Ayade names 1,106 political appointees

The Governor of Cross River State, Prof. Ben Ayade, on Tuesday appointed 1, 106 political appointees.

The positions were in the categories of special advisers, special assistants, personal assistants as well as chairmen and members of boards, commissions, departments and agencies.

The governor had in a chat with journalists in August stressed his resolve to appoint over 1, 000 political appointees towards poverty alleviation in the state.

A breakdown of the latest appointment indicates that 799 were appointed into various boards, commissions and agencies while the remaining 307 appointees were categorised into special advisers (6), senior special advisers (30), special assistants (75) and personal assistants (25).

Others are personal assistants to paramount rulers (16), representatives of each local government in the state food bank unit (90), liaison officers for the 18 local government areas and three senatorial districts (21), special assistants on religious affairs (18) and permanent secretaries (26).

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita, the governor said that the appointments would take effect from November 1, 2016.

But reacting to the development, a former special adviser to Ayade on Strategy and National Contact, Mr. Ray Ugba-Morphy, said the appointments were unnecessary.

Ugba-Morphy, who resigned from Ayade’s cabinet, said, “He is a governor who understands all the appointments that he is making. But considering the lean purse of the state, it is not necessary because those already appointed have not been properly settled.”