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Cross River IPAC chief alleges plot to eliminate him

By Anietie Akpan, Calabar
18 November 2015   |   3:00 am
THE Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Goddie Akpama, has accused the Cross River State Government of plotting to kill him.
Cross River Governor, Ayade

Cross River Governor, Ayade

THE Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Goddie Akpama, has accused the Cross River State Government of plotting to kill him.

Last week, Akpama had accused Governor Ben Ayade of ignoring internal and external roads in and outside Calabar at the expense of the N700 billion super highway stretching from Calabar to Katsina-Ala in Benue State.

Ayade, who took exception to the criticism, responded, saying: “I earn N1.5 billion for State Civil Service and I need N2.5 billion. This is outside over 22 agencies of government. What do you know about government? I hate your style of seeking money and once there is a delay you criticise, do you know how I pay salaries?

“Other states want to downsize but I am not, the state has not put a dime on the super highway. It is shameful that you attempt to blackmail me.

“I am too spiritually high to relate at your canalistic level. I travel round the world seeking fund at the risk of my wealth, health and life. The state has no money and I have made full representation to FERMA. Don’t ever send me such useless self-serving text.

“Petition writer and Facebook Zionist. Repair road from my teeth? Federal road? In raining season? When did you pay tax?

“You worked against me but I put you up for appointment and you still can talk filth. How much have I given you so far? Blackmail does not work for me.

“Do you know how those street lights come on every night? How I use my own money to buy bins and trucks to keep Calabar clean? How water flows? How salaries are paid? You are wicked for a brother,” the governor fumed.

But Akpama, who was a one-time governorship aspirant of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in a briefing with newsmen in Calabar, said: “My life is being threatened by a special adviser to the governor for asking the governor to do the needful by fixing the internal roads of Cross River State. I have been called by several aides of the governor, threatening my life, issuing me an ultimatum to go and withdraw my statement from the press else I would regret my action.

“So I came calling this press briefing to tell the world that my life is at risk and if anything happens to me it is the governor of the state. His aide has come to me and told me categorically clear that his master and boss said that if I don’t retrieve that statement, what would happen to me I would not take it funny.

“I want the world to understand that what I said in my interaction with the governor was my continuous pressure on him to do the needful. And his reactions to me showed that the governor was not ready, but rather he was attacking my person. So, I called on Cross Riverians that we must protect democracy and the citizenry.”

Top government officials have however denied the allegations but in a statement, the state government said it had uncovered a plot by those it described as ‘reactionary elements’ to blackmail the state governor and cast doubts on the activities of his administration, however well intentioned.

The statement, signed by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Christian Ita, said the ‘elements,’ whose stock in trade is blackmail, “had in their febrile effort in the last five months, tried to distract the governor essentially on social media, but to no avail.”

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