In what can rightly be described as the warning bells before the 2019 general elections, Dorncklaimz Enamhe, Senior Special Assistant to Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, on Communications and Branding, has revealed that immediate past governor of CRS, Liyel Imoke, “…wanted to be governor by any means. He knew his problems were going to come from H.E Chief John Okpa (late deputy governor of CRS). Recall his statement at Obubra during the rerun bid … maybe if John were alive I won’t be governor.”
Enamhe, who was Okpa’s close aide also revealed that, “John Owan Enoh had a problem with Gov. Duke and ran to Liyel, who gave him one charge, take John down and he (Owan Enoh) went to work on his (Okpa’s) impeachment and subsequently was on Cross River Broadcasting Corporation phone-in programme to run down Chief Okpa.” For successfully taking down Okpa, Owan Enoh “…won the hearts of Liyel and Donald and was promoted”, he added, a direct reference to Owan Enoh’s meteoric rise in politics which has seen him rise from being a Cross River State House of Assembly member to Nigeria’s House of Representatives and finally getting elected to the Senate.
The revelations which seemingly trail recent remarks made by former Governor Liyel Imoke at a function by his Bridge Leadership Foundation that “when I was governor you people said I was a sleeping governor, but I think you would appreciate a sleeping governor who constructed rural roads across the 18 LGAs than what you have now,” appear as a timed response to Imoke’s jibe at Ayade’s poor performance.
Owan Enoh’s defection to the APC and recent demonstrable disdain for the PDP, a party on whose platform he rose to political greatness as well as his comments about the party, this past Friday while presenting his mid-term scorecard in Ikom, Cross River Central, appear to be at the centre of what promises to be a somewhat opening of the Cross River political Pandora’s box as the run-in to the 2019 elections take shape.
A clear political signal was sent to indigenes of Obubra Local Government Area when Enahme also wrote that, “as a teacher of Sociology, he made sure he divided Obubra into two, made all smart heads quarrel, since he had the ears of Gov. Imoke (thank God he wasn’t kind to Liyel and the PDP yesterday in Ikom). Obubra must stand up and take their rightful place, you got intellect, you got population, you don’t need money. With all the money Liyel and Owan have, how do they look compared to the Ireks and the Ebokpos, who have integrity? The only Obubra man that looks like them is the one that betrayed you and has a lean and hungry look like the Macbeth character, Hon Fabian Okpa Esq, a man John trained and still stabbed him. Obubra is protected in this government, Obubra must see everything about the Owans as their problems.”
Ben Ayade, www.calitown.com was informed by a source, may have thrown his weight behind an Obubra-born senator for the Cross River Central Senatorial district, to push Owan Enoh aside, a kite flown by his aide in these words, “Obubra is protected in this government. The best of Obubra must come out and support this government and run and win. Governor Ayade is a Democrat he will let the selection process come from the people, Owan doesn’t like the Obubra nation.”