Ayade: Tinubu Ordered Me to Step Down

*Laments ill treatment in APC

Bassey Inyang in Calabar

A former governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, has said he has stepped down his ambition to run for senate on the orders of President Bola Tinubu.

Ayade, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had set out to contest the 2027 election to represent the Northern Senatorial District of Cross River State, a position he contested as a sitting governor, but lost to the incumbent, Senator Jarigbe Agom in 2023.

Ayade, while breaking the news through his social media handle, said he has complied with the president’s directive to jettison his 2027 senatorial ambition.

However, Ayade expressed hope that President Tinubu would make a change of decision if he gets to know the truth about the forces opposed to his senatorial ambition, saying those same forces, who also stood against the president’s decision were now being rewarded by the presidency.

Ayade’s post entitled: “Mr. President Orders Ayade Not to Contest the Senate Race”, read as follows:

“Recall I was invited to return to Abuja for a high level National consultation with the presidency.

“From the sequence of events that followed my return, Mr President wants me to withhold my Senate ambition. I yield to his request even as I pour tears of ill treatment and agony.

“I trust that Mr President may not be aware that the people, who turned our churches against Ayade and all of us in APC over the Muslim-Muslim ticket and accused us of  islamisation of Cross River State are the beneficiaries of his instruction

“Mr President  may not be aware that the beneficiaries of his order are people armed against us with guns and machetes in the collation centres (police records available)  on the day of Mr. President’s election.

“Mr President may recall that I was the first APC governor in the whole of South South Nigeria that built the new APC that we enjoy today.

“I worked assiduously for the party and delivered almost 40,000 votes above PDP in the presidential election, first in the history of our State. For over three years, I have been sidelined without appointment.

“I donated generously to the National Convention, gave out vehicles and motorbikes to the party and I am currently embarked  on a free transportation scheme as campaign support for the President come 2027.

“Mr President may recall that when I decamped to APC, I was the  first APC governor to ask that Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu be given the right of first refusal as our 2023 presidential candidate

“Mr President would recall that Ayade is the originator of the mantra that “If Tinubu Can Fix Lagos, Tinubu can Fix Nigeria”

Expressing hope that President Tinubu would rescind his orders and allow him vie for the Senate in 2027, the former governor who was in the Senate from 2011 to 2015 said, “Mr President would revisit his orders if he knows that my federal Constituency enjoyed it for only 8 years while my opponent has had it for 20 years.

“Mr President would revisit his orders if he is aware that the beneficiary of his order has done Three Terms in the National Assembly and granting him this  one more term means he is doing a fourth term in office.”