Those who are still criticizing Cross River state governor, Senator Ben Ayade over his large retinue to appointees should gird their loins because the governor seem not in any mood to stop the appointment bazaar.
The governor has again promised to appoint 6,000 more aides and create 5,000 jobs in January 2017 for youths of the state in continuation of his philosophy of an expanded government that will put food on the table of everyone in the state and ensure that no one goes to bed in an empty stomach.
The governor made the promise while speaking recently at the U J Esuene Stadium during a reception in his honor after the December 9 Supreme Court victory in the case of perjury brought against him by Mr Joe Agi, SAN, who contested the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, primaries with Ayade in December 2014.
He said, “I am appreciative of all the support given me by the women of the state and the youths and in this light, I will ever remain grateful. To ensure that nobody goes to sleep in an empty stomach, I shall appoint 6,000 more aides, create 5,000 jobs for the youths and in January 2017, to make sure nobody in the state is unemployed.”
The governor said that the victory has given him relief and more verve to transform the state and Cross Riverians should expect to see more of him in Jeans and T-shirts while going round the state to inaugurate more projects that will benefit the people.
“I should say it without mincing words that if you come here in 2019, you will not recognize that this was the Cross River State you used to know because I shall carry out a complete transformation of the state.”
It will be recalled that the governor recently appointed over a thousand aides in one fell swoop bringing his total number of aides over two thousand presently and arguably the highest in the history of the country.
If another six thousand aides are appointed, that will take his tally to over 8,000 appointees.