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Tag: Cross River

  • Cross River indigenes don’t appreciate my sacrifices – Ayade

    Cross River indigenes don’t appreciate my sacrifices – Ayade

    Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State has expressed sadness at the behaviour of the people for not regarding the extent of his personal sacrifices and generosity to them.

    At a meeting with media practitioners during the end of year festivities in Calabar, the governor lamented that people do not understand what he goes through daily as a governor.

    “I don’t think I have ever slept up to five hours in a day since the last six years and more.

    “I use to be happier and richer when I was not yet a governor. But I am no longer,” he said.

    Ayade said he used to be hailed for being a very generous man when he was not yet a governor.

    “But today irrespective of the extent of my generosity to people, it is always seen as grossly insufficient.

    “No matter what I give, it is never seen as having done well,” he added.

    Ayade frowned at the lack of gratitude and how they prefer the spirit of ‘Bring Him Down Syndrome’.

    He spoke about petitions by the people of the state aimed at crippling the efforts of government officials, especially his efforts at transforming the state.

    He advised that such an attitude should change for the better.

    He also cautioned journalists to endeavour to verify their reports, adding that if they cannot meet him in person, he has his officials who can provide the desired information.

    “Some of these reports and petitions have caused this state fortunes in foreign investments.

    “Some persons write about non-existent issues about Cross River. I think obviously what the local correspondents are doing, and how those stories get into their papers without verification is rather worrisome,” he said.

    “Sometimes I read that I am planning to go back to the PDP. What an untruth! Painful is that some of you work directly here from the governor’s office.

    “There are so many means whereby you can verify the information. Always verify the information.”

  • Northern governors celebrate Christmas with Ayade in Cross River

    Northern governors celebrate Christmas with Ayade in Cross River

    Governors Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi and Muhammad Badru Abubakar of Jigawa state on Saturday paid their Cross River State counterpart, Professor Ben Ayade a Christmas visit.

    Also in the entourage of the governors was former Jigawa governor, Seminu Turaki.

    Speaking, Governor Bagudu described Ayade as a dear brother and colleague whose achievements were worthy of celebration.

    According to him, “we came to felicitate with his Excellency, Governor Ben Ayade and the people of Cross River State, we are here to show respect to a very dear friend and colleague who has proved himself worthy of being respected.

    “Despite the distance, we were desirous of coming to celebrate with him and show respect to him and the people of Cross River State and to celebrate his achievements.

    “What has been happening in Cross River State is enough evidence that we have beacons of light across the land and that when we support them, greatness and prosperity will come.”

    Further eulogising his Cross River counterpart, Bagudu said the Progressive Governors Forum which is the forum of governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, holds him in high esteem. “We are here on a personal relationship with Governor Ayade. We respect him, we celebrate his achievements and particularly, all of us in the Progressive Governors’ Forum reckon with his achievements and we pray that he will continue to go higher and higher.”

    The Kebbi State governor enjoined Nigerians to work towards building a country that holds a bright future for all.

    “We have a great country, we should enjoy ourselves, we should work for a country of our future, our children and our great grandchildren. It is what President Buhari had been doing.

    “We would work hard to overcome all challenges so that Nigeria can be greater so that it can take its rightful place among the comity of nations,” the Kebbi State governor said.

    Responding, Governor Ayade said he was delighted to receive his colleagues from the North, describing their visit as good for the unity of Nigeria.

    His words:”This is why APC is a perfect example for the unity of this country. Here you have my brothers from the North coming to celebrate Christmas with us in Cross River. When you have Muslims from the North coming to fellowship and celebrate with us in the South on Christmas day, I think this is the biggest message this country must take home.”

    He said the governors’ visit on Christmas day underscores the APC government’s stance for the unity, indissolubility and indivisibility of the country.

  • Gov. Ayade supports power shift to Cross River South

    Gov. Ayade supports power shift to Cross River South

    Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has reiterated his desire to support Cross River South Central Senatorial District to produce the next governor of the state in 2023.

    Ayade stated this on Wednesday while interacting with journalists in Calabar.

    He said that for fairness and equity, it was natural and just to support the South to produce the next governor of the state in 2023.

    According to him, ‘politics with ethics’ implies natural justice and fairness with a view of giving all the zones in the state a sense of belonging to feel the taste of political power.

    “In 2015, I went round to campaign and in the process, I told the people to vote for me that in 2023 power will return to the South.

    “The governorship slot started from the South, it moved to Central and then to the North; it’s fair that power returns to the South again for equity and fairness,” said.

    On his industrialisation agenda, Ayade said that the state chicken processing factory “Chalachika” was now producing chickens at optimal capacity and at an affordable price.

    “As Cross River indigenes, our future lies in the ongoing Bakassi deep seaport project, the exploitation of our carbon resources and many others.

    “As the governor, I am happy that I have industrialised the state with various industries that are adding value to the growth of the state.

    “Today, we have the garment factory, the poultry factory, the noodles factory, the rice seedlings factory, the cotton factory, among others,” he added.

    He urged residents of the state to support his administration by contributing their quota to the growth of the state.

  • APC asks Gov Ayade to fire appointees without party membership card

    APC asks Gov Ayade to fire appointees without party membership card

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State has called on the State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade to fire all civil servants in the State not carrying the party’s membership card.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports newly elected chairman of the APC in Cross River, Mr Alphonsus Eba made the call at a media briefing in Calabar on Tuesday.

    Eba, who is yet to be sworn into office, also asked Governor Ayade to fire all appointees who are yet to register with the APC.

    Failing to clinch the chairmanship position of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) before his emergence as APC Chairman-elect, Eba argued that there was no way civil servants and appointees in the State would be receiving salaries without registering to be members of the party.

    He said failure to register will result in mass sack while their positions will be filled by APC members, stressing that anyone who fails to register as a member of APC by December 31, 2021 would be relieved of his duty on January 1, 2022.

    Citing article 9(5) of the APC constitution, which he said bars members from taking appointments with the government of other political parties, he said it was compulsory for civil servants to register and identify with the party in power.

    A statement issued after the press conference, signed by Mr Erasmus Ekpang, the party’s State Publicity Secretary-elect quoted Eba as saying: “Non-members of our Party should not be given appointment in our Party in accordance with Article 9/5 of our Constitution.

    “The ground of the welfarism we think is not to bitterate the kindness and humanitarian concern of the Governor.

    “Here as a party, we want to make it known today, that all Heads of Government at Local Government level and at the State must follow the provision of our Constitution, with effect from 1st January, 2022, those appointees of Government that are yet to be registered and fully participate in activities of the Party shall cease to hold their respective offices.

    “We therefore call on Local Government Chairmen, who today have over 20,000 appointees of five persons per polling units to the 3281 polling units and on the State Government payroll, we call on the Auditor-General to take note that the over seven thousand to eight thousand appointees of Government who are yet to be registered in APC must be relieved of their appointments henceforth”.

  • NLC shuts down public offices in Cross River

    NLC shuts down public offices in Cross River

    The Organised Labour in Cross River on Tuesday shut down public offices including schools and hospitals to press home its numeral demands.

    The organised labour involved comprised the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council (JNC).

    The group said the action followed failure of the state government to heed to its numerous ultimatums issued over its demands.

    A statement jointly signed by Chairmen of the affiliate unions listed 14 issues in contention which included nonpayment of gratuities to retirees of both state and local government councils’ workers for the past six years.

    Others are the non remittances of deductions from workers’ salaries and the full implementation of the minimum wage to both state and local government workers.

    Also listed are non implementation of promotions arrears to workers of both state and local government councils’ workers and reinstatement of pensioners wrongfully removed from payroll.

    Following the action the gates of the state secretariat were firmly locked while many other public offices were also put under lock and key.

    Some students of some secondary schools in several parts of Calabar metropolis were asked to return home by the labour leaders.

    At the General Hospital Calabar, the main entrance to the Hospital was shut to the public.

    Reacting to the situation, Mr Effiong Umoh, Special Adviser to the Governor on Labour matters, said most of the demands by the Unions had been met.

    He also said that the unions had not exhausted all avenues for dialogue before embarking on an indefinite strike.

    “The labour gave warning on Thursday and we called them for a meeting on Friday but they refused to come because they know they were to commence strike on Monday.

    “We will continue to appeal to them to consider the financial situation of government,” he said.

  • APC holds LG congresses nationwide despite subsisting court orders in Delta, Akwa Ibom

    APC holds LG congresses nationwide despite subsisting court orders in Delta, Akwa Ibom

    The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has held local government congress elections across the country.

    The exercise scheduled for Saturday was to elect the leadership of the party at the local government level, and those who eventually become delegates to regional and national congresses and convention.

    APC held this second layer of the congresses after it ratified the Ward Congress Appeal Reports across the country.

    APC’s Caretaker Committee Chairman and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni said the court orders from Delta and Akwa Ibom will not stop the process as it does not affect the conduct of the exercise.

    He asked party members to abide by the rules governing the election, promising that the party will address all anomalies emanating from the process.

    In Lagos State, the congress held in the 20 local government areas.

    At the congress held in the Oshodi area of Lagos, officials were chosen by consensus across 11 wards.

    Reacting to the exercise, the Chairman of the Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area, Kehinde Oloyede said the process was peaceful.

    He said despite the fear that violence would disrupt the election, the exercise was peaceful with delegates exercising their franchise.

    “Oshodi is known for violence in the past but it has been peaceful,” he said.

    “We went to the general elections, no incident of violence. On getting to this excos, we make sure that we harmonise the list. All the caucuses were fully represented. At a stage, some unscrupulous elements from the state level tried to tinker with the list but the majority will always have their way.”

    In neighbouring Ogun State, Governor Dapo Abiodun joined other APC members to elect delegates for the party at the local government level.

    He participated in the exercise at the grounds of St Saviour Anglican Primary School in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.

    Governor Abiodun commended party members for displaying maturity in Ikene and other areas where the exercise was held.

    “Our party faithful has conducted themselves in a very civilised manner in a very fair process,” the governor said. “The candidates of choice have come out, we queued behind them. The electoral officers have asked if these are the people we want to vote for, we answered in the affirmative. It was largely a consensus arrangement.”

    The process went smoothly in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital where voters queued up behind their preferred candidate within the premises of the African Church Grammar School.

    Some other top members of the party that participated included former Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Senator Tunji Sharafa and the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Lekan Adegbite.

  • Ex-Ayade’s aide, ‘General Iron’ killed, body dismembered in Cross River village square

    Ex-Ayade’s aide, ‘General Iron’ killed, body dismembered in Cross River village square

    A former Special Assistant to Governor Ben Ayade on Forest Security, Thomos Obi Tawo, popularly called “General Iron” in Boki Local Government Area, Cross River State was on Thursday killed in a gun battle with local vilgilante in the area.

    According to reports, the notorious militia and gang leader was killed along with some of his gang members and his lifeless body was brought out to the village square where it was dismembered in the presence of some victims of his reign of terror.

    General Iron killed and dismembered in Cross River

    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG gathered that ‘General Iron’ was relieved of his appointment after he was accused of continually overstepping his bounds and repeatedly terrorising those he believed were opposed to his interests.

    Social media handles of individuals and groups in Cross River State were awash with pictures of his dismembered body and various write-ups that chronicled different experiences of people who knew about his activities.

    Mr. Attach Ochinke, a former Attorney-General of the state and indigene of Boki Local Government Area, wrote on his Facebook page: “Thomas Obi Tawo, popularly called General Iron, was an illiterate, an unexposed young man with the tendencies of a small time criminal.

    “He is dead; hunted down and killed disgracefully like a rat. A lot of people, including me, believe he deserved his end. But I think Gen Iron was deceived unto his death.”

    He claimed that “the political system used and dumped him, and dodged from him when the chips were down”.

    Ochinke said at the time of General Iron’s death, “the political system he thought he was serving had abandoned him; too ashamed to associate with him.

    “Even the government that gave him a high office in recognition of his atrocities sacked him and withdrew the high office.

    “He stood alone, naked in his last days. He had no place to hide; none of the political associates accommodated him. He ran into the bush like a rat.

    “I am sure the people he thought he was working with and working for avoided his phone calls in his troubled last days”.

    Another indigene of the area also wrote that the late gang leader “became a small god overnight in Boki community. He converted the community oil palm estate to his private entity.

    “He never wanted any opposition or any rival around his neighbourhood. He became a commander of a militia. He threatened to kill the majority of the people in his area.

    “His boys were brandishing AK47 at will without any provocation. He threatened the peace of the entire Boki LGA. He banished some residents of his community from their ancestral homes, etc.”

    According to Ochinke, Iron’s last act of misdemeanour was his brazen attack on another former aid to Governor Ayade, Mr. Mark Obi, who did not follow Governor Ayade to defect from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress.

    In sheer display of audacity, Iron went to Mark Obi’s house and warned him to desist from holding any PDP activities in his ward. Mark Obi stood his ground on that occasion and Iron left.

    “Mark Obi dutifully reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police in a detailed petition but nothing happened allegedly, and General Iron was misled by that as an endorsement of his actions, and by the seeming lack of admonition from the government he served, egged on by political associates and fellow political leaders in Boki, he attempted to make good his promise of killing Mark Obi for planning to hold PDP activities in Oku ward.

    “Mark Obi miraculously survived the attack with grievous injuries. This was the height of it. Iron had outdone himself.”

  • Pastor arrested in Cross River over unlawful possession of human skull

    Pastor arrested in Cross River over unlawful possession of human skull

    The Police Command in Cross River has arrested the Pastor of United Evangelical Church, Michael Bassey, 45, for unlawful possession of a human skull.

    It also apprehended 25 other suspects for various offences committed in the state.

    Briefing newsmen on Tuesday in Calabar, Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Sikiru Akande, said that the pastor was arrested upon a complaint from a concerned citizen on the threat to life.

    Akande said that the suspect was arrested at No. 56 Uwanse by Asuquo Ekpo Street in Calabar South.

    “The suspect was arrested with one human skull tied with the complainant’s picture and carved human image with red clothes.

    “Investigation is still ongoing and the suspect will be arraigned in court,” he said.

    The CP also paraded one Christian Edem-Eyo, 34, for allegedly killing and beheading one Uduak Okpo, 65, and buried her head and the body separately on June 6.

    The Commissioner also said that the suspect would soon be charged to court accordingly.

    Bassey, however, told newsmen that he was not into any diabolical act.

    According to him, he has been conducting healing services for his congregation members before his arrest.

    “I don’t know anything about this human skull. I am innocent of the charges against me,” he maintained.

    On his part, the murder suspect, Edem-Eyo, told newsmen that he killed Okpo because she belonged to the spiritual world.

    “I killed Uduak Okpo because she belonged to the marine world. She was terrorising me spiritually in the compound,” he said.

    The CP said that the Command’s “Operation Restore Peace” in the state had yielded results through the arrest of criminals disturbing the peace of the people.

    He said that the command was liaising with traditional rulers, youth groups, stakeholders and community dwellers on ways to restore peace and order in the state.

  • Kidnapped Cross River NLC chairman regains freedom 82 days after

    Kidnapped Cross River NLC chairman regains freedom 82 days after

    Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Cross River State, Comrade Ben Ukpepi, has been released by his abductors after 82 days in captivity.

    The Cross River State police command on Tuesday confirmed his release.

    Police Spokesperson in the state, ASP Irene said that Ukpepi was released on Monday, June 14.

    No information was given on how Ukpepi was released or whether ransom was paid or not.

    Ukpepi was kidnapped on Sunday, March 21, 2021, in front of his house at the CROSPIL Estate in Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State.

    The organised labour in the state was planning strike action over pending labor issues when Ukpepi was kidnapped.

    It was the second time Mr. Ukpepi would be kidnapped.

  • PDP receives Ayade’s ex-aides who refused decamping to APC

    PDP receives Ayade’s ex-aides who refused decamping to APC

    The National Working Committee (NWC) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), on Monday received some former appointees of Gov Ben Ayade of Cross River state who refused to decamp to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
    TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the Governor Ayade had on May 20 officially decamped to the APC alongside some of his aides.
    Speaking at the occasion, the National Chairman of PDP, Mr Uche Secondus, described the PDP as the party to take Nigeria to greater heights.
    He assured party members of level playing ground for all.
    Speaking, Mr Goodwin Etta, former Commissioner for Water Resources said he could not follow Ayade to the APC because “there was no reason for that.”
    “I am tired of food on the table, and that is why I chose to remain with my people,” Etta said.
    Mr Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra described Cross River as ‘100 per cent PDP state’.
    Obi, who was the Vice Presidential Candidate of PDP in the 2019 general elections, said Cross River was Nigeria’s destination under Governors Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke.
    “But today all Cross River stood for have gone. Before, you can sleep with your eyes closed but today you can no longer sleep with your eyes closed,” he said.
    The former governor, Donald Duke used the opportunity to officially announce his formal return to the PDP.
    “I am back, ” he said.
    The Chairman of PDP governor’s forum, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto said the party was ready to take over the Federal Government in 2023.
    “When we take over the government in 2023, we will start the restructuring of the country,” he said.
    The chairman also formally inaugurated the new Secretariat Annex of the State chapter and inaugurated the new interim State Executive of the the party.