CROSS River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, on Monday, returned to a rousing reception in Calabar, the state capital, after his victory at the Supreme Court.
The court had, on December 9, given the governor a clean bill of health in the case of alleged false age declaration, filed against him by an aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Joe Agi (SAN), in the 2015 elections.
Ayade, who touched down at the Margaret Ekpo International airport at about noon, and wore a blue suit, was received by amidst enthusiastic crowd that had gathered since morning at the airport.
Representatives of women groups, youth organisations, traditional rulers, religious groups including national assembly members, as well as state government and local government officials, converged on the airport and later joined a long convoy to the U.J. Esuene stadium for a thanksgiving service.
The city, was however, brought to a standstill as the long convoy caused gridlock.
Speaking during the service, Ayade promised to appoint 6,000 more aides and create 50,000 jobs in January 20167 for the youths of the state to expand governance.
He said: “I am appreciative for all the support given me by the women of the state and the youths and in this light, I will ever remain grateful. To ensure that nobody goes to sleep in an empty stomach, I shall appoint 6,000 more aides, create 3000 jobs for the youths and in January 2017, as well as 50,000 jobs to make sure nobody in the state is unemployed.”
Ayade, who announced a donation of N50 million to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and N30 million to the Muslim community in the state, said it was God that gave him victory at the apex court.
“I kept asking myself, why me and if I said I truly believed in God, why should I be put to shame and for me it is only God who has the glory and nobody else not even the Supreme Court,” he stated.
The governor said the victory had given him more verve to move towards transforming of the state, hence he would dress in jeans and t-shirt while he traversing the state to inaugurate more projects and programmes.
“I should say it without mincing words that if you come here in 2019, you will not recognise that this is not the Cross River State you used to know because I shall carry out a complete transformation of the state,” he stated.
He urged his opponent, Agi to sheathe his sword and join forces with him to move the state forward.