The Executive Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade
PATRICK ABANG, Calabar –
Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade has charged Nigerian politicians to play politics with ethics.
Governor Ayade gave the charge during the weekend in Abuja, at the wedding dinner of Mohammed Lawal Adamu and Hauwa, daughter to Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, which was held at the International Conference Center.
Ayade, who was represented by his Deputy, Prof. Ivara Esu averred that there would be minimal hate, animosity and rancorous elections if politicians play politics with human face, adding: “we will have fewer enemies, fewer crisis and fewer conflicts in the polity”.
He said politics or party affinity should not be a barrier to friendship as it was only a means to an end, positing that he would continue to cherish and uphold friendly bonds irrespective of party, politics, tribe or religion.
” You can see that there are many PDP Governors and other stalwarts here. I’m probably the only APC Governor here. This underscores the value I place on friendship. Politics is politics and friendship is friendship. We must learn to play politics with ethics”, he further said.
Governor Ayade, who described Governor Bala Mohammed as ‘a friend for all weather’ also said ‘he is a very detribalized politician’.
The Governor advised the couple to consolidate their love by building deeper bond of friendship, saying ‘when love goes cold, it is friendship that will revive it. It is friendship that keeps love going’.
Recall that Governor Ben Ayade with thousands of his appointees and loyalists had in May, 2021 dumped the People’s Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress, a move he said was necessary to ‘socket the state to the center’.