the people of southern senatorial district, seven alive;
after carefully evaluating, crystallizing all the activities and projects of
our governor, we the people of southern senatorial district hereby move and be
moved that Senator Professor Ben Ayade should be adopted as a consensus
candidate in the 2019 elections.”
The endorsement comes as some sort of grand
finale after the three federal constituencies in the same senatorial district
had at several times in the past two weeks did same with Mr. Esu in attendance.
And, despite claims by several speakers
that the event was nonpartisan, paraphernalia of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) could be seen everywhere with all the major actors and organizers, known
members of the party.
