How Cross River deputy gov is boxed to a corner

CONSTITUTIONALLY, Deputy Gover­nors in Nigeria don’t have assigned roles to perform except to act in the absence of the governor or any other duties they might be assigned to do.

This has been the challenge facing the offices of Deputy Governors in the coun­try, thus leaving them at the mercies of the governors, their bosses, even when they always say they came on a joint ticket.

To the lucky ones, their bosses give them roles including overseeing bound­aries and chieftaincy affairs, chairing local government allocation committee, giving them approving authority of cer­tain amount of money in the absence of the Governor and they have huge imprest to run their offices.

To many of the second-in commands, they are unlucky to have bossy governors who believe in the aphorism that he who calls the piper dictates the tune. To these set of governors, the deputies ought to know they are spare tyres who only func­tion when the main tyre is bad. For them, the deputies have no say other than to ‘Sidon-look’ and read newspapers. Sim­ply put, if the deputies are tired then you can resign.

To some, they are just there to attend to state functions and represent the ‘Ogas’ when called upon to do so. Deputies who fall into this category don’t even have ap­proving authority.

In Cross River State, deputies seem to be having it easy with the governors. Investigations reveal that between 1999 and 2015, the governors have been hav­ing rollicking time with their second-in-commands.

Besides assigning special duties in­cluding supervising officers in charge of boundaries, chieftaincy and local govern­ment affairs, they deputies were funded and took vital decisions in the absence of the governors. It was discovered that in the politics of the state deputy gover­nors are chosen by the party because they leadership see party members as a family.

It was learnt that during the era of gov­ernors Donald Duke (1999-2007) and Liyel Imoke (2007 and 2015), they did not only maintain a very cordial relation­ship and had absolute trust in their depu­ties, the two worked closely as a team to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.

While the usual sobriquet during Duke and the deputy, late John Opka’s time was ‘John-and-I’, under Imoke and Ef­fiok Cobham, the deputy, it was ‘just see Cobham.’

However, the coming on board of Prof. Senator Ben Ayade as governor and Prof Ivvara Esu as deputy governor may have brought in a new dimension and style in government house politics.

For the duo, we might not have heard such names or characters that describe their close relationship. But there seem to be understanding as the governor had assigned some responsibilities including supervising chieftaincy and boundary matters and representing the governor in some functions. This is an indication that all is well.

But critics argue that beside attending to boundary matters, the Deputy Gover­nor, Prof Ivara Esu, is not only there as “spare tyre”, but that his office has been relegated to the background in the run­ning of government unlike previous ad­minstration.

They further argue that there seem to be a crack in the corridors of powers in the state as the deputy governor does not have the full powers of the state in the absence of the governor neither does he has approving authoturity.

The governor is said to have gone ex­tra mile to putting in place some strident measures that have brought in financial discipline into governance, thereby mak­ing it practically impossible for the depu­ty to authourise any payment whether the governor is around or not.

It was further learnt that the activities of local government hitherto supervised by the office of deputy governor may have been discreetly taken over by the governor.

Political observers would like to argue that if the relationship is all that rosy, they would expected the deputy, who is a renowned academic and former Vice- Chancellor, University of Calabar, to have been handed over the ministry of education to supervise since the governor has taken charge of Tourism ministry.

In what appears a confirmation of a rift between the Governor and the Deputy, a PDP stalwart, who simply gave his name as Odey, said the governor has whittled down the powers of the deputy gover­nor compared to the past when his office used to control political issues.

Odey said, “I do agree that every ad­ministration has its style and policy. But here in the state we are used to having a powerful government house where the Governor and Deputy work together and confide in each other.

“Sometimes seeing the Deputy is as good as seeing the Governor because the duo worked as a team. And such relation­ship brought sanity, trust and reduce bick­ering within government house circle.

“Today, I doubt if such exist because those of us in the party have been notic­ing some cracks and marginalisation in the running of affairs,” he stated.

However, the Chief Press Secretary and Personal Assistant on Media to Gov­ernor Ben Ayade, Mr Christian Ita, dis­agrees totally that the deputy governor is side-lined in the running of the state.

Ita said there is cordial relationship be­tween the duo contrary to what rumour mills have, adding that the two professors have been working in tandem for the de­velopment of the state.

He said, “Ayade recently heaped prais­es on the Deputy Governor that in spite of his age and academic statue, he has worked with so much humility and com­mitment that he could not have wished for any other person as his deputy.

“Besides, he is in charge of chieftaincy and boundary matters and any other that may be assigned to him. Recently, he rep­resented the governor at NEC meeting in Abuja. And with regard to cars, both of them use the same Range Rover just as he funds the office with the same month­ly imprest.”

Ita cautioned against unnecessary in­sinuations that may breed bad blood be­tween the Governor and the Deputy, say­ing “it is too early in the day to take the duo to public domain.”

Also reacting, the Chief Press Secre­tary to Deputy Governor, Mr Smart Us­ang, denied that there is any rift between Governor and Deputy as being specu­lated.

Using said there it is unfortunate that people are imputing so many things to what they don’t know, adding that it is high time to leave the duo o continue their team work rather putting spanner in the works.

He said, “There is no rift between deputy and governor nor any form of marginalisation whatsoever. The two are wonderful pair and have a synergy that work very well. The Deputy has not in any complained to anybody that he is not being carried along.”

In terms of funding, he said, “Every­body knows there is an economic melt­down and there is no money as usual. But the office of the deputy is still being funded as at when due and carries out all functions assigned to him diligently and to the best of his ability.

“Therefore, I don’t see why critics or jobbers would just sit down and peddle rumours that do not hold waters. Per­haps, they are out to create disaffection between deputy and his boss at a time the state needs absolute peace, cooperation and understanding to be able to achieve the lofty programmes of the administra­tion.”

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