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Fani Kayode Reiterates His Support For Ayadev
Former Minister for Aviation, Mr Femi Fani Kayode, has for the second time in two weeks, expressed support to Governor Ben Ayade’s administration, saying that considering many-life touching projects on ground, the Governor was doing well.
Recall that the former presidential spokesperson to Jonathan/ Sambo Presidential Campaign Committee during the 2015 election, had last week, threatened to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), alongside several other party men, over what he saw as an attempt to take the PDP structure in Cross River from the Governor
In an interview with Journalists, after spending a week in Calabar, inspecting projects initiated by the Ayade-led administration, Fani Kayode said the Governor meant well for the state and should be allowed to focus on completion of his projects.
He submitted that if Governor Ayade “can establish this legacy the way he wants to build it and if his successor can build on this legacy, within the next five years or so, oil wells or no oil wells, Cross River state will be one of the most prosperous state in Nigeria because what the Governor is doing is to create an industrial space for employment and prosperity”.
Narrating the projects sites he toured alongside the Governor, the PDP Chieftain said: “I came to Cross River State to see things for myself and I was quite impressed by what I saw. I’m very proud of the effort that Ayade has made. We went to the Cross River garment factory and the Industrial Park, Calabar; we went to the 24 thousand board capacity chicken processing factory- Calachika, situated at the industrial park; we went to the rice seed and seedling factory situated at the industrial park.
“We went to a 23-megawatt power plant located along parliamentary extension, Calabar, we went to a 26mega watt gas fire plant at Tinapa, Calabar; we went to an ultra-modern noodles factory located in calabar; we saw and went through the dualization of the Calabar-Odukpani highway which is being funded by Gov Ayade.
“We went for the Organic fertilizer plant, Calabar, we went to Pile and Pylons factory located at Akampa, we went to the West African Fabrication Academy; I saw pictures of Bakassi deep seaport- we could not get there because of time. I also saw pictures and draft of Obudu International Airport, we could not go there too because it could take up to many hours to get there.
“We actually went to the 275km six lane super highway from Bakassi deep seaport to the North, that’s a very important project as far as I’m concern and there are also rail services next to it as well. And then there’s this spectacular Spaghetti flyover at Odukpani junction which is an extraordinary project, it will have five layers.”
“We went to all these places, the governor explained everything, the quality of material and the machinery, there was nothing that was brought from or made in China, everything was made in Germany and places like that. A lot of the materials they used were locally sourced, in other words, you build things here thereby saving a lot of foreign exchange.”
He lauded the Governor for having idea about nearly all his projects before venturing into it, and therefore appealed to critics to join hands with Ayade in moving Cross River state forward, adding “most of these projects are going to be completed before he leaves and some of them like the Garment Factory is already functional right, now providing employment.”
Asked whether the reasons for the visit was not unconnected to the rumoured presidential ambition, the PDP said “I have been to several states in the North but I haven’t been to South, since the lock down; so I decided that why not use the opportunity and do some politicking and also go and see what is going on in some of these states.
“I left last Thursday, it’s been so hectic, within that time, and there have been a lot of political discussion, collaboration about so many different things. In terms of ambition, let’s just wait and see what will happen but what I will tell you is that there is a lot of motion within the party now, within our party and any other party and there’s a lot of collaborations some of them even across party lines towards 2023.”
