By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
The gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Cross River State, Senator Prof. Sandy Ojang Onor, has charged security agents in the country not to meddle in partisan politics, but remain neutral with regards to the 2023 general election.
Onor gave the charge while speaking with newsmen yesterday at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre, Calabar, advising security agents to maintain thier neutral status, particularly during the discharge of their constitutional role during the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Onor, who is also the senator representing Cross River Central senatorial district at the Senate, advised security agencies not to deviate from their constitutional role of maintaining neutral stand through out the period that the elections would be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the country.
The PDP governorship candidate who was reacting to the allegations levelled against the PDP candidate for Obudu/Bekwara/Obanliku federal constituency in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Akpanke, by the police, stated that it was uncalled for, for such trivial allegations to be levelled against Akpanke.
He said that it was worrisome that Akpanke, who even went the extra miles and ensured that the real culprit was apprehended and handed over to security agents for questioning, is the one tagged as suspect.
Akpanke was being hounded by the police for his alleged involvement in the murder of one police Inspector, Emmanuel Martins, who was assigned to cover the May 25, 2022, House of Representatives’ PDP primary election for Bekwarra/Obudu/Obanlikwu federal constituency in Obudu.
The PDP governorship candidate maintained that even when the alleged accused had gone out of his way and ensured that the suspected killer was arrested and handed over to the police, Akpanke is still allegedly being harassed and intimidated by security agents.
Onor stated that the police and the Department of State Security, DSS, should maintain non-partisan stance and do justice to the matter to avoid a breakdown of law and order in Cross River State.
Decrying the planned conduct of a recruitment exercise into the state civil service by the Prof. Ben Ayade-led administration, the gubernatorial candidate stressed that it is a tactics employed by the present administration to curry favour ahead of the 2023 polls.
He said, “This exercise, if it holds, will be purely political, and will not meet the genuine needs of the civil service, because it is meant to make the next government look bad by inflicting upon it a wage bill that is unpayable.
“In as much as I know that our people need jobs in the state civil service, this one is deceitfully envisioned for political reasons; recruitment exercise ought to be methodic, systematic and seen to be genuine.”
The professor of history at the University of Calabar, Unical, charged the Prof. Ayade-led administration to do everything within it’s reach to rid the state of filth, stressing that Cross River State used to be the cleanest state among the 36 states of the federation, but is now the least as far and cleanliness is concerned.
He further urged the Ayade administration to put an end to unnecessary exploitation of the state forest reserve, which the University of Calabar lecturer said was a gift from God that should not be depleted completely.
