Calabar, Cross River – An aide to Governor Bassey Otu, in the Office of the Wife of the Governor (OWOG), Mr Kenneth Anam, has vehemently defended the administration’s impact across all 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Cross River State, challenging critics to provide factual rebuttals to claims of widespread development. The aide, responding to what was termed intellectual laziness and digital noise, asserted that Governor Otu’s two-year tenure has seen transformative human capital and infrastructural development reaching every corner of the state.
The rebuttal comes after assertions by Mr. Andrea Ekeng Inyang, who stated that every LGA has benefited from the governor’s initiatives. This claim, according to the aide, was met with “cacophony of hair-brained rebuttals” driven by “sensationalism and partisan delirium.”
“Their myopia-laden eyes and thoughts, both historical and developmental, is as dangerous as it is disappointing, peddling ignorance wrapped in emotional exuberance,” the aide declared, calling for a discourse based on facts rather than “mischief and mediocrity.”
Tangible Strides Highlighted
The governor’s aide outlined several key areas of impact:
Healthcare Revitalization: The administration is undertaking a comprehensive remodelling, renovation, and revitalization of all Primary Health Centres across the 176 political wards in the state. This “budget-backed policy already underway” aims to ensure that even the most rural communities in areas like Obanliku, Bakassi, Abi, and Akamkpa receive essential healthcare services.
Inclusive Human Capital Development: Governor Otu’s administration is credited with fostering “enviable inclusivity” in appointments, ensuring that every Local Government Area has a fair share of appointees in government, a departure from past “clannish patronage politics.”
Youth Empowerment through Agripreneurship: Recently, youths from all 18 LGAs were enrolled, sponsored, and trained in Agripreneurship outside the state under the Ministry of Wealth Creation. This initiative is touted as a strategic investment in agro-entrepreneurial training and a pillar of sustainable development.
Equitable Civil Service Recruitment: The recent State Civil Service recruitment exercise saw successful candidates drawn equitably from all 18 LGAs, aiming to provide gainful employment and address long-standing gaps in public sector representation.
Call for Factual Discourse
The aide expressed dismay that such “tangible strides, many of them unprecedented in scope and reach,” have not garnered commendation from critics. Instead, these critics are accused of having an “allergy to truth” and being “developmental saboteurs, allergic to progress.”
“It has however become imperative that we call out their intellectual indolence and emotional manipulation for what it truly is, a desperate attempt to weaponize ignorance against achievement,” the aide emphasized.
Concluding the strong defense, the aide reiterated Mr. Inyang’s claims, stating, “in a period of just 2 years, there’s evidently no Local Government Area that Governor Otu has not affected in human capital or infrastructural development, and I wait for anyone to counter my claims with facts.” The aide provocatively added, “If you cannot see the works, then perhaps your vision is not blurred, it is willfully blind.”
