Cross River APC accuses Ayade of repackaging foreign rice
- Cross River state government has dismissed an allegation by the state chapter of the APC that Governor Ben Ayade repackaged smuggled rice as Ayade rice
- The government said it is most unfortunate how people could go to such a deprecatory length to fabricate and malign another person all in the name of playing opposition
- Chief press secretary to the governor Chris Ita also said Ayade’s rice is local and not foreign
Cross River state chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused the state governor, Ben Ayade of repackaging imported rice as state rice produced at the rice village in Ogoja.
Ayade’s aide on revenue and the managing director Ayade rice Godwin Akwaji said the APC’s claim was a ruse and without proof.
Vanguard reports that the state publicity secretary of APC Mens Ikpeme through a statement claimed that the governor was deceiving the public, accusing him of selling rice smuggled into the state as locally produced.
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Ikpeme said investigation by his party revealed that several trucks carrying rice were impounded by the Nigerian customs which the governor had imported into the state.
He said: ''Several trucks with thousands of bags of rice smuggled into the state were apprehended and impounded by the Nigerian Customs Service. This is a commodity banned by the federal government.
''That the governor Ayade government is smuggling bags of rice is the height of fraud and this leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the public.”
Chief press secretary to the governor Chris Ita also said Ayade’s rice is local and not foreign. He said the rice is milled in Makurdi, Benue state, at Michael Andokaa’s rice mill.
''It is galling that the state chapter of the APC, along with its leadership, is so disoriented to a scale that it can no longer differentiate between a rice mill which is currently under construction in Ogoja and a rice city located in Calabar as a seedling bed.
''The two are completely different projects which are at various stages of construction. Mens Ikpeme’s claim is nothing but outright concoction and an act of dementia directed at misinforming the public.
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''Governor Ayade, had at inception made it abundantly clear that no longer shall rice produced in the state be processed and labeled as rice from elsewhere other than Cross River.
''It is not only mendacious but equally malicious to impute what is not true. What was unveiled recently was rice produced from the governor’s farm, Ayade Farms in Obanliku Local Government Area.
''Pending the completion of the Ogoja automated rice mill, harvest from the Ayade Rice Farm had had to be milled at a plant in Makurdi, MIKAP Nigeria Limited, producers of MIVA Rice, owned by former Attorney General and Minister for Justice Michael, Michael Andoakaa.''
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the minister of health Isaac Adewole urged Governor Ayade to move over to the APC.
Adewole said Ayade, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had been working closely with the Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
APC chieftains in Benue state say PDP has nothing to offer - on Legit.ng TV:
Source: Legit.ng
