Ben Ayade, a former governor of Cross River State, has declared his resignation from the Cross River North senatorial contest, citing President Bola Tinubu’s “request” as the reason.
Ayade voiced his unhappiness in a statement issued on Monday, and obtained by ENigeria Newspaper, saying that even though he felt “ill-treated,” he decided to comply with the president’s request. He claimed to have received an invitation to a national consultation with the presidency in Abuja, where he was asked to abandon his aspirations to become a senator.
“Recall I was invited to return to Abuja for a high-level national consultation with the presidency. From the sequence of events that followed my return, Mr. President wants me to withhold my Senate ambition. I yield to his request even as I pour tears of ill treatment and agony,” Ayade wrote.
“I trust that Mr. President may not be aware that the people who turned our churches against Ayade and all of us in APC over the Muslim-Muslim ticket and accused us of islamisation of Cross River State are the beneficiaries of his instruction.
“Mr. President may recall that I was the first APC Governor in the whole of South-South Nigeria that built the new APC that we enjoy today.
“I worked assiduously for the party and delivered almost 40,000 votes above PDP in the Presidential election, first in the history of our state,” he added.
Ayade claimed that despite these attempts, he has not received a federal position and has been sidelined for more than three years.
In order to support the President’s anticipated 2027 reelection campaign, he said, he is presently conducting a free transit program.
Ayade urged the President to reconsider the instruction, claiming that his primary opponent has had senatorial representation for 20 years, but his federal constituency has only had it for eight.
Ben Ayade political records
Benedict Ayade is a Nigerian politician who served as the governor of Cross River State from 2015 to 2023. He has also served as Senator for Cross River North from 2011 to 2015.
