Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, has debunked reports that he participated in the Cross River North Senatorial primaries of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
This was contained in a press statement issued on Saturday, following reports that the Governor purportedly lost the senatorial ticket to Adams Cecelia, in a senatorial primary election held on Saturday.
A statement by the Special Adviser To the Governor on Media & Publicity, Christian Ita, urged members of the public to ignore the purported video suggesting a parallel exercise, which allegedly parading the Governor as a senatorial aspirant.
The statement read: “The attention of the Cross River state government has been drawn to a video circulating in cyberspace, purporting to be a parallel All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries for Northern Cross River, where His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade, was listed as a participant.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we hereby state clearly that Governor Ayade did not take part in any senatorial primaries.
“His Excellency is a presidential aspirant, who wll be taking part in the APC presidential convention now slated for June 6.
“We make bold to say that the so-called parallel primary election as contained in the said video was at best a poorly scripted skit comedy shot by three persons sitting in a room.
“The sham video is indeed a joke taken too far. It was a vapid, infantile, but failed attempt at manipulation as the clowns behind it tragically forgot to also manufacture ballot boxes, delegates, observers and APC panel members.
“It was a handiwork of political desperados, who are out to embarrass the governor.
“We wish to assure teeming APC members and supporters, particularly in Northern Cross River, that there was no parallel Senatorial primaries in the district.
“The only valid and recognised senatorial primaries that took place in Ogoja and which was Won by the former Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Martin Orim and which does not have Ayade on the ballot, was monitored by the INEC and representatives from APC’s National Secretariat.
“The purported video suggesting a parallel exercise should therefore be ignored.”
