2015 governorship: Senator Ayade emerges C’River PDP consensus candidate

Senator Ben Ayade on Saturday emerged the consensus candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Cross River State for the 2015 governorship election.

Following a marathon meeting on Saturday, four other aspirants stood down their governorship ambition and threw their weight behind Ayade.

Those who stood down their aspirations include the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Larry Odey; former Executive Secretary, National Planning Commission, Ntufam Fidelis Ugboh; immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Mike Aniah and the immediate past Commissioner for Works, Barr. Legor Idagbo.

In a statement posted on his facebook page, Idagbo announced his decision to pull out of the governorship race and urged his supporters to work to ensure that Ayade was elected governor in 2015.

He said as one who believes that power belongs to God, he has consistently maintained that should the party find someone else to be more worthy to be governor, he would throw his weight behind such a candidate.

He therefore, urged “supporters and everyone that stood by me and believed in our collective struggle to support Senator Ben Ayade, one of our best brains, a perfect gentleman and a friend.

“However, it  is my belief that no one person has all it takes to be Governor. What is needed to move our State to even greater heights is a collection of the ideas of all well-meaning Cross Riverians. I hereby pledge to work closely with Senator Ben Ayade, to ensure that there will be no room for failure in our collective bid to take Cross River State to the next level.”