Governor Ben Ayade’s repeated absence from the Southern Governor’s Forum meetings has been criticized by the Peoples Democratic Party Renaissance Group, which is made up of party chieftains in Cross River State. As a result, they requested him to cooperate with other southern states in the state’s and region’s best interests.
The group claimed in a communiqué released after their extraordinary meeting in Calabar on Thursday that the governor’s absence from the forum’s sessions amounted to the state being alienated from various regional integration processes and interests, particularly in areas relating to VAT collection.
Seven former commissioners who left Ayade’s cabinet lately and remained in the PDP, as well as seven current members of the state House of Assembly, make up the group.
The communiqué partly read, “Cross River cannot be seen as standing in isolation in the current debate, championed mostly by southern governors, about who should collect VAT, the Southern Agenda to produce the next president come 2023, and the anti-open grazing law, culminating into the rising fear of insecurity of Cross Riverians.”
It noted, “with utter dismay” that Cross River was among the remaining three southern states whose Houses of Assembly had yet to consider or pass anti-open grazing bill into law while the 14 other southern states had passed the bill into law.
In the interest of regional security, the group urged the House of Assembly to join other southern states in passing the measure as soon as possible. They also requested that the governor refrains from selling government assets that have been designated for privatization.
Efa Esua, Friday Okpechi, Itam Abang, Elizabeth Ironbar, Fred Osim, Nelson Ofem, and Frank Ovat, were some members of the state House of Assembly who signed the communiqué. Ntufam Gab Odu-Oji, Ntufam Chris Itafu Njah, Mr. Asu Okang, Ntufam Donatus Etim, Obol Goddy Ettah, Mike Usibe, Rita Ayim, Francis Etta, and Moses Abeng Onor were among the others in attendance.
Ada Peter
