Just two days after the defection of the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party in the state has taken over the secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Calabar, the state capital, Njenje Media News reports.
According to reports, the former state secretariat of the PDP had painters seen rebranding the secretariat to APC colours with armed policemen on guard.
Special Adviser to the governor on Political Affairs, Evang. Alfred Etta Odok, described Ayade as a good man, who decided to move to another platform to give space for some elements in the party to ventilate properly.
“Agreed that they were the ones, who made Ayade the governor of the state. However, when you make someone a king, you have a responsibility to honour the person as a king and not to ridicule him, otherwise, the king would walk away,” Odok said.
On why the governor turned the PDP secretariat to that of APC since there was an APC secretariat on ground before his defection, Odok said: “If I have my property and I changed address, will I not go with it.”
Also speaking on the development, Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Mfon Bassey, stressed that there was nothing strange about the conversion, adding that it was Ayade who paid for all outstanding rent on the property due to its owner.
“Nothing new about this, the premises are rented and the governor pays the rent. The building which he has rented and paid for is not expected to be used by the PDP,” Bassey said.
Meanwhile, the State Police Command has warned against any plan to disrupt the ongoing renovation work on the party secretariat.
The warning came in a statement issued on Saturday morning signed by the Police public relations officer, DSP Irene Igbo.
“For the avoidance of doubt the property is a rented property, the “Tenancy” is not in ‘Contention ‘
“As a responsible Command, we will not sit back and watch any person(s) come to disrupt the relative peace we have worked tirelessly to achieve. All are warned to maintain peace, law, and order.
“The current situation is a wake-up call to men of character to rise up, put resources together in place so that their structure will not be contentious in future.
“The Cross River Police Command will not hesitate to deal decisively with any unlawful act with the full weight of the law,” the police warned.
