By Christian Njoku
Sen. Sandy Onor, Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) has called on security agencies in the state to remain neutral in the February and March general elections.
Onor gave the advice at a news conference in Calabar while reacting to allegations against Mr Peter Akpanke, the PDP candidate for Obudu/Bekwara/Obanliku Federal Constituency in the 2023 general elections.
On May 25, 2022, during the PDP primary election for the northern senatorial district in Obudu, a police officer, Insp Emmanuel Martins, was shot and the police suspected Akpanke over the incident.
The governorship candidate said even though the party had made efforts to ensure that the suspected shooter was apprehended, Akpanke was still allegedly being harassed.
He said the police and Department of State Security, (DSS) should maintain non-partisanship and do justice to the matter, to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
Speaking further, the governorship candidate decried the planned conduct of a recruitment into the state civil service by Gov. Ben Ayade, adding that it was tactics by the present administration to gain favour.
“This exercise, if it holds, will be purely political, 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,” he said.
Speaking further, the governorship candidate called on the present administration in Cross River to do everything in its power to rid the state of filth, adding that the state used to be the neatest in the nation.
He also called on the government to ensure that the continuous exploitation of the state’s forest was stopped because the pristine tropical forest of the state was a gift and should be preserved. (NAN)
