Ochala, Stop Parading Ignorance, Get Education - Christian Ita

Ochala, stop  parading ignorance, get education 

Ordinarily, as a serious minded and responsible government focused on delivering on its core mandate of industrialising the state, the Cross River government does not have the tradition of joining issues with narcissists prancing the polity with inanities.


It has, however, become necessary to puncture Sir John Ochala's tissues of lies. His vapid press release on the West African  Construction and Fabrication Academy utterly vitiates any claim he has to accuracy, morality and decency. It is dripping with inaccuracies and falsehood.


Ochala's vile act is ghoulish beyond belief. His ways hiss with diabolical resonance. Essentially, only fraudsters smell fraud even with the best of intentions.


No doubt, the dream of a Construction and Fabrication Academy was the brainchild of Sir Ben Ayade as a Senator. So were other ideas of his such as the garment factory, industrial park, Dual carriage highway  linking the five local governments that make up the Northern Senatorial District, a rice mill in Ogoja, an international airport at Obudu, amongst others.


It is also a fact of history that one of Ayade's standout bills in the senate was a bill seeking to make social housing a right for all Nigerians.


These were all Ayade's lofty dreams as a senator which he had hoped to actualise as a way of bringing development to his senatorial district.


Now, let us situate them vis a vis Ochala's incoherent attempt at misinformation regarding the Fabrication Academy.


Garment Factory

The idea of a garment factory was conceived whilst Ayade was a senator. In fact, land was identified for that purpose in Obudu with a sign post erected.

The project was even included in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) budget but the budget was never financed.


So, when Ayade became governor, rather than actualize his dream by locating the garment factory in Obudu or any other local government in his Senatorial zone, he decided to make it a state project. In his broad-mindedness as governor, he chose to site it in Calabar. Today, the factory has become not only a thing of pride for the state, but also a revenue earner.

The big question now is; does the fact that the governor conceived the garment factory idea as senator reduce the facility to a privately owned entity?

Social Housing
On social housing, as a senator, Ayade had sponsored a bill to make social housing a right for al Nigerians. On becoming governor, he built a social housing scheme for the displaced people of Bakassi. Since the idea was conceived when the governor was a senator, does that also make the social housing scheme in Bakassi a privately owned entity?

Ultra modern rice mill, Ogoja
The first visit Ayade made to the original equipment manufacturers for the Ogoja rice mill was whilst he was still a senator. This can be verified from the stamps on his international passport. Even the design of the mill was drawn before he became governor.

The rice mill will soon go into commercial operations. In spite of it being funded by the state government, one wonders if that mill is privately owned based on the mere fact that the idea was conceived before the birth of the current administration.


*Mfom-Okpoma-Okuku- Bekwara- Obudu- Obanliku dual carriage way

The dream for this all important road linking the five local governments that make up Northern Cross River Senatorial District was conceived by Ayade when he was a senator. Now that the state government is building the road, Ochala might as well give it away as Ayade's personal road.


Construction and Fabrication Academy
This is where Ochala immersed himself in irredeemable ignorance and crass illiteracy in his bid to play opposition and spew mendacity. Not only did he expose his abject lack of fact and coordination, Ochala clearly advertised himself as a laughable disoriented charlatan who talks before thinking and one grimly disconnected from reality.

By continuing in his self-deception and ignorance, Ochala is not only harming himself but on a gradual metamorphosis to a conman.

Just as the projects listed above, the idea of the academy was conceived by Ayade whilst as a Senator as one of the projects he intended to attract to his constituency i.e Cross River North. However, the idea only remained in the realm of conception and was never realised.

But on becoming governor, he saw the state's ownership as really not a bad idea as the academy seeks to train middle level manpower like artisans etc.

And now, the academy is taking the advantage of the post-COVID-19 global pandemic to prepare a  middle level manpower for the state.

The property housing the academy was bought by the state government after approval by the state Executive Council and receipted for as the state's property. The question begging for answers therefore, is, how can a property acquired with state fund after due approval by the executive council, captured in the budget and receipted for as state property now become a private entity because the dream was conceived in 2014?

It is also imperative to mention that the crude oil deposit report on Cross River State was paid for by Ayade before he became a governor. Does that mean Ayade owns the crude oil in the state?

Payment for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the superhighway project was paid for by Ayade on May 9, 2015, weeks before he was sworn in as governor. Are we now to say that Ayade owns the superhighway?

Ochala also made bold to list the promoters of the fabrication academy to include the five council areas in Northern Cross River. Perhaps these local government areas are also private entities of Governor Ayade. There can't be any worse contradictions than this. Only a fraudster smells fraud even with the best of intentions.
Ochala's conspiratorial nuance clearly depicts him as an indulgent purveyor of chaos. He is a man with a troubled mind. Little wonder he is running riot with misinformation and spreading gibberish with the sole aim to malign and cause disaffection.

It is only a bigoted idle man, perching nervously on a disputatious office he lacks legitimate claim to, that will luxuriate himself in mongering lies and an entrenched ignorance.



Christian Ita
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Ayade