The Cross River State Government, Cross Riverians, the abducted journalist and the rest of us.

By Richard F. Inoyo


Months after gubernatorial election has come and gone, yet nothing across the horizon could be pointed at that suggests Cross Riverians are feeling any better about the excruciating reality they are forced to endure under the growing hardship and misplaced economic priorities of the current misdirected government overseeing their affairs.


Months after a swearing-in, a serious and real government that wants to see far reaching results, and that seeks to pursue the objective of inclusive economic development would have had brilliant technocrats mounting various ministries as Commissioners by now, for more than 5months after election results were announced and same government inaugurated into office. It is a fact that, no true leader improves the reality of the generality of the masses he or she is meant to govern alone without getting straight-talking and straightfaced technocrats sitting on his/her economic advisory and development council.

The saddest part of this administration is not even the public display of administrative disregard for sound administrative ethics and ethical governance, rather, it is the growing emergence of irrefutable body of evidence that clearly shows the expanding complicity of silence among leading Cross Riverians who were supposed to speak up and keep the government on the spotlight of executive introspection and critical checks. But because of self-interest, unethical and godless fear for mere mortals in power and pursuit of appointments, contracts and easy money to front il-benefiting wealth, they had all turned the other side and pretend all is well.

It is a fact that the future of this generation and generations yet to come are threatened and openly undermined these days and nobody is speaking up. The only journalist_ brilliant Agba Jalingo, who was raising questions and reenlightening the Cross Riverian mass has been abducted at gunpoint in Lagos for close to 2months now and foist to appear in a kangaroo court here in Calabar where he was unjustly denied bail with unprecedented orchestration of a new kind of red herring and smoke screen from authority who muscled such court to do their godless bidding and wasting tax-payers' money and our common wealth in the process.

That said, rather than call out these shameless predators abusing executive and judicial privileges in violation of fundamental human right of the said journalist and antagonisation of free press, they went around drumming praises over false achievements while the rest of the state acts as if the victim of the joint executive and judiciary torture deserves what he is foist to bear. I can't help but say I am compelled by these developments to sigh for the entire state and our judiciary at large. Ask yourself, why did they have to abduct and drag Brilliant Agba Jalingo all the way from his residence in Lagos to appear in court in Calabar to face trial, if they were not aware that they have a stooge in their pocket on the bench to do their bidding? At Citizens Solution Network we can see through and beyond both the shameless antic of the executive government and the combined smoke screen and red herring of the district judiciary that is just few kilometers a way from Diamond Hill, seat of power from whence the executive government is pulling the evil strings and funding this childish assault that is bound to fail against brilliant Agba Jalingo in particular and the press in general.

Talking state budget now, it is on public domain that budget is about to be presented. Our question is where in the world would a government that truly means business presents budget to be executed by each ministry without Commissioners being appointed to present individual budget for their ministries? The question begs, who prepared this very budget this current gang in government wants to present to the Cross River State House of Assembly for approval? Is it some Non existent Commissioner of Finance or the entire sub budgets sent in by other non existent Commissioners from the current ministries we seem not to know if they have been scrapped or disbanded? Are we really thinking as a people? What is wrong with our cosmic consciousness and spiritual awakening? We all should be terrified by this outright disregard for administrative ethics and due process. Whatever happens, we all must find the courage to either hold this government accountable now or dodge our faces in shame after the power of this misdirected government transits less than four years from now.

Ten years from now, some of us that are yet to appreciate the need to speak up, we will suddenly understand the mess that somehow we have supported because of fear for mere mortals which was criminally demonstrated via silence and false worship of an underperforming government.

Signed

Richard F. Inoyo

For:
Civilian Council, Citizens Solution Network.