By; VITALIS UGOH, Calabar
The All Progressives Congress Cross River Chapter, has demanded the resignation of the state governor, Senator Ben Ayade for his inability to address the increasing rate of insecurity which had claimed several lives in the past few months unabated.
A statement issued and signed by the acting state chairman, John Ochala in Calabar said “before the current administration of Senator Ben Ayade, Cross River was rated as the most peaceful state with Calabar the state capital, the most serene and peaceful city in Nigeria”.
Regrettably, he said “just within 23 months of this administration, Ayade has returned the state to the unfortunate old days where killings, kidnapping, armed robbery among all manners of social vices were the order of the day”.
According to him, “last year, the deputy governor prof. Iara Isu was unceremoniously held hostage for hours by militants while the governor was in Canada signing his ineffective MOUs as the government house was under siege”.
In another development, the convoy of the deputy governor was attacked leaving one of the security officers attached to him dead and yet the government did nothing to address this ugly scenario.
In a related development, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Gabriel Odu-Orji was kidnapped in a broad daylight and 24 hours later nothing has been said or heard about his whereabout, he added.
Ochala recalled how recently over 20 youths were killed in a bloody cult rivalry war and up till now nothing has been done or to arrest the perpetrators.
“This has created room for the suspicion that government officials are behind the increasing spate of crimes in the state, he added”.
He said that “we are also aware that there are plans to assassinate, kidnap or attack some APC members during the upcoming Local Government elections. To achieve this, some overzealous government officials are test running their plot with the unfortunate abduction of the water resources Commissioner.
He said “whether this is a prelude of what would happen to APC members or not, Ayade is duty bound as the Chief Security Officer of the state to protect every single Cross Riverian and their properties”.
Given this ugly development we therefore demand Ayade’s immediate resignation so as to restore peace to the land.
Rather than addressing security problem at hand, the governor prefers spending millions of Naira to buy unmerited awards within the past two years, Ochala added.
