More people from Cross River North are speaking their mind on what to expect when contestants file out to seek the people’s votes ahead of the senate election for the Cross River North Senatorial District election in Cross River State. One of them is Chief Martins Orim, the chief of staff to the former governor of the state, Prof Ben Ayade.
Ayade is among those angling to secure a seat in the senate in 2027. But Orims has told him not to bother because he disappointed his people when he had the opportunity to govern in the past. He also told TNN during the interview, about how the former governor deceived him into contesting the senate seat in 2023, only for him (Ayade) to come back and ask for the ticket. He said Ayade lost because of his poor performance.
Excerpts:
You were at the rally ground yesterday (last weekend), for the endorsement rally organised for Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe. I was a bit surprised seeing you rallied support for him, against your former boss, the immediate past governor, Senator Ben Ayade. What happened?
I don’t know where the surprise is coming from because they say in politics, there is no permanent friend and no permanent enemy. What is important is common interest. Interest has to do with development of your people. So, I don’t know where the surprise is coming from. What is the surprise?
You were once a chief of staff to Senator Ben Ayade. You were the engine room of the government and so for you to ditch him now that he is also contesting for the senate seat and declare support senator Jarigbe, a lot of people are surprised.
Well, I am just hearing from you that Ben Ayade is contesting for senate. I am not aware that Senator Ben Ayade is contesting for senate. Besides, (Nyesom) Wike was (Rotimi) Amechi’s chief of staff. Amechi is contesting for president, I don’t know whether Wike is supporting him.
Of course he is not
Jude Ngaji was Ayade’s SSA(State Security Adviser who ended up in APC and Ayade was in PDP. So, I don’t know why my own has become a surprise, that I am not supporting him(my former boss).
Imoke made Ayade governor against all odds. Is Ayade and Liyel Imoke in the same party today?
Of course they are not
So, what is the surprise there, that my own is a surprise?
Maybe because you were once a place holder for Ayade….
(Cuts in) I was never a place holder to anybody.
You mean you were not a place holder for Prof Ben Ayade?
No, I wasn’t.
So, what happened? We all believe you were.
I showed him loyalty to the extent that I could show him. I never held brief for him. He never discussed with me about holding brief. He asked me to contest that election in the true sense of it. He hid the aspect of him coming back for the seat from me. So, when he exposed himself, I gave him the seat quietly and walked away; and he lost the election because people didn’t want him.
He was never a place holder. If he told me to be a place holder for him, I would have said no.
So, how did you feel when you had to surrender the ticket to him?
I felt disappointed. I felt used by him. But I didn’t feel angry because I still went to the field to wait for him. He won election in my place where I come from; won my polling unit, won the entire ward. I went all out to work for him. H e won in my place, even if the people didn’t want him. I wasn’t angry with him but I felt disappointed.
Why do you think people did not want him, even when he is from that senatorial district and he was still in office at the time?
I don’t know. He should ask himself that question.
Yeah, but you are from the north, you worked with him. You interfaced with the people. What do you suspect may have happened that collecting the ticket from you, he went into the field as a serving governor and lost?
I don’t know what went wrong. Maybe the people assessed the performance and what he did for them. They had their expectations before he assumed office as the first person to become governor from Cross River North. They had their expectations and what they wanted from him. I don’t know. Maybe he didn’t meet their expectations. I don’t know.
But were you surprised that he lost?
He won election where I come from. I don’t know why he lost in other places.
No, I am talking about Cross River North now. I mean he won where you come from but he lost everywhere else, including his own place. Did you see that coming?
Well, I don’t know. I don’t know the mind of the people, so u can’t say I was surprised. Election is not something you will wake up and say you know what is coming or you know what is not coming. The people have their minds. They know what they want and they know what they don’t want.
What do you think happened? What do you think went wrong? Where did he not get it right?
I don’t know. Over the years, he could have tried to make assessments of what went wrong, where he didn’t get it right. He is in a proper position to say what went wrong and where he didn’t get it right. It is not for me to say.
Do you agree with those people who have criticized his eight years reign as governor?
You are a journalist, right? And I believe as a journalist, you can get your facts. Cross river North is not in the space, it is not in the blues. Cross River North is physically there. Why can’t you go find out yourself what he did and what he didn’t do, to know whether what he did and what he did not do could have won him election or make him lose election.
That is the essence of this interview, to seek your personal opinion
If you are asking me to asses the government myself, I will tell you that we did well. But the true sense of it is that it is the people who should asses us, not me. You can’t ask a man to be a judge in his own case. I was part of that government. I cannot be a judge in my own case.
We are talking about factors that may have contributed to his failure at the polls. As a citizen, sincerely speaking, do you think he did not do well, that was why he failed?
I told you that he won an election in my place. That was because I convinced my people that he did well. If he failed in other places, maybe he didn’t do well. I served in that administration; probably my people assessed him based on what I put for them. Maybe what I brought for them is what they have never experienced before. They may see it as a pass mark. Another person may have seen one or two things and expected more because their son was a governor and they didn’t see it. So they could judge him that he failed. So, I can not give assessment of the government that I served whether he failed or passed. But if you ask me, I would say the government did not fail. We succeeded. We passed because I served in the government.
Now that you are supporting Jarigbe and Prof. Ben Ayade is also going to run the same election, Legor ldagbor is also going to run that election. But we are talking about Jarigbe and your former boss. if two of them are put side by side, it means you will be voting for Jarigbe against your boss. How do you think he will feel?
I don’t know how he will feel. But the fact remains that I am supporting Senator Jarigbe.
Why are you supporting him?
He is doing well. He is deliberate about the people. He is committed to the people, committed and deliberate about them, committed to the development of our senatorial district. He is a purposeful leader, he is the leader who understands the reason why the people voted for him. He is the only person who understands what public office is all about. Public office is a trust that you are holding on behalf of the people. Senator Jarigbe understands that he is holding that office on behalf of the people. That is the person I will support. He is not a man who holds an office and thinks that it is his personal property and anybody who shares from him is sharing his personal thing, who holds office and think it is his family inheritance.
Apparently, you are referring to the days of Ayade’s brother as a co-governor. Can you paint a picture of what used to happen that you didn’t like, I mean Ayade bringing his brother into public governance?
Well, that phase has passed. But I love the experience I had with that phase. The phase has passed. I don’t want to talk about it.
How bad was the experience?
The phase has passed.
What was the worst experience you had working with Ben Ayade and the brother?
I had a good experience as a politician. I learned a lot but like I said, that phase has passed.
I am saying, what was the worst experience you had working with them?
And I am saying the phase has passed and I don’t want to talk about it.
If you are given that opportunity again, how would you handle things?
Opportunity to do what.
Opportunity to work with Ben Ayade and the brother, Frank Ayade?
Well, I thank God the opportunity will not come again. So, it is a phase that has passed and I don’t want to experience again.
What if that opportunity knocks again?
The opportunity will not knock. Ben is not going to be governor again.
What if he becomes senator and he wants you to work with him?
I will not.
Why won’t you work with him again?
Politically, I am not ready to go that way again.
Which way sir?
Politically, I am not ready to go that way again.
Let’s get back to Jarigbe. Can you speak in specific terms why you decided to queue behind him?
I told you that Jarigbe is man of the people. He is a politician who knows what the people want. A politician who supports the people. He is very deliberate about the people. He is a man who understands what public office is all about. He understands that public office is a trust, a public trust that you are holding on behalf of the people. You can’t trace hotels, business to Jarigbe’s name. But you can trace people to him, scholarships, educational support, roads, hospitals, electricity, water.
And this is what Prof Ben Ayade does not have?
The people at home will judge whether he has it or not. It is not for me to say. The people back home who need these things are the ones who should decide who is doing it for them. But I am telling you my personal reasons. I am supporting Senator Jarigbe.
With this your support, do you think Jarigbe stands a better chance to pick the APC ticket and become senator again and Ben Ayedi will not be able to get it?
Even if Jarigbe runs in zero party, he will win. Whoever wants to run election with Senator Jarigbe, I am telling you that even if he decides to stand in zero party, no party, independent party, he will win the election.
What is it that makes you cry sometimes when you remember your days of working with Ben Ayade; when you remember having to contest an election into the senate and then you were told to drop the ambition for your boss?
I have no regret. You see, I believe that in this life, there is nothing that happens without the will of God. I believe in the will of God and I believe in the power of God and I believe in the power of destiny. Whatever happens had the hand of God in it. I always will thank God for what he did in my life. Probably, if I had gone to that place, I may not have been alive today. God knows best. God knows why whatever happened had to happen.
If you see Prof. Ben Ayade today, will you tell him to drop his ambition as long as Jarigbe is contesting that same election?
I said so in one of my recent interview. My boss has no business in any election. Every other governor who served in Cross River has finished and moved on to be a statesman and I expect my own brother to be a statesman in CrossRiver like other governors in other senatorial districts.
We have Donald Duke. he is a statesman. We have Liyel Imoke, he is a statesman. They are not running for anything. None of them is running for senate. After being governor, I expected that my own brother too will finish and will never contemplate running to be senator. That is my thinking. I am not forcing it on him or anybody. Our brother, Senator Ben Ayade should be a statesman and be advising every governor that comes into power in Cross River to be like Clement Ebri, Liyel Imoke, Donald Duke. None of them has come out to run run for anything within the state. Yes, Donald had run for Presidency. He had the power to make himself a senator. He did not. Ebri was governor for only two years and has not come out to run for senate.
Will I be right to say that your advice to him is that he should stay away from election so that he doesn’t get disgraced by Jarigbe?
He should stay away from contesting election within Cross River. He should go and run for President.
…So that he will not be disgraced in Cross River?
Not so that he will not be disgraced. He should not run for election within Cross River. He should be statesman like Clement Ebri, Donald Duke, Imoke and others. We in Cross River North too should have statesman at the level of those ones.
