Jan. 19, 2022

Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State has alleged that there was an international conspiracy against the country, particularly the northern regions.

The governor said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, while speaking on the security situation in the country.

Ayade who commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at addressing insecurity in Nigeria, noted that the country would have collapsed if not for his drive.

He explained that the President’s military background helped in making that possible.

“Perhaps, if it was not Buhari’s administration with his military background, the country would have collapsed at this stage,” he added.

“People don’t know that because if you have been able to avoid risk, nobody can see it because it was avoided. I think the situation could have been worse.”

He noted that apart from addressing insecurity, the present government is also repositioning the economy, adding that there have been moves to tap into other sources of revenue.

“Today, the APC government is coming up with a robust programme. We have 42 billion tonnes of bitumen deposit in Nigeria, making us the third after Canada and Venezuela. This government has a robust plan to put in place a proper bitumen processing plant which has never existed,” the governor added.

The governor, who thanked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for his time with the main opposition party, however, called on them to advise the government when necessary.

Nigerians, he said, should look beyond party lines and put the nation first in whatever they do.

“I will not want to speak on party lines because party lines is what has kept this country backward. We should think like a country; we should think like a nation,” the former PDP member noted.

“There is nothing wrong with a PDP government; the PDP people making inputs to bring value.”