The All Progressives Congress (APC) Cross River state chapter has faulted the decision of Governor Ben Ayade to return to school.
The state chairman of the party, Mr John Ochala, said in Calabar Tuesday that no serious-minded governor would leave governance for school, alleging that “the state had been handed over to an unserious person who has continued to drag it backwards.
The party insisted that the governor, a professor, has never been serious about governance, saying that the decision has confirmed its position on Prof Ayade’s attitude and his administration’s poor performance
“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 queried saying Ayade is only diverting attention from his failed administration.
Only recently, the governor registered for his Master’s degree to study law at the University of Calabar, a development the APC seriously frowned at.
Accordingly, the APC said it is “not surprised at the action of Ayade as it has always known that he was not serious with governance, recalling that in the history of governance in the country, Ayade’s administration is the poorest.
“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.
The APC lamented that the governor has refused to conduct local government councils elections thereby rendering governance at the local council level to zero.The party also regretted that the governor has taken state backward in ramifications since he assumed office.
But in a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Christian Ita, dismissed the criticism and described it 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,” Ita said adding that no law stops anybody irrespective of his political status from furthering his education while holding public office.
