At the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar, hordes of supporters, mobilized and drafted to the airport, from across the 18 local government areas of the state were on hand to welcome the governor. Ayade briefly addressed the cheering crowd, flanked by his deputy, Ivara Esu, John Gaul Lebo, Speaker of the State House of Assembly and several other government functionatries before driving away in a loud motorcade.
While www.calitown.com was unable to authenticate this before press time, state sources say Ayade’s appointees dramatised the governor’s arrival as a show of solidarity to a governor said to be ill at ease with the December 9, 2016 judgement day at Nigeria’s apex court. Vehicles were fuelled at costs borne by the appointees who also managed to pay the people brought, stipends.
“We have come here to show our dear governor that we are solidly behind him. Those who stay in Abuja and think they can unseat him have been told by this large turnout that the mandate the people of Cross River State gave Prof Ben Ayade, cannot be taken stolen”, an aide to the governor said.
