Category: Opinion

The spiritual leader of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, Olumba Olumba Obu also known as OOO has predicted that President Muhammadu Buhari will certainly complete his first and second terms in office, making 8 years.

However, the prophet said this in Calabar headquarters at Ambo area of Mbukpa to a crowd of guests and adherents during an international youth event with the theme ‘Respecting Authorities and Higher Powers’. “Olumba Olumba said despite serious attempts by aggrieved persons to eliminate Buhari because  of his stance against corruption, the president would not be harmed, and that he would survive and accomplish his mission.

“For now, which leader in Nigeria would people be afraid of, to the extent of coming up by themselves to return stolen money?” he asked.

“Buhari has a special task to accomplish in Nigeria at these times,” he said.

But many have predicted this way including Rev. Father Mbaka during Jonathan’s administration, but failed.

Earlier today, Monday 25th, 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari received former President Olusegun Obasanjo for close door meeting in the State House. 

During their discussions, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said the ongoing revelation on budget padding in the National Assembly only confirmed his earlier position that lawmakers are “armed robbers and rogues.”

He said the best way out of the current mess was to ensure that only men of integrity are elected into the National Assembly…

This goes in line with the suggestions we got from our poll, as may said the problem to Nigeria sufferings is the National Assembly.

But if think of something different, you can leave at the comment section below. Best regards.

Of recent calabar a one time beautifully designed state and an internationally acclaimed tourist destination is gradually turning into a state replate with flood and erosion. A little rain makes the entire state, it’s road and street flooded; because all major water ways and erosion channels and drainages have been blocked by dirt.

Increasing dirt in calabar is occasioned by the waste carried by water during rain. With increasing heap of waste that dot all part of calabar, it becomes easy for rains to empty such dirt in the erosion channels thereby causing flood; and consequently erosion and the destruction of life’s and properties. These dirt are product of solid non decomposable waste in the form of sachet water, bottles, nylon, pure water containers and other product made out of rubber.

However bad Liyel Imoke may have been, his government especially in his first term in office can be appraised for continuing the good works of Donald Duke especially in the areas of creating erosion channels and managing a more effective system of waste management. Ineptitude may be the reason for the failure in waste management in the late days if Liyel Imoke and worsened by the Ayade’s government. The major problem of the Mr. Ayade’s government according to the opinion of Inyali Peter (an opinion I adopt in totality) is rotted in the fact that Ayade has surrounded himself with inept people as cabinet members and political appointees. These vehicle of waste rather than help the governor with sound suggestion especially as political appointees; surround the governor with gossips and and praise singing as a stock in trade to get crumbs for undeserved appointments.

With more money put into waste management than the Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke period, ineptitude has blocked the benefits of more funding of our waste management system.

Since the governor got into power, information on my table from a close aide to the governor holds that the governor has not evacuated the dirt in any of our drainage system. It is unfortunate that well designed drainage system by the previous administration has been made to collapse under few days of Ayade’s government. Instead of efficiency, the governor has often towed the part of nepotism by using the office of his brother co-governor Frank Ayade to haphazardly carry out the project of cleaning the city. The said Ayade’s aides pointedly accused the Frank Ayade as the siphoning tool in the ayade’s administration. This is a case of politics played on the sensibilities of the people creating a situation of man eat man situation.

For those yet to know, much danger is looming as the continued blockade of drainage system is a potential time bomb that will be as great as a tornado.

Suggestions:

A. It is obvious that the Cross River State economy cannot sustain bourgeoise economy, Ayade should stop looking the skies with projects like super high way and deep sea port and focus on immediate problems like  road maintenance, erosion control and management, agriculture etc.

B. Cut down the number of his cabinet to safe cost and plunge the money so saved for erosion control and management and other critical projects.

C. Instead of super high way and deep seaport, the governor should rather focus on building a waste management and recycling factory as a catalyst for financial growth and employment

D. As a matter of urgency the governor should order for the immediate evacuation of waste that has made our drainage systems ineffective.

E. The governor should keep Frank Ayade out of serious business as he has proved most ineffective in most of his outings

F. The governor should constitute a committee to under study the extent of damage caused by flood and erosion

G. Since there is a connect between a dirty calabar and a flooded calabar, the governor should priorities the sanity of calabar as a matter of urgent need.

H. The governor should check mate the interference of the  commissioner of environment and stimulate CUDA to be more effective. Prompt payment of salaries of CUDA staff will be a boast

I. The governor should reinstate the over 200 women he had formally sacked because of a protest in demand of their over 7 months salary

Cross River State belong to all of us. We may be APC or PDP, let’s stop politics and speak the truth so that we can move the state forward

Joseph Odok
josephodok@yahoo.com
Social Change Agent

Cross River State is set to become one of few states in the country to adopt and domesticate the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.

The adoption of the Act is a demonstration of the political will of Governor Ben Ayade who feels that the justice sector reform in the state should move beyond the criminal procedure code.

The Act which has ample benefits seeks the prosecution of criminals and offenders to achieve best results.

In addition, it would empower the state to provide the procedure for the trial of corruption cases outside the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

Speaking on the readiness of the state to domesticate the law at a workshop in Calabar, the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly ,Rt.Honourable John Gaul Lebo said the foundation of the laws is the political will of the Governor who feels that his first responsibility is to provide a justice sector reform system that goes beyond the criminal procedure code passed in 1963 for all of the southern states.

“It is a law that provides criminal procedures for all of the southern states. Now offenses have come that the circumstance and sophistication of societies no longer makes that law tenable, it’s outdated and so Cross River State is moving ahead of other states and we are going to be the first state after the federal government to domesticate this law. But we are domesticating this law with necessary modifications to suit the legal environment of Cross River State,” said the Speaker.

He highlighted some provisions of the Act to include the child right law, passage of the child rights commission, plea bargain and the provision of the procedure for the trial of corruption cases.

In his words: “the special features in this law for us are that we have passed the child’s Right law, we are about the first state and we are the first state to also pass the child’s Right commission.

“And you know when you have the child’s Right commission you now need to provide for a procedure for the trial of children and then providing for custody for children outside of prison or outside of medical asylum. So that provision is there, and we are also going to be the first state to provide for a procedure for trial of corruption cases in cross river state outside ICPC. Like l said ICPC can try certain cases if it comes from capital receipt of our budget or from federal funds given to Cross River State. But for funds that arose out of our IGR or the Appropriation Law of Cross River State, the courts in Cross River by the administration of criminal justice law will have the jurisdiction and powers to try corruption cases.

“Now for financial cases we have our public accounts committee reports where people are judged to have committed financial offences. Sometimes you have like 300 persons and then 2 or 3 political cases are taken to EFCC .The administration of criminal justice by expectation of his Excellency the governor is to ensure that we also have such courts designated within that. We also have community service. There are simple offences that you don’t have to go to prison, the sentence is to go and teach in a primary school or go and do NGO activities to educate people on how not to commit offences.”

Speaking earlier on the necessity of the law to the state, the Attorney General, Joe Abang said the Act will be of tremendous importance to the state.

According to him, the state has been preparing for this “so we have armed ourselves and you will agree with me. Recently the governor gave me the chance to recruit another 30 technocrats into the ministry, the whole essence of adding 30 new hands, getting the computers, E –library is to put us in better footing to be able to administer criminal justice and help in the administration in the state and indeed in Nigeria. We are ready in the ministry of justice to do our work.”

 A story is told of how seven blind men went to assess an Elephant. The one who touched the trunk, ear, eye, lap, hand, tail or tusk all gave different version or impression of what an Elephant is. Like an Elephant, the debut of the Calabar – Ikom – Kastna Ala Superhighway in Cross River State and indeed in Sub-Sahara Africa has become a subject of many analyses by those who think they know the development option Cross River should adopt different from what Governor Ben Ayade, an intellectual power house has brought to us.

Like an Elephant the construction of the 260km Superhighway by Governor Ayade is strange to many people in this part of the world who have never heard about such a mega-project before now or may have not seen one in their life time. But are we all blind in Cross River? No! Cross River is well known as a trail blazer in the comity of states in Nigeria. Many litany of first have been accomplished by the state indigenes in many areas. Such that Cross River was to produce the first Professor in Nigeria – Prof. Eyo Ita; the first National World Boxing Champion, Hogan Bassey was a Cross Riverian; the first football match in Nigeria was played in Calabar at Hope Waddle Training Institute and the first Inspector General of Police Louis Edet was from the state.

In recent times, Cross River has proved itself as first among equals in the area of development such that the first and the longest Cabal car in Africa is install in Obudu Mountain Resort; Cross River is the first to operate a sub-national and national model in the world on Environmental Conservation and Preservation Project known as Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation REDD+ (biodiversity conservation, enhancement of forest carbon stock and sustainable forest management) a United Nations’ (UN) programme expected to accrue some millions of dollars to the state in the nearest future.

It is therefore not out of place that the present administration of His Excellency Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade has taken the developmental notch of the state higher in the construction of first Monorail and a garment factory to be operated electrically and by computerized programming in Africa. No wonder that his two signature projects: the 260km Superhighway and the Bakassi Deep Seaport can be referred to as the “mother of all developmental projects” ever executed by any leader in Cross River. These two projects which have become a subject of many controversial reviews couple with a flood of petitions to National and International Organizations even though these projects expectedly will chart a new economic roadmap for our state which will ultimately attract investment inflow and generate multiple employments as well as increased revenue to government and the populace.

It is note worthy to say that Governor Ayade had the option of executing quick-fixed-projects that are of lesser magnitude or cost has to gain instant popularity from the people on his policies yet he choose to walk a more tedious longer road to bring economic prosperity to Cross Riverians and generations yet unborn.

My advice is that those who had the opportunity to lead the state out of economic doldrums but squandered it on the altar of ego and self glorification should allow Cross River to move forward and adhere to the biblical injunction which says that “there is time for everything under the sun”. This is the time God has chosen a leader of Prof. Ayade’s caliber for the state. A man with an extraordinary vision and a mission to deliver. Governor Ayade is no doubt a Joshua to take over the Canaan Land as appointed by God to give Cross River its real paradise status.

Again, it is only right to compare Governor Ayade’s ascendancy to power to that of the biblical legendry King David who ruled Israel during the turbulence years of war. But created for himself a status which the Jewish Nation now ascribe their descendant to the lineage of the tribe of King David.

It is apt to say that Prof. Ayade is doing what he is noted for with the leadership of the state – a barrier breaker! He broke poverty to become superrich. Broke academic barrier to professorship at a young age. He broke business obstacle to become an Oil and Gas czar and he broke social stratification to become a philanthropist extraordinary, a social crusader to eradicate poverty. He is the only state chief executive in Nigeria who puts the welfare of his people above other state matters. For instance, he pays prompt and regular salary to workers and unprecedented number of political appointees in his state.

Like the Jewish Nation which has made legendry biblical King David their national reference point, I believe that sometimes in the future schools in Nigeria will begin to study “Ayadeism” as a national model.

Constructing a Superhighway and a Bakassi Deep Seaport in this era of digital age by a Digital Governor make sense, even though we are still far behind the Western world which is in an era of space exploration.

I believe Governor Ayade’s developmental option for Cross River is futuristic and difficult to understand by those who do not know his ability of having a magical wand to perform. But he is a Bulldozer who will pull down all opposition to succeed. I have watch his activities over the years and come to a conclusion that he is “born to win” in every venture he engages in. The Calabar-Ikom-Katsina Ala Superhighway and the Bakassi Deep Seaport are no exception to his winning strakes.

The completion of the Superhighway and the Seaport are project we should eagerly awaits. Indeed, one is tempted here, to right a caption for Ayade’s end of tenure in office in eight years time to an expected documentary to read: “Ayade’s model: the making of a paradise state” out of Cross River.        
Writen by: Augustine Ogar, S.A. Publicity (Print)
Mr. Augustine Ogar is the Special Assistant to the Governor on publicity (Print Media)

Tears are rolling down the eyes of Cross Riverians and Calabar Reporters’ crew when we say this notice.

Too bad, Ifere Paul has been a big contributor to Calabar Reporters, so seeing and hearing such information, left us with nothing but dissatisfaction. It’s so naive to drag a man’s name like Ifere Paul to the mud, but we bet you, he’ll sure come out clean.

THIS IS A PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT BY IFERE PAUL:

The Cross River State Government has just declared Ifere Paul wanted for kidnapping and arm robbery. The plea by the government is about to be released in a moment from now.

The government has by this shown its incompetence at gathering information concerning criminals in the State and has decided to come after innocent people who has been telling the stories of the happenings in Cross River State.

The government other than putting their heads in shame for lack of information has resorted to intimidation.

It is a known fact that I have been in the fore front of criticizing Governor Ben Ayade and his co governor, Frank Ayade. This is an attempt to cow me into silence. It is also a known fact that I have petitioned the government to EFCC and ICPC in the management of the bailout fund. A petition I defended in Port Harcourt only yesterday.

I have also petitioned the construction of Olum-Wula-Buanchor 14km road by Leophina Company Ltd, which is owned by Governor Ayade. I have been in the front burner of environmental activists fighting against the deforestation of the National Park in the name of the popular superhighway.

It is a known fact that I am the mouthpiece of the people of Cross River State and I make the government uncomfortable with my criticism. I have also, apart from criticizing, presented alternative arguments and recommendations which has in so many instances been adopted into government policies by the governor.

I am bold to say that I can not be fooled by such cheap blackmail, bragadocio, and outright incompetence of the government of Cross River State and its machineries.

To this end, I have sent a petition to the Attorney General, The Director General of the DSS, The Inspector General of Police, The Chinese Government, and the Presidency. This is to inform that of the plans by the incompetent Governor Ben Ayade plans to deal with the voices of the opposition in the State.

I refuse to be cowed and cannot be intimidated.

P’S:
In any eventuality on my life, and or that of my loved ones, the government of Cross River State should be held responsible.

~Ifere Paul

For the first time Cross Riverians stand between hopes and hopelessness. For the very  first time we stand before a Bridged sea and a bridgeless sea. Today, God is giving us the choice to choose to follow the Bridge or wait in vain for the sea to path.

With the power of imagination, today, we fly over the sea, sail on the sea and under the sea. God can not afford to path the sea any longer given the power and Knowledge He has exposed to us through the intellectual will and creative prowess. Those who wait for God to path the sea deny the creative and imaginative Godship in us.

These are our long time slaves overseers, those who did the sharing and stealing of the Cucumbers,  Garbage and Garlic in Egypt,  sing the glories of their positions and distracts us from forming strong wills to stand firm against the evil forces plaguing us like sun flies.

Why teach us in the wilderness how to be mindless parrots,  instead imaginative thinkers. Why make us fear and wale with bad information by day and yet find so significant to attribute to their personality any calf imagine of the fake gods.

Why Cross the Jordan and return instead with good and encouraging news, they come with news to kill our will and make us fearful? We are the blessed hands, whatever is found there is but a shadow. Their are like their master the devil.

If they say all is not well, all is failure. But we are determined to create the time and inclination to study failure in search of knowledge that may lead to success. Time to learn the art of converting defeat into stepping stones to opportunity is now.

We need to accept within us, when I mean within us, is that we hold peace and harmony only when we will. We create a secure environment only when we will. To be willing, we need to conquer the Devil, ‘Fear.’ Why fear with one eye closed, when you have confidence with two eyes open. All we ever wish for starts from our mindset.

One of the main weakness of mankind, said Napoleon Hill, “is the average person’s familiarity with the word ‘impossible.” He knows all the things that cannot and will not work and can’t be done.

But I tell you Cross Riverians, today, that success comes to those who become success conscious.  The best power and will the enemy showcases, is to off root that will of consciousness towards success and plant the seed of fear and doubt. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.

Like Henry Ford, Bill Gates,  and Dangote, Governor Ayade is saying today, “Go right ahead, I want it and I will have it.” This is the mindset, Willpower and the burning cry of our children and children children.

If we have this truth, we would know why it is that we are the Masters of our fate, the Captain of our souls. With the knowledge of  this  great emphases, clearly shows that this power makes no attempt to discriminate between destructive and constructive thoughts of poverty just as quickly as it will influence us to act upon thoughts of success.

Our brains become magnetised with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds. By means with which no one is familiar,  these ‘magnets’ attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonise  with the nature of our dominating thoughts.

We can accumulate riches, security, jobs, health in great abundance. To gain them, we must magnetise our minds with intense desire for them. We must become Riches, Security, Jobs, Health conscious until the desire for them drives us to create definite plans for acquiring them.

Above all things, we must maintain a spirit of open mindedness. Distractors only build fear to magnetise your mind with doubt and hate and attract to yourself destruction. Governor Ayade is saying “enough is enough.”

~Inok Solomon