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Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade

Foreign trip: Ayade violated no law, says C-River govt
 
By:
Wed, 16 Mar 2016   ||   Nigeria, Cross River
 

Cross River State Government has defended the foreign trip embarked upon by the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade, saying he has not violated the constitution by travelling out of the country without writing to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly.

Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Christian Ita, in a statement, denied claims by Okoi Obono-Obla that the governor was in breach of the constitution.

According to Ita, it was also not true that the governor left the state in January, stating that the governor was still in the state in February and even attended the burial of late former deputy governor, Dr Walter Eneji, in the second week of February.

He said that the constitution mandates the governor to write the Speaker only when he is proceeding on his annual leave or medical leave.

He said: “The governor in this instance is on a working visit to some countries, including Canada, where he and some members of the state executive council are attending the biggest mining conference in the world at the invitation of the Canadian government.

“Under Section 190 of the Constitution, the governor does not need to transmit any letter to the Speaker unless he is on annual leave or medical leave.

“Under Section 193, the governor can assign his responsibility to his Deputy or a commissioner whether he is on leave or not. The deputy governor can only act as governor when the governor is on leave or incapable and then transmit the declaration in writing to the Speaker.”

Ita urged the public to ignore the ignorance being peddled by Obla on the issue, saying he was only seeking cheap publicity.

 

 

 

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