Former Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, has, for the first time after the 2023 general elections, expressed dissatisfaction over the unfair treatment he received during the election.
The former governor noted that he ran against five people who were not from the state during the election.
Ayade, who spoke in an interview with newsmen in Calabar shortly after he arrived in the state on Friday, noted that the people in question were working to install a system against the collective will of the people.
The former governor, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) during his tenure, said his decision was guided by foresight and a deep understanding of Nigeria’s shifting political landscape.
“I am carrying these scars — the scars of the battle for the sovereignty of the state. That scar has not healed,” Ayade said, reflecting on the challenges that followed his defection.
“It was clear to me that the interference with normal party democracy and the projection of what this country would become required us to cross to the ruling party.”
Having been away from the state since the end of his administration, his return yesterday was marked by a grand reception from enthusiastic APC faithful who thronged the airport to welcome him. He maintained that his decision to join the APC was a strategic and calculated move to ensure that Cross River State was not left behind politically and economically.
He added, “I saw tomorrow. The crystal ball was clear. I knew the right thing to do at that point was to align with the centre, and that was why I joined the APC.”
Ayade recalled that he was among the first political leaders to publicly endorse President Bola Tinubu as the APC’s Presidential candidate, praising his record in governance.
MEANWHILE, two prominent chieftains of the APC in Cross River State have faulted the former governor over his recent remarks that the ruling party had treated him unfairly despite his loyalty and decision to lead the state into the APC in 2020.
In separate statements released yesterday, Bravo Gabriel Oluohu and former presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla dismissed Ayade’s outburst as misplaced, saying he has only himself to blame for his political setbacks since leaving office.
Oluohu, responding to the former governor’s lamentation at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, on Friday, described Ayade’s complaint as “self-inflicted.”
He said the ex-governor weakened his own standing within the APC when he chose to contest the party’s 2022 Presidential primary despite the knowledge of slim chances of success.
“APC favoured him with a senatorial ticket against all odds despite internal resistance,” Oluohu said. “But the electorate rejected him at the polls, and that defeat was not the party’s fault.”
The APC stalwart further alleged that Ayade withheld campaign funds during the 2023 elections, an action, he claimed, was reported to the President, who viewed it as an act of betrayal. “You can’t eat your cake and have it,” he said. “If there is any blame, Ayade should look inward.”
Similarly, Obono-Obla took a swipe at Ayade’s repeated claim that he “socketed” Cross River State to the political centre, describing such a narrative as “bunkum, balderdash and despicable revisionism.”
