by crossriverwatch admin
Senator Liyel Imoke, the Cross River State governor on Monday 22nd December wielded the big stick on twenty members of the State Executive Council for failing to participate in activities marking World’s AIDS Day.
Imoke suspended seven Commissioners and thirteen Special Advisers indefinitely from his cabinet and directed them to hand over all government documents and property in their possession to their permanent secretaries.
A statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Michael Aniah said the State Governor had approved the suspension of the affected commissioners and Special Advisers for not honouring a state function as only the governor and a few aides attended the World’s AIDS Day celebration.
The following commissioners were affected in the sack: Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Attah Ochinke; Commissioner for Finance, Etim Caifas; Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Edak Iwuchukwu; Commissioner for Social Development, Mrs. Patricia Endeley; Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Sandy Onor; Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr. Elemi Etowa; and Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. James Aniyom.
Special Advisers suspended include Mr. Wilfred Usani [Tourism Development; Eyo Okpo-Ene [Religious Affairs]; Fabian Okpa [Special Duties]; Gerald Adah [Investment Promotion]; Effiong Bassey [Mineral Resources]; Fred Osim [Political and Legislative Affairs] and Mark Obi [Legal Adviser].
Others are Francisca Nkoyo Effiom [Debt Management]; Mrs Johnson Ebokpo [NGOs]; Odo Effiong [Information and Telecommunication Technology]; Prof. Temple Edim [Strategic Planning and Development; Eja Dons [Projects Monitoring and Evaluation] and Ntufam Odo Oji [Forestry and Biodiversity].
News of the suspension of the commissioners and Special Advisers took residents of Calabar by surprise as nobody expected it more so as Governor Imoke has continued to say there was no need for any cabinet shake up as that will mean starting afresh in the learning and execution of government programs and projects.
Secondly, the governor is seen as being too weak to hurt any member of his cabinet given that he has less than two years to leave office. But Imoke proved his cirtics wrong by wielding the big stick.
While some observers of Cross River State politics said the affected government functionaries may be recalled considering the pressure on the governor to that effect already, the surprise element that may have foreclosed pardon is the directive to the aides to handover to their permanent secretaries or most senior civil servant with immediate effect.
This decision is seen as outright sack as the governor asked them to handover to their permanent secretaries. If it was ordinary suspension, this directive would not have been included.
follow us on twitter @crossriverwatch