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The Cross River State Government has challenged opposition parties to a public debate on the performance record of Governor Bassey Otu’s administration.
The state’s Commissioner for Information, Pastor Ekpenyong Cobham, fired the challenge during a media parley at the Ernest Etim Bassey Press Centre in Calabar.
The commissioner accused critics of peddling “desperation” and displaying “intellectual inability” in their attacks on Governor Bassey Otu.
Pastor Cobham was reacting to specific claims that Governor Otu has not spent 10 days in Cross River in any month since assuming office.
“That shows that they do not even understand the dynamics of power in Nigeria,” Cobham said.
“Nigeria is operating a pseudo-federal system. All things cannot work here except you engage the centre to get things corrected.”
He dismissed the criticism as a strata the government would not condescend to, arguing that governance in the 21st century should be judged by performance, not by physical presence.
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“Is it in this 21st century of modern world that somebody would talk about where the government is operating from? Talk about the record, the performance index at this point in time.
“Reel out what you think the government has not been able to achieve. Come up with strong reasons, and let us engage,” he said.
Cobham said the opposition lacks understanding of where the state was in 2023 and the feats achieved in the last three years, including the push to enlist Cross River among oil-producing states.
“I understand what opposition means. Let them call once for a debate. Let them try and raise the bar. Educate themselves to the strata we are operating under,” he declared.
The Commissioner added that his tenure would be defined by “constructive engagement in information dissemination and strategic analysis” of government functions.
He insisted that while opponents were ducking and sleeping in Calabar, the administration was working to reposition the state nationally.
