The Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has declared All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the only presidential candidate with the capacity to move Nigeria forward.
The governor, who is the APC senatorial candidate for Cross River North, stated this in Ogoja during an electioneering campaign at the weekend.
Ayade had earlier at a meeting with stakeholders before proceeding to the Ogoja Township stadium for a rally, insisted it was the turn of Southern Cross River to produce the next governor, adding that anything contrary amounts to injustice.
Security agents had difficulty at the stadium controlling thousands of supporters of the governor and other candidates of the party in the state, including its governorship candidate, Senator Bassey Otu, House of Reps candidate, Hon. Jude Ngaji and House of Assembly candidate, Thomas Aruku.
Speaking at the rally, Ayade urged the people to vote for the APC to reciprocate his achievements in Ogoja.
“I built the first Vitaminized Rice Mill in Ogoja. For the first time, a state polytechnic is coming to Ogoja. For the first time, Ogoja has four commissioners. Ogoja is my home,” he said.
According to him, justice, equity, competence and capacity to deliver demanded that Tinubu and Otu become president and governor respectively.
“Tinubu can fix Nigeria. Tinubu comes with experience, he is an experiential architect with eyes-on and hands-on.
“He is a man who has got capacity; he has been invited at this time to do all he can to see to the growth of Nigeria. I, therefore, ask every person here to vote for Tinubu and also ask everyone here to please, tell every Nigerian to vote for Tinubu. It is the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce a president.
“Nigeria must remain one and the indivisibility of Nigeria is based on the principle of justice. It is also based on that sense of justice that I ask you to vote Distinguished Senator (Prince Otu) as the next Governor of Cross River state. It is the turn of Southern Cross River to produce governor, North and central having produced theirs. Prince Otu has the capacity, he has the intellect, he has integrity, he has content, he has every single element that qualifies one to be governor.”
Speaking on why Tinubu should be voted into office, Ayade said he would make the infrastructural and economic development of Cross River a priority if elected.
“We are supporting Tinubu because if you listened to his speech on the day he won the primaries, the only thing he mentioned was the Bakassi Deep Seaport.
“He said he was going to ensure that the Bakassi Deep Seaport was completed under his first term. If he does that Bakassi Deep Seaport with a dual carriage road and the superhighway, Cross River will be the next Lagos.
“So supporting Tinubu is total because if he could fix a populous Lagos with calmness and decency, moving to the 5th biggest economy in Africa, then he can fix Nigeria.
“Let’s support Tinubu to become president of Nigeria so that the Bakassi Deep Seaport can be constructed.”