Ayade: Cross River ready for Buhari

Ayade

•Obong of Calabar excited 
Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has restated the state’s readiness to host President Muhammed Buhari tomorrow for the inauguration of the construction work on its 260-kilometre six-lane super highway.
Ayade spoke during his inspection of ongoing preliminary work at the site of the groundbreaking ceremony.
He described the President’s planned visit to the state as “an epoch because it represents the fact that he will identify with any state that has a clear vision, irrespective of party line or political calculations as much as you do all that fits into his core values.”
The President’s visit is significant in more ways than one, he added.
“The President confirmed that he is not just coming, but to him it is a home-coming because he was one of the few generals that fought for the emancipation of Gakem, Bekwarra Local Government Area during the civil war and has traversed all that terrain. So, it is a terrain that he knows very well and he understands the value of our proposed projects and that is why he is personally committed to its actualisation,” he said.
Ayade added: “As he performs the groundbreaking for the 260 kilometre superhighway, we are challenged to ensure its completion so that he can commission it. It is a strong commitment he has given and I am sure Cross Riverians are anxiously waiting to receive him on Tuesday.
“Our President is long done with politics just as I have and he is now facing governance and that is why he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
The Obong of Calabar, His Eminence, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi-Otu V, and other traditional rulers in the state, in separate interviews, expressed their delight at the President’s visit and promised to drum up support for the project, which they described as a catalyst to the socio-economic development of the state.
The Obong, who could not hide his excitement at the visit and the effort so far put in place by the governor, said: “I am equally happy that our state governor has started showing signs of dynamism and as somebody who has the interest of the people  at heart because he has started very well. He is using his contact well because we will support this idea to ensure that it comes to fruition.”
Chairman, Traditional Rulers Council and Paramount Ruler of Bakassi, where the deep seaport is to be sited, HRH Etiyin Etim Okon Edet, said: “The super highway and the Deep Seaport project in Bakassi shows clearly that this government is poised to change the story of his people.
“We have been abandoned for so many years. The Deep Seaport which is domiciled in Bakassi will signal to the whole world that the neglected people of Bakassi now have a saviour and messiah in the person of the governor of Cross River State. We take his government as our government because our people believe that he will be the one to take us out of the woods.”