By our correspondent
Opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State has condemned return of Governor Ben Ayade’s return to school.
Governor Ayade was seen at the lecture hall of the University of Calabar after securing admission to read masters in law.
The State Chairman of APC, John Ochala while fielding quetions from newsmen in Calabar, the state capital on Tuesday, said any serious minded governor will not leave governance for school.
Ochala, who recalled that no governor in the history of the country has ever done that, regretted that the state had been handed over to an unserious person who has continued to drag it backward, maintaining that the party had always known that the governor was never a serious person in the first place.
“He is doing this to divert peoples’ attention from his failed administration. If I may ask; of what socio-political or economic value to Cross Riverians is his going to school? The schools he attended before now, how has he impacted the knowledge on Cross Riverians other than economic underdevelopment?,”Ochala added.
The governor recently registered for his Master’s degree to study Law at the University of Calabar and the action has received knocks from a cross section of the public, with many people calling for his impeachment.
“Look at the various white elephant projects he said he was carrying out without any tangible impact on the state. Let the governor tell us how much he has generated so far from all his so-called projects. Because he is actually idle doing nothing, he wants to go to school so that he will tell the students in that university that he is the governor of the state. Ayade likes showmanship,” the party said.
“You will notice that he travels outside the state too often. A man, who has challenges in the state, including communal clashes here and there, will not travel like that and that is to show you that he has been idle.
“Now he wants to be busy, not with governance, but driving siren to school to be cheered by students” the party regretted. The governor has refused to conduct elections into Local Government Councils thereby rendering governance at the local impotent, saying the state has been taken backward since the governor came into office.
“Governor Ayade was bold enough to lie to Mr. President about his so called super highway project, from the day of ground breaking ceremony till date nothing has been done concerning the roads, please help me advice him to get busy with the roads and other infrastructures begging for attention since it is very obvious that Mr. governor is idle.”
However, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Christian Ita described the criticism as sheer idiocy, adding that there is no law stopping anybody from going to school even when the person is occupying a public office
“The criticism is sheer idiocy because there is no law stopping anybody from going to school, including those occupying public office. Mugabe had most of his degrees while in public office,” Ita said.
The CPS said modern governance runs at institutional levels, explaining that the governor, not being a superman, has put into place institutions that will drive development.
Ita claimed that because of the Governor’s developmental strides, the federal government has given license to the state for the deep sea port, which will drive development in the State.
