- Debunk rumours that he is running for governor.
John Owan Enoh, Nigeria’s Sports Development Minister, has publicly declared that immediate past governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, fought a political battle against him throughout the eight years Ayade governed the state.
Enoh who used the occasion of his widely attended thanksgiving church service at the Holy Family Catholic Church, Ikom, Cross River State, to make this revelation, informed that, ” in 2015, me, my wife and Ben Ayade sat exactly where I am sitting today in this church when he attended my thanksgiving after I was elected to the Senate. In spite of that, he afterwards fought with me for eight years, it doesn’t matter now.”
While he didn’t let so much out, that fight is not unconnected with the gubernatorial ambition that Enoh pursued during that period.
He poured encomium on the state governor, Bassey Otu’s leadership style and the drive by the governor to recognize and unite prominent indigenes of the state for the good of CRS. “Some people should not create divisions in a state where there are no divisions… A few months ago I spoke with our governor (Bassey Otu) and I told him that politicians will seek to divide us, for their selfish interests.”
He went to say that people who have maintained that he is using this thanksgiving as a launch pad for his gubernatorial ambition in 2027 should know that he will team up with Gov. Otu to ensure that the governor is reelected in 2027, proclaiming that, “there is no vacancy in Peregrino House in 2027”.
The minister also used the occasion to thank God for granting him a remarkable personal political journey.
Earlier at the mass, Catholic Bishop of Ogoja Diocese, Donatus Edet Akpan, charged the minister to remember that the people he is chosen to lead are God’s children and so he must strive to lead them well. He commended the minister’s consistency in politics, especially for accepting his fate in the elections he lost in the past.
Praising the minister’s decision to come home for this thanksgiving, the bishop said this action simply demonstrated his understanding and acceptance that all authority comes from God.
Present at the event was the CRS deputy governor, Peter Odey, representatives of the governors of Enugu and Ebonyi states, senator representing Cross River Central Senatorial District, Eteng Jonas William, the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Elvert Ayambem, member representing Obanliku/Bekwerra/Obudu Federal Constituency, Peter Akpanke, the Secretary to the State Government, Anthony Owan Enoh and members of the State Executive Council as well as other top government functionaries.