2023: Ayade Insists On Zoning

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has reiterated his commitment to ensuring that power return to the Southern Senatorial District of the state come 2023.

Ayade, while Addressing some stakeholders of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the Governor’s Lodge on Sunday in Calabar, said his decision to return power to the south was based on morality.

The governor insisted that the south had credible people with capacity to be governor.

“During my campaign for second term, I went to the South and asked them to support my second term bid and that when I win, I will support the south to take over from me because by natural process, they are next senatorial district to produce the governor,” he said.

Ayade, who decried the nature of democracy as currently being practiced, noted that there was need to infuse the “sensitivity of the African culture”.

“We inherited a brand of democracy which is not afrocentric, neither does it have the sensitivity of the African culture and morality.

“Democracy is so primitively blind that it reduces itself to numbers.

“The higher your population, the more you win. So there is nothing like balancing, there is no equity in democracy.

“There is no moral conscience. Democracy is blind to ethnicity, it is blind to religion, it is blind to fairness, it is repugnant to natural justice,” he said.

Ayade, however, dispelled speculations that he is backtracking on his commitment to return power to the south.

“So, to be able to balance that, as governor, I still uphold my declaration that my successor will come from the south and indeed, he would come from the south,” he maintained.

The governor, who said that he could not and would not play God by being specific on who his successor will be, added that his role is to be fair.

“The South had taken turn to produce a governor in Donald Duke, the Central had also produced a governor in Sen. Liyel Imoke and the North has produced one in me.

“So, it is common sense that we must go back to the South for equity. Every zone should know that their turn would come one day.

“But to be blind and leave it to crude democracy which was not customised to reflect African sensitivity, that if l have had it, and no matter the circumstance, let another too have it,” he added.

– NAN