By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The younger brother to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Francis Ayade has been released by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) CrossRiverWatch can authoritatively report.
It is still unclear what his bail conditions were which sources had informed CrossRiverWatch on Thursday that he could not meet them.
However, Francis arrived Calabar around noon on Friday with his brother, Governor Ayade leaving office at about 3PM and after a brief close door meeting with him at their private residence in State Housing Estate in Calabar, drove together in the same vehicle to inspect the delivery of equipment for the 20 Megawatt gas and diesel fired embedded power generating plant at Parliamentary Extension in Calabar.
The duo later left for the garment factory where after touring the facility, departed for the Governor’s Lodge where CrossRiverWatch gathered, Francis left for their private residence after exchanging pleasantries with the governor’s nuclear family.
It will be recalled that CrossRiverWatch earlier this week reported that Francis led a team of EFCC officials to their residence in Calabar on a search for documents following arrest on issues surrounding the financing of the garment factory which is said to have gulped N2.7billion.
The governor seemingly perturbed by his arrest twice addressed the issue indirectly.
“If somebody gets up somewhere in the world and says the garment factory belongs to an individual when there is a provision to check the ownership and in such ill deliberately constructed story begins to gain grounds and then partners begin to fan it, you feel a deep sense of pity because if they truly know your heart, they won’t have this” Ayade said at a media parley on Wednesday.
“When we started, they said it was all a lie, there is no garment factory, when it started, they said it belonged to somebody, now they say the budget has been swallowed and it is very ungodly to seek destruction” Ayade told Journalists at the garment factory when Ngige visited.
The ripples of Francis arrest, drew the ire of a section of Cross Riverians with the Special Assistant on Prosecution to President Muhammadu Buhari, Okoi Obono-Obla calling on the House of Assembly to impeach the governor.
“When a Governor deliberately allows his sibling access to the public till of his State to loot with reckless abandon, then, such a Governor has betrayed the truth placed on him by the people. It is well settled that a Governor who commit such an act of gross misconduct is liable to be removed from office by the House of Assembly” Obla said.