The All Progressives Congress in Cross River State has slammed Governor Ben Ayade of the Peoples Democratic Party for returning to school to study law, describing it as a sign of idleness.
The State Chairman of APC, Mr. John Ochala, while interacting with journalists in Calabar on Tuesday, said any serious-minded governor will not abandon governance for school, adding that no governor in the history of the country has ever done that.
He lamented that the state had been handed over to someone who has continued to drag it backward.
“We are talking about dilapidated roads all over the state. Look at our schools, our health infrastructure, our revenue-generation capacity, and all other infrastructure. These are not enough to bother a governor. All that bothers him is to use public funds to go to school. Why didn’t he go to school when he was a Senator?“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 imparted the knowledge to Cross Riverians other than economic underdevelopment?” he asked.
Ochala further said, “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.
“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 also said the governor has refused to conduct elections into Local Government Councils thereby rendering governance at the local level impotent and taking the state backward since the governor came into office.
“Governor Ayade was bold enough to lie to Mr. President about his so-called superhighway project. From the day of the groundbreaking ceremony to date nothing has been done concerning the roads. Please help me advise him to get busy with the roads and other infrastructures begging for attention since it is very obvious that Mr. governor is idle.”
Reacting to the APC’s stance on the governor’s return to school, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Christian Ita described the criticism as “sheer idiocy.”
“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,” he said.
Ita said modern governance runs at institutional levels “ and the governor, not being a superman, has put in place institutions that will drive development.”
He said because of the governor’s development strides, the Federal Government has given licence to the state for the deep seaport, “which will drive development into the state.”
The governor’s recent decision to register for his Master’s degree to study Law at the University of Calabar has attracted criticisms from some citizens of the state.
