Ayade Lied During Arise News Interview-Jarigbe • Describes Gov As Sesquipedalian

Senator-Elect for Cross River North, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe has taken his governor, Prof Ben Ayade to the cleaners, calling him a liar and a sesquipedalian, following statements made by Ayade when he appeared on the Arise News interview programme.

He said the governor was rejected by the people of the senatorial district during the February 25 National Assembly election because apart from the food on the table project of giving appointment to thousands of people in the state, the governor had no other tangible achievement after eight years.

During the interview, Ayade had boasted of having embarked on many lofty projects during his eight years stay as governor and that some of the projects would be commissioned next week, just a few days to the end of his reign.

Ironically, Ayade is not known to have commissioned any project since he assumed office. Even the super highway project and the spaghetti flyover which he plans to inaugurate next week are all uncompleted.

When the Arise News interview crew questioned the governor on his non-performance, he took on the crew, querying their refusal to ask him how he was coping with state affairs, despite his low federal allocation, an antic that did not seem to dissuade the crew.

Ayade had also spoken of how the military took over the senatorial district and worked for Jarigbe during the election. He said he was so popular in the area and ought to have won if not for the militarilisation of senatorial district.

But when Jarigbe appeared on the same show in line with his right of reply, he poo-pooed Ayade’s claims, saying that the only achievement of the governor that was visible was the food on the table project.

He also said that the governor had a meeting with some military chiefs two days to the election in the state and that it was for his desperate moves to conquer the state. Jarigbe said the governor had taken desperate moves to win the election but was rejected by the voters who were angry that he disappointed them.

“I know that there was proper security for the elections. Before the elections, I found that the governor had series of meetings with the security operatives that were posted for that election; that particular election, he had about three meetings with the brigade commander. When he talks about militarizing the whole place, he had about three meetings with the brigade commander two days before the election. When I even tried to reach the brigade commander on the phone, he refused to pick my calls and later on blocked my line, I couldn’t make contact with him.

“So, I’m surprised he would say that the whole place was militarized. What happened at the elections was that, the security operatives made sure that they did not allow the governor come in with this thugs to compromise the electoral process and he thought that was the only way he could the elections.”