S-Court ruling: Govt officials shut down C-River

AHEAD of today’s Supreme Court ruling in a case between Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, over multiple age declarations, government activities have been shut down as the governor, his deputy, Professor Ivara Esu, and other top government officials, have relocated to Abuja.

Mr. Agi contested the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship primaries with Ayade in the build-up to the 2015 governorship election. Since the primaries, Agi has been in a protracted legal battle praying the court to sack governor Ayade for alleged multiple age declarations. The matter has gone from the High Court through the Appeal Court to the Supreme Court which fixed today (December 9) as date for the final ruling.

In the past few weeks tension has heightened in the state as supporters of the governor and those of Agi have been grandstanding with each other claiming the judgment would be in their favour. Many groups have also been holding prayer sessions to seek divine favour in the judgment.

Also in the Abuja train are aides of the governor and thousands of loyalists, support groups from all the local governments in the state, among others.

Many of the aides who are anxious of the outcome of the case began leaving the state in droves for Abuja while the deputy governor, Professor Ivara Esu, left on Wednesday and the governor left   yesterday. “I am not aware of any movement by the political class of the state to Abuja. But we can only be upbeat and optimistic of a good outcome, so we are not anxious,”  Mr Linus Obogo, Deputy Chief Press Secretary to the governor, said. Vanguard investigation revealed that many of the aides decided to relocate to Abuja in expectation that the governor would win the case so they could join the planned celebration train right from Abuja.