Garba Shehu hails Ayade’s defection, says he is material for national politics

The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Sheu, has hailed the last month defection of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressive Party (APC).

A statement issued by Christian Ita, Special Assistant, Media, to Governor Ayade, said that Sheu, excited at the governor’s defection, noted that Ayade “is a material for national politics.”

The president’s media aide was quoted to have opined that  “Cross River stands to reap the fruits of the Governor’s movement to the APC in the long run.”

Sheu gave the accolades on the sidelines of the award of the Governor of the Year on Agro-Industrialization on Ayade by the Blueprint newspapers at the Congress Hall of the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, last week, saying, “I will just say we are excited about his coming to the APC.”

The President’s spokesman who said the governor had a lot to bring to the table, noted that “Ayade is a man of huge intellectual capacity and I think in terms of governance, he is the best”.

According to him, “the President has been to Cross River a couple of times. We went with the President and we saw the very innovative things he is doing with agriculture and all of that. So it is a big plus for APC and we are quite pleased that he has joined us.”

On the Governor of the Year awarded to Ayade, Shehu said Ayade merited it, hinting that “all the awards are merited. So I congratulate him. I will tell him that he is material for national politics beyond Cross River.”