Governor Ayade Wants Me Dead - Ita-Giwa

Former lawmaker, Florence Ita-Giwa, has accused the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade of hunting for her life.

She said her life was in danger for exposing the diversion of relief materials meant for Internally Displaced Persons in Dayspring Island, Bakassi.

The senator made the claim while addressing newsmen in Lagos yesterday.

Ita-Giwa alleged that a certain Effiong Udeme, in collusion with some Cross River State officials shared the relief materials among themselves and sold some.

She said the relief materials included bags of cement, wood, and packs of zinc.

Ita-Giwa insisted that she was a victim of a personal vendetta being waged by political enemies spearheaded by Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade.

She also alleged that the latter wants her dead.

She said, “If anything happens to me, Governor Ayade should be held responsible for the text he sent to me.

“I would like the public to know that Governor Ben Ayade, a man whose election I supported, has been sending menacing text messages to me, warning me of the consequences of involving the Nigerian Media and 

Nigeria Police in the uncovering of the diversion of the relief materials by his government officials.

“As we speak, Cross River State is very unsafe, with assassinations and kidnapping becoming the order of the day.

“Under this cloud of general insecurity nothing must happen to me.

“Governor Ayade and his gang of merry men should be told that they will be held responsible should I come to any misfortune.

“This self-serving campaign of calumny against me instigated by the state government is capable inciting ethnic tensions which may in turn lead to the shedding of blood, a prospect I dread greatly.

“From my observations, it appears to me that Governor Ayade feels threatened by my joining the APC for whatever reason.

“I don’t recall any other former PDP stalwart in the state who decamped to the APC being as persecuted as I am.

“Could it be that Governor Ayade is picking on me because of my gender or my enormous electoral appeal?

“I choose to believe the latter as I would like to believe that Ayade is not a misogynist, and he ought to know that I have never played gender politics.

“They turned the table around and accused me of diverting the relief materials.”

By John Owen Nwachukwu

Governor Ayade Is Running A Government Of Cultists - APC

National Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) South South, Ntufam Hilliard Etta has alleged that Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State is running a cultists and criminal gangs’ government whose jostle for space in government have pitched them against each other and resulted in the rising cult killings in parts of the state.

He also said the government was either insensitive or lacked the know how to address the issue of communal violence, declaring that under Ayade’s watch the state had recorded more cult and communal violence than any other regime in the state so far.

Ntufam Etta who apparently reacted to a statements that the Governor Ayade’s administration has recorded landmark achievements, said the people of the state and the APC would be convinced to discontinue its criticism of the PDP government if it shows concrete evidence of its performance in the last two years.

The APC Chieftain stated that the Ayade government didn’t understand the entailment of the social contract with the people of the state and remarked that the people of the state were currently irked by the misgovernance of the present administration.

According to him ”We are daily inundated with complaints of the failure of government to fulfil its part of the social contract.

“We are therefore compelled to request this government to publish undisputable details of all its achievements to prove the people and the APC wrong.”

Consequently, on security issue, the APC Leader fumed that government has left the good, innocent, law abiding people of the state at the mercy of criminals, while taking sides with them (the criminals) to promote heinous crimes in parts of the state.

Eta also mentioned that under Ayade’s watch, workers had been owed months of salary arrears, while pensioners continue to wallow in penury at the instance of the continuous pilfering of the bailout funds and other sources of funds for the state.

  

He urged the Governor to disclose the whereabouts of the bailout funds and the Paris Club debt refund which he said have been underutilized for their targeted programmes and projects.

He described as laughable, Ayade’s quest for establishing a garment factory, deep seaport, pharmaceutical company, rice city among others, stating that these were another set of white elephants waiting to be unravelled.

”These projects are a product of hallucinations. There are another white elephant in the corner. In fact I can assure you that, these are rehearsal for the next batch of the glo comedy show.

“Yes, because Ayade has lost the trust and confidence of the people in his ability to fix certain simple necessities of life”, he said.

Eta also said in the wake of the massive pilfering of public funds, almost all agencies of the government have been grounded due to funding and logistics issues. He cited the state water board and the state fire service which he said lacks the men and materials to
fight the smallest inflammation anywhere in the state.

On the state of rural infrastructure, the APC Chieftain said rural communities of the state had suffered neglect leading to biting economic conditions in the rural areas.

He said “paradoxically, with two Professors on the saddle as Governor and Deputy, the educational system still suffers neglect and falling standard, while our public schools are a mere extramural centres.”

The Chief Press Secretary and special adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Media, Mr Christian Ita had told DAILY POST that the bail funds were intact and safe in UBA account while workers of the state government were not being owed salary.

“We have paid up to May salary and we were about to pay June when workers went on strike.

“The salary for the month of June is ready; as soon as workers resume on Wednesday, the salary will be paid.”

By Edem Edem