Commissioner For Information, Mr. Erasmus Ekpang
By Anietie Akpan
Çross River state government under the leadership of the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu, has expressed profound and sincere gratitude to the entire people and residents of the state for shunning the call for nationwide protest tagged ‘10 Days of Rage’ to #ENDBADGOVERNANCE in the Country from 1st August, 2024.
Commissioner for Information, Mr. Erasmus Ekpang in statement on August 5, said “as an administration, government has carefully reviewed the various reports across the Country with special focus on all segments of our 18 Local Government Areas in the last five days of the proposed 10 days of Rage, it is cheering news all the way and we hereby conclusively confirm to the world that Cross River State did not participate in the planned protest.
“This is indeed a strong vote of confidence on Governor Otu and his team. Cross River State has continued to blossom peacefully in spite of repeated threats from the protest organizers”.
Accordingly, he said “government wholeheartedly acknowledges and commends the contributions, sacrifices and support of all arms of our Security Agencies, the Political Class, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Professional Bodies, Public Communication experts, Media Practitioners, Corporate and Business Organizations, Labour Unions, Women and Youth Groups including Students and the unemployed segments of our population for standing with our administration to ensure that our State remained peaceful, serene and convivial all through this tempting period in spite of the hardships”.
The Commissioner said “as we look forward positively to a better future with hope, Government has carefully taken note of the demands and contending issues amidst the growing hardships and wishes to restate her commitment to improving on the wellbeing of the citizenry through robust policy initiatives and programmes geared towards the general economic development of the State so as to ameliorate the sufferings of the people”.
Government according to him, “further wishes to once again appeal to everyone in our dear state to remain focused and go about their normal businesses without any fear of molestation while also being weary of fake, unfounded and misleading information peddlers that are capable of breaching the prevailing peace in the State for their personal selfish gains.
“Government also implores all to always be very vigilant and report any suspicious activity or movements to the nearest Police Station or through this e-mail: commissioner@moi.cr.gov.ng for further appropriate actions”.
He said government specifically appeals to Petroleum Products Depots and Fuelling Stations Owners, Transport Unions as well as Market Associations to please revert “to pre-protest prices for their products to avoid adding salt to the injury under the current excruciating hardships”.
In the meantime, the Commissioner enjoined all Security Agencies to please remain on red alert all round the clock in line with the directives of the Chief of Defence Staff to forestall any untoward occurrences in and around Cross River State”.
