Ayade didn’t take part in senatorial primary —Aide

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Cross River State Governor, Christian Ita, has denied his principal’s participation in Cross River North Senatorial district primary election.

Ita, who issued the clarification in a statement, said that Governor Ben Ayade remains a presidential aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and never took part in the said Senatorial election as reported.

News had circulated across several media outlets that Ayade had lost to Barr. Adams Cecilia in the senatorial primary election

According to the report, the Chairman of the State Electoral Committee, Ushie Innocent, had announced that Adams got 140 votes to defeat Ayade who got 52 votes, whereas the third aspirant, Martin Orim, scored 61 votes.

The statement reads: “The attention of the Cross River state government has been drawn to a video circulating in cyberspace purporting to be a parallel All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries for Northern Cross River where His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade was listed as a participant.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we hereby state clearly that Governor Ayade did not take part in any senatorial primaries.

“His Excellency is a presidential aspirant who will be taking part in the APC presidential convention now slated for June 6.

“We make bold to say that the so-called parallel primary election as contained in the said video was at best a poorly scripted skit comedy shot by three persons sitting in a room.

“The sham video is indeed a joke taken too far. It was a vapid, infantile but failed attempt at manipulation as the clowns behind it tragically forgot to also manufacture ballot boxes, delegates, observers and APC panel members.

“It was a handiwork of political desperadoes who are out to embarrass the governor.

Read also: Gov Ayade loses APC senatorial ticket in Cross River

“We wish to assure APC members and supporters, particularly in Northern Cross River, that there was no parallel Senatorial primaries in the district.

“The only valid and recognised senatorial primaries that took place in Ogoja and which was won by the former Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Martin Orim and which does not have Ayade on the ballot, was monitored by the INEC and representatives from APC’s National Secretariat.

“The purported video suggesting a parallel exercise should therefore be ignored.”

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