Disquiet As Ex-Governor’s ‘Baby’ Overshadows Him In Abuja

Political stakeholders in Cross River State are expressing concern albeit in hushed tones over the nomination of two political actors from the Central Senatorial zone in President Bola Tinubu’s ministerial list with the immediate past governor of the state, Prof Ben Ayade being left out.

GWG.ng reports that the National Woman Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr Betta Edu and Senator John Owan Enoh were named in President Tinubu’s list of 28 nominees presented to the Senate last Thursday.

The nomination of Edu had been particularly inconvenient for some given claims that she is originally from Anambra State though she has lived most of her life in the state and is married to an indigene of the state from Central Senatorial District.

Agitations against her nomination have, however, been tamed by the nomination of Enoh, one of the most popular politicians in the state.  

“Had it been she was the only one nominated it would have been fire in Cross River, but the nomination of Enoh has covered up for it,” one Cross River-based journalist told GWG.ng.

Edu, who served first as a special adviser and then commissioner for health before her emergence as National Woman Leader of the APC under the political tutelage of Ayade cuts a controversial image among some political actors. Her emergence as a national officer some allege was at the expense of Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba who was reportedly being positioned for the position of National Secretary before her aspiration.

Mrs Edu grew her political teeth under Senator Ayade and many regard her as his ‘political baby’ who helped to nurture her political career from a young doctor to a national leader in the span of six years.

While some see the failure of Ayade to make the Tinubu ministerial list as a sacrifice for his political baby, others are, however, still miffed that the nominations are not politically sensitive and do not reflect geopolitical spread.

One of those is a former presidential aide and foundation member of the APC in the state, Okoi Obono Obla.

GWG.ng reports that since the nominations, Obla has publicly expressed his reservations. He did so first on Saturday when he expressed concern over the nomination of the two nominees from the same Central Zone.

He wrote:

Following a series of rants about possible implosion of the APC, Obla on Sunday afternoon went further to also lament that the two nominees were from the PDP while foundation members of the APC were being marginalized.

GWG.ng reports that meanwhile, Ayade has taken the development on his exclusion from the ministerial list with political equanimity and sagacity despite the sacrifice he made stepping down his presidential aspiration for Tinubu on the convention ground.

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