EDITORIAL: His Excellency Got It Wrong

Several months after www.crossriverwatch.com, an online news medium, published a story that drew the ire of Cross River state deputy governor, H.E Efiok Cobham, we have become concerned that the CR number two man’s reaction to the said publication and his verbal attacks on the publisher of crossriverwatch.com may at best be described as upsetting and out of place.

While it must be clearly stated that every individual has a right to express anger and/or dissatisfaction at situations that may be unfavourable or unacceptable to him or her, that right we must say, will be better driven home if exercised within reasonable limits that do not foul the air.

We agree that Cobham is a human being and has a ‘right’ to anger. It is pertinent, we must add, that as the deputy governor of CRS, sworn to the protection of lives and property, his actions cannot be at variance with the oath he took. Where he is convinced that crossriverwatch.com may have defamed him, the courts, littered all over the state, are a better platform for addressing his grievances. That he chose to attack the publisher in such a scathing manner, clearly gives him away as being intolerant with positions that may be contrary to his. We are of the opinion that Cobham did not exhaust clearly defined channels designed to cater to such disagreements. He did not show restraint, the kind that his position demands, in approaching the issue and looks to have taken measured steps, backwards, hurriedly.

Perhaps the deputy governor, long accustomed to the workings of a civil service media is not alive to the clear fact that tradition has been broken and his convenience or that of any other individual may NEVER again be placed over and above the collective conveniences of a larger percentage of Cross Riverians who must be informed so they can in turn make informed choices.

It must be sounded out that we just may have decisively left that patch of time when behaviour was behaviour and nobody took time out to watch what was said, thought or done. Those who aspire to positions of higher responsibility in our state must handle situations like this better and spare us all the vociferous confrontations that threaten to forcefully traumatise us.