Immediate past Governor of Cross River State, Senator Ben Ayade.
By Ogar Emmanuel Oko
Former Governor Sir Benedict Ayade CON is an intellectual man. Apart from the late Sen. Paul Ukpo, PhD, who was a nuclear physicist, in terms of scholastics, no politician in the northern senatorial district comes close to Ben Ayade’s pedigree. He’s encyclopaedical in nature. He’s wired with a special neurone that generates ideas. People with such special ability are rare. Above all, he’s a man of impeccable passion for the welfare of humanity. On the other hand, he’s a copious speaker with a knack for malapropism — a grotesque misrepresentation of words.
That said, in my previous piece, I’d promised to feature him in the next article. As soon as Ayade took over the reins from Sen. Gregory Ikaba Ngaji, the derogatory name of “sleeping senator” used to prefix northern senatorial district senators sublimed. He became the darling senator of the masses by his outspokenness. After a term in the Senate, he became a governor for 8 years.
During his administration, he sandwiched himself in between Uriah Heeps, an Ahitophelian cult, and hype-men in the order of skunks. These men told him lies, gave him bad counsel, and played to his vanity. He was drowned in the pool of his ego—waves of pride silencing reason’s echo; eyes blind to truth, ears deaf to plea. Then, he sank where no humility could be.
At the twilight of his administration, he succumbed yet again to the counsel of Ahitophel to run for Senate. This was a man whom the delegates from the state he governed had betrayed at the national convention when he aspired for the presidential ticket of his party — the All Progressive Congress (APC). The handwriting on the wall was clear enough — but he was blindfolded by the very people he made, and pushed into the ring unprepared. With one rabbit punch from Sen Jarigbe Agom, he was hurled five feet above sea level and flung to the ground. All the political cheerleaders ran for their dear lives.
Almost three years later, we’re hearing from the grapevine that H.E. Sen. Ben Ayade is warming up to walk the same path again. It appears he has forgotten the road he once traveled. Back then, he walked beneath the towering shadow of his self-importance, mistaking it for greatness, not realizing it blocked the sun. In chasing applause, he forgot the silence of wisdom— and there, in the darkness of his own making, he stumbled. In chasing applause, he ignored the quiet counsel of wisdom. And in that silence, he stumbled. Most politicians prefer the clarity of prose over the subtlety of poetry—so I’ll keep it plain from here.
Ayade must have learnt enough. Between 2023 and 2027, so much has happened. The conditions for his defeat and the victory of Jarigbe have changed. When he was in office, the people that sat at the supper table with him also took lunch with his opponents. He should be happy that they’re now fishing using different boats.
The sun hasn’t set. Let Ayade wait! He should observe the weather once again.
Power disappears with time!
Comrade Oko, Writes from Ahiara Junction, Mbaise, Imo State.
