I quite understand Mr Obogo’s complicated situation. He has a job to protect if he must fend for his family, and this job principally requires him to attack critical citizens and to tell the world that the governor is dressed up in a beautifully sewn white attire, even when the world clearly sees him bedecked in all-black, for example! So, it is not lost on me that the job of a political spokesperson is a herculean task, especially when defending a failing or failed elected officer.
I read the desperate, face-saving publication authored by one “Linus Obogo,” who desperately tried to defend Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu following my open letter of September 18, demanding transparency and accountability from the government that the latter heads.
The so-called “rejoinder” was anchored in a manner characteristic of the majority of political spokespersons in Nigeria, who, with utmost respect, are primarily paid to play the role of attack dog against those who express unfavourable views about their principals. Hence, there is nothing surprising about that scrappy, flawed, and face-saving publication which is only a red herring. The author of the referenced publication, obviously having spectacularly failed to mount a rational defence of his principal as he is paid to do, resorted to unleashing a torrent of invectives on my person in the hope that doing so will divert attention from the disquieting issues raised in my open letter. His resort to the crudest form of vituperation just shortly after accusing me of being “ill mannered” is not just contradictory but a sheer exhibition of double standards that tells an untold story about the current administration in Cross River State. It is unsurprising because, like I have said, political spokespersons in Nigeria are not necessarily hired for the purpose of the conventional public relations that we know but to launch a series of attacks against anyone who disagrees or dares to scrutinise their administrations. For instance, we were all here when one political spokesman in Abuja referred to Nigerians as “wailing wailers” because the people dared to question the anti-people economic policies of his calamitous principal. In fact, back home in Cross River, Mr Obogo’s predecessor, desperate to preserve his job like the incumbent spokesman, once referred to me as a “hack writer” for having the temerity to question the infamous policies of his incredibly incompetent boss. So, Obogo’s slew of insults dressed up in the costume of a “rejoinder” is nothing new, nor does it cause me the slightest discomfort.
Flowing from the above, I quite understand Mr Obogo’s complicated situation. He has a job to protect if he must fend for his family, and this job principally requires him to attack critical citizens and to tell the world that the governor is dressed up in a beautifully sewn white attire, even when the world clearly sees him bedecked in all-black, for example! So, it is not lost on me that the job of a political spokesperson is a herculean task, especially when defending a failing or failed elected officer. This necessitated the release of a so-called “rejoinder,” one so mortifying that no serious government could have authorised its publication.
To start with, it is important to state with emphasis that Cross Riverians do not know who Mr Linus Obogo is. We did not vote for this defender. And so he is without a smidgen of competence to address the issues raised in the open letter that triggered his outburst. I must further state that the culture of political officeholders who personally go about begging for votes, and upon receipt of those votes, become so overly important that they simply resort to unleashing spokespersons to bark at anyone who dares to disagree with their chaotic policies, must stop forthwith. No one came to your residence begging you to run for governor or any office, and so when the people demand explanations, you are duty-bound to come forward and provide them—the same way you came forward to beg for their votes. However, the hostility that accompanied that puerile “rejoinder” incontestably explains the deep-seated antipathy the current administration, like its predecessor, has for critical opinions. And its attempt to direct, describe, or spell out how exactly it should be criticised, the tone and choice of words to be employed in such criticism, tells of tyranny looming precariously on the horizon. Does the administration of Mr Bassey Otu expect the people to sing its praises when it has done absolutely nothing to earn them?
My open letter argued that the current administration in Cross River lacks a skosh of transparency and called on the governor, Mr Bassey Otu, to make public the details of the terms his administration entered into with Afreximbank on behalf of the people of Cross River State. This demand became very necessary after the previous administration almost mortgaged the future of several unborn generations of Cross Riverians for a period of 180 years—approximately two centuries—in exchange for ₦648, 870,730,739.23, supposedly for the construction of a superhighway. Does the government of Mr Bassey Otu or any subsequent one for that matter think we would simply sit by and allow a similar thing to happen before our own eyes without demanding explanations? In responding to this, Mr Obogo claimed without a shred of evidence that the funding of the Deep Sea Port project by the Cairo-based bank imposes no financial obligation on Cross River State and that the agreed financing model makes it impossible for the state to lose its assets to the project’s financier. Mr Obogo’s defence sounded just as colourful as what we were told about the superhighway some years ago until the truth violently broke out of its cage and roared to the marketplace, unclad!
On the issue of the purported “railway project,” which I suggested ought to be suspended for now in order to focus on road projects owing to the terrible state of road infrastructure across the State, Mr Obogo woefully failed to clarify or provide any evidence showing that my earlier claim alluding that the company partnering with the State Government on the said “railway project” has no history or any prior experience in executing such a project—absolutely none! The State Government must clarify how two young men who co-founded a blockchain application in January 2023 are in charge of such a major construction project in Cross River State. Also, it is crucial for Governor Bassey Otu to provide details of how his administration advertised and encouraged competitive bidding before it chose its current “partner” for supposedly being the best amongst all the bidders who competed for the project. These are cardinal issues seeking clarity, and you cannot sweep them away by merely resorting to jejune philippic through a third party masquerading as “spokesman” in a bid to muffle voices genuinely seeking transparency and accountability from their own government. It will not work!
Of course, it is easy to decipher why the incumbent administration is so apoplectic in the wake of my open letter to the governor. Unlike governments elsewhere, the Cross River State Government is not used to people demanding accountability from it, except for a smattering of individuals here and there whom the regime feels it can conveniently ignore or intimidate into a permanent state of silence by way of incarceration. This has given political officeholders in the State an inflated sense of entitlement, so much so that the governor’s “spokesman” feels it is within his power to determine or dictate how his principal should be criticised. It is bizarre! If, as a people, we realise that your policies have become antithetical to our interests and progress, any citizen who wishes to express concern over the pernicious effect of such policies is at liberty to do so in whatever way they desire, depending on their perception of such policies. You have no right to state how any political officeholder should be criticised. The only way to change this is to deliver good governance that is visible to the people, not the one confined on the pages of newspapers like the case of your headline: “Bassey Otu’s unimpeachable governance,” which caused me to burst into a cackling laughter whilst reading that comical objurgation.
The point of my argument should be quite clear by now, namely that Governor Bassey Otu’s Cross River has sadly become one of the most underdeveloped states in Nigeria, lacking basic developments like roads, hospitals, and school infrastructure. This needs to change as soon as possible, as the people cannot continue to wait ad infinitum for the “good days” that never seem to materialise with the passage of each administration. Like I did ask in my open letter, assuming Governor Otu is serious about the Deep Sea Port as he is determined to make us believe, how will the port fare without good roads for heavy-duty vehicles to move smoothly to and fro, especially when loaded with goods? Except, of course, that these massive vehicles intend to fly into and out of the port. This is the reality behind the misleading facade that the administration is desperately vying to create, and no amount of the brickbats being hurled at me by the governor’s hirelings can cover this naked reality. Tragically, their inextinguishable love for white elephant projects will always prevail over the basic needs of the people they purport to govern.
For clarity, I admitted in my open letter that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Deep Sea Port or railway projects, provided that the details of funding are transparent to the people and that the government is sincerely committed to the said projects. This was unambiguously stated. However, my primary contention was that basic infrastructure should be given priority for now if those running the State are serious about governance. For instance, how do you go about talking about a Deep Sea Port in a State where farmers struggle every day to transport their agricultural produce outside their immediate environments? How do you give priority to a Deep Sea Port in a State where people cannot drive smoothly to the next local government for fear of dilapidated roads with deep potholes here and there? How do you prioritise a Deep Sea Port in a State where hospitals, schools, etc. are in total shambles? Just for a single example, my former school, Community Secondary School, Ubang, which is state-owned, has had its roof blown away for the past eight years or more so that pupils are exposed to the hostility of the sun whilst learning. I first wrote about the situation at the school in an article published on July 18, 2018, and six years later, nothing has changed! Part of the school has since remained without a roof, with broken windows, and its muddy walls and dusty floors have known no cement since the school was erected. And let it be known that this is just one out of several other schools across Cross River State suffering from maximum infrastructural decay.
There is also a broken bridge in my own community, which links to several other communities that depend on it to access the outside world. This major bridge, which is now on the verge of tumbling to the river beneath it, has remained in this condition for more than a decade. Since my tenderest days, I have watched the elders of my community, along with the community’s young men and women, contribute their hard-earned money to rehabilitate this major bridge each time it required some touches of revamp. But now, the problem it faces is so grave that it is beyond the community. However, the government our people hope would come to their aid is absent—I was going to say in a coma, waiting for 2026 before it regains consciousness to make another set of deceptive campaign pledges ahead of 2027.
There is also another important bridge in Okordem, a neighbouring community, which is also gasping for breath, having been neglected by successive governments and now Governor Otu’s, so much so that vehicles have rightly abandoned it to avoid tragic reports. In short, the rot is pervasive, and its list is endless! It is utterly insensitive, even absurd, that a governor whose State is mired in such an extreme infrastructural crisis should be talking about a Deep Sea Port whilst turning a blind eye to the ever-increasing plight of his people.
Consequently, in response to the groundless content of Mr Obogo’s lamentable “rejoinder” issued on behalf of his principal, Governor Otu, I have attached below a few photos showing that a state of emergency ought to be declared on the decrepit infrastructure in Cross River State. The photos include those from “roadways” and the secondary school and bridges I mentioned earlier in this treatise. After going through these images, I will leave the people to judge whether or not it is rational that a governor presiding over such unutterable devastation should be talking about a Deep Sea Port rather than embarking on aggressive reconstruction of his collapsed State!
Some of the photos that tell the heartrending story:
Dear reader, these images are just examples of the rot in Governor Bassey Otu’s Cross River State—they are nothing compared to the frightening infrastructural horror that will assault your eyes upon visiting these places in person, like the Obudu-Ogoja road and several other roads across the State. In my open letter, which triggered the flood of abuses they poured on me, I did not set out to sound hyperbolic when I pointed out that most places in today’s Cross River, especially outside the capital city, are in such horrible condition that a visitor could be tempted to believe that a government does not exist there.
I must equally emphasise that governance is not the same as make believe. It is not synonymous with Zuckerberg’s metaverse, where Governor Bassey Otu’s regime can manufacture the most colourful towns and cities and pass them off as contemporary Cross River State. No! Human beings live in these places I wrote about, and they daily express their frustration over the wretched conditions they face. So, you cannot create a perfect Cross River through rancorous rejoinders, nor can you write your way out of such shambles by tacitly inferring that a State, where affected residents can easily attest to these horrible conditions, is thriving with ultramodern infrastructure. The only exciting and responsible counter to me or anyone else making similar demands is to work, not by sitting in Calabar and pursuing white elephant projects, but by actually embarking on the real work of reconstruction throughout Cross River State. Sadly, this cannot be achieved by writing thousands of insulting “rejoinders”!
All in all, their desperate publication against me, garnished only with unrefined mudslinging, reminds me of an image Elon Musk published on X (formerly Twitter) the other day; it read, “How do you tell who’s telling the truth?” It then proceeded to provide the answer by aptly saying, “The ones trying to silence other people are the ones lying.” If you link that to the instant matter, it is not difficult to tell which party is aggressively trying to silence the truth.
In the meantime, let me emphatically reiterate that when we ask policy-related questions in Cross River State, we expect the governor himself to come forward and provide detailed clarity on such issues. We cannot be dealing with the governor during electoral campaigns only to be faced with an overzealous spokesman post-elections—a spokesman unconcerned whether or not the state is being razed to ashes, provided his monthly salaries are not affected by the rampaging inferno. The governor is not allowed to turn into an apparition after an election. This churlish attitude meant to create the impression that the governor is “too big” to respond when he ought to will be resisted in the most unwavering manner!
In their self-imposed delusion, political officeholders and their minions, especially in Nigeria, are often quick to elevate themselves to the status of demigods who are simply residing amongst mere mortals and should therefore be canonised. It is now as if their occupation of public office is a gesture of favour to we, the people, for which they expect us to belaud them. This arrogance must stop pronto, starting from Cross River State. No politician in Cross River is superior to other citizens of the State, to the extent of thinking they’re above questions from those who graciously gave them a job! We cannot hand you a job and still go on our knees begging you to do that job, nor shall we be afraid to demand explanations, accountability, and transparency based on the actions the governor takes on our behalf. The future of the State is more important than the governor or any individual, and we are not prepared to sit idly around and watch it sink into the abyss. If the demands for transparency and accountability are not acceptable to the governor, he should please step aside immediately and continue his life as a private citizen.
Elias Ozikpu is an author, dramatist, novelist, journalist, editor, and proofreader.