OPINION
By Chidi Onyemaizu
But for the need to put a lie to its vortex of misinformation, one would have ordinarily allowed the Cross River chapter of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s jaundiced press release of 4th December 2021 on His Excellency, Governor Ben Ayade’s position on the anti- Grazing law to slid.
That press release was a phantom without substance.
The opposition party’s premise and conclusion on the subject matter were tragically flawed, a clear vain attempt at fawning on the political interest of a piper based outside the state.
For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Ayade never at anytime endorsed the destruction of crops of farmers by some errant herders in the course of grazing their animals.
Ayade is a refined politician who is not given to political fisticuffs. His political creed, ‘Politics with Ethics’ does not permit pettiness and extremism in the name of politics.
Therefore, he is not one to chase clout or populism riding on the crest of an unworkable, unimplementable anti-grazing law. Politics must not be played to the extreme in the utter negation of common sense, peace and equity.
What Governor Ayade is aiming at is a balanced law that guarantees a win-win situation for both herders and farmers.Why would anyone oppose this noble cause?
That the PDP in Cross River is aversed to a law that will ensure peaceful co-existence between farmers and herders is a riddle wrapped in a puzzle. It befuddles the mind.
To insinuate, as it did in its press release, that a balanced law on grazing that finds amity between farmers and herders is a recipe for anarchy in Cross River is purely a creation of PDP’s woozy imagination.
It only goes to show how idle, jaded, confused and utterly eviscerated the party has become in Cross River since Ayade exited its fold.
In any case, the PDP lacks the moral fibre to talk about anarchy in the Cross River.
If there is anybody or an organisation that has unabashedly set the stage for unmitigated anarchy and dislocation of peace and harmony in our dear state through the jettisoning of the age-long peaceful rotation of the governorship seat among the three senatorial districts in the state, it’s the PDP.
Let the PDP in Cross River be bold enough to explain to Cross Riverians why it has, at the prompting of a certain imperial godfather outside the state, thrown overboard, the rotational governorship principle which has for years engendered equity and welded Cross Riverians together as a people.
We will start taking Cross River PDP serious if it makes a categorical statement on the zoning of its 2023 governorship ticket.
We, therefore, challenge the opposition party to come out with a clear statement on the rotational governorship principle in the state.
Only then will we begin to give thought to it as a serious opposition party.
Chidi Onyemaizu is Senior Special Assistant to Governor on Print Media
