By Edwin Ogar
Last week, the Obong of Calabar, His Eminence Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V launched scathing tirades against the governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade.
The revered monarch said the governor lacked the competence to govern Cross River and asked him to resign to make way for an interim administration in the state.
On the alternative, the Obong offered to tutor him on the rudiments of governance.
For anyone conversant with the intriguing Cross River politics, the monarch’s bombshell did not come as a surprise.
A culturally and linguistically diverse state, Cross River often lays prostrate to octane rivalry amongst its many ethnic groups. Politics in the state is also intensely played along that ethnic fault lines.
With the Efiks enjoying commanding population in five local government areas, including the capital, Calabar, they quite often see themselves as the master race.
The recent wanton destruction of private and public properties in Calabar by hoodlums in the guise of #EndSARS protests provided the Efiks the opportunity to renew their superiority claim over others.
This, 365Daily gathered, perhaps explains why the entire narrative about the carnage is now being skewed against Governor Ayade by the Efiks.
In the new narrative, the Efiks are alleging that Ayade sponsored the arson and destruction of Calabar so as to weaken the ethnic group economically ahead of the 2023 governorship election.
The five local government areas that the Efiks control are part of the Southern senatorial district of Cross River expected to produce the next governor in 2023, in line with the rotational governorship arrangement among the three senatorial districts of the state.
Essentially, apart from the complaint by the Obong that the governor has continually fenced him out and refused to consult him over critical issues affecting the state, there are no known previous issues between them.
It is possible, therefore, that the Obong’s tirades against the governor, from all ramifications, are patented by the Efiks’ legendary supremacist tendencies against other ethnic groups that make up Cross River or that he has a personal score to settle with the governor.
The Efiks, because the capital, Calabar is their land, feel they have greater stake in the state more than other ethnic groups, especially people from Northern Cross River where Governor Ayade hails from.
In a reaction to the monarch’s outburst, Asu Okang, the Commissioner for Information, said democracy provides everybody a space to ventilate his opinion and that was what the Obong had done in his criticism of the governor.
He said, “The stool of the Obong of Calabar is that which is highly respected and revered by all of us and so for a man of his standing to have made such a statement, well, he is entitled to his opinion. It is a democracy and he also knows that in a democracy like ours, the governor has just two years to go; maybe we should all just be patient and see the level of performance that will accrue from the remaining years of the administration.
“For stepping aside, that is democratically incorrect. It is not constitutional and the governor has not done anything to warrant such an action,” Okang said.
Although the government has digested the outburst with an indifferent calmness, it is, however, obvious that the protests provided the monarch the opportunity to let out the deep personal animosity between him and the governor.
He accuses the governor of being proud and far-removed from the traditional institutions in the state.
“I have been watching and I am so unhappy that the peace and calm that we used to have here has been taken away. Why? Because we have failed; Who has failed? The politicians have failed. That is why we sit down to watch you people, there is a need to change.
“And if I had my way I could have said this governor should wait, let’s set up an interim administration then he starts learning and looking at how administration is actually done.
“We don’t allow people to come in and do anything the way they like it. No. there is a principle, there is a policy that should be adhered to.
“I mean, nobody talks to him; he doesn’t talk to anybody. No matter what happens, you (former governor, Liyel Imoke) used to call me from time to time when there was need for that. But this one, he wouldn’t call you. Even when you call him, he doesn’t answer the call,” the revered traditional ruler said.
For now, one thing is sure – it will take some time for the gathering storm in Calabar to settle.