APC party for notorious liars - Gov Ayade

Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a group of persons notorious for lies, especially in his state.

He said the assertions credited to the APC chairman in the state, John Ochala, over his return to school to pursue a Master's degree in law at UNJCAL were as laughable and pathetic as the party itself in the state, adding "the party in the state is notorious for lies."

Ochala is reported to have said that Governor Ayade returned to school because of idleness and laziness and that he (Ayade) lacked ideas on how to govern the state.

But the governor in a statement by Mr Christian Ita, his chief media adviser, said it was "funny that a party like APC which prides itself as a major opposition cannot engage the governor on governance issues but chooses to lie to score cheap political points.

“If they didn't see anything wrong with Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai returning to school in 2017 in faraway Netherlands for his PhD, what then is wrong if Governor Ayade returns to school to add to his numerous degrees within Calabar, the state capital?"

The statement reminded the APC that Chief Whip of the Senate and member of the APC, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was an undergraduate student while serving as Abia State governor.

"The timing of Gov. Ayade's decision to return to school is unequivocally perfect. Unlike APC members, the governor, despite all the resources at his disposal didn't choose any foreign university, he decided to do it locally thereby boosting the reputation of Nigerian universities at a time tertiary institutions in West Africa are under attack,” he said.

Ayade said to attack his quest for more academic degrees shows that APC in the state was weak as opposition party and could not be able to distract him.