 You're welcome back to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade is now a member of the All Progressives Congress. He formally de-camped from the People's Democratic Party yesterday, Thursday, and according to him, Cross River State needs to be in sync with the party at the centre. Governor Ayade also says President Mohammed Buhari has shown commitment to Nigeria through his nationalistic disposition. The Governor's Press Secretary, Christian Ita, is joining us from Calabar. Good morning, Mr Ita. Good morning. All right, so Ayade's move came really as a shock to many people, you know, seeing that he was elected, you know, on the platform of the PDP, he's been a governor of the state, you know, on the platform of that party, and he's moving now to the APC. Let us know the motivations for that move, especially since Ayade in his own statement said it wasn't necessarily about party, but about personality. Yes, he believes that at this, at our level of national development, that unnecessary political rivalries are healthy for the policy. He did give an example when he happened to be in China, when election was going on. You won't even know a local council election was going on, talk less of the national election. So he believes that we should be in a positive position and band together with a view to addressing the moderate problems confronting the country. So basically he teamed up with the APC with a view to helping the nation address some of the challenges they currently face. When you say unnecessary rivalry is on, political rivalry is unhealthy, you know, doesn't that mean that he could as well be in the PDP and still work hand in hand with the president? Like he said yesterday, being in a position, sorry please, you're from the periphery and the chances of your views being taken seriously are very limited because everything that comes from you will be seen from a partisan prison. So you need to be with them so that they understand that whatever he offers, he's doing so autristically, not because you want to gain any political advantage. Okay, Mr. Issa, how do you respond to people who say that? Ayadeh, you know, in addition to the many other politicians who move from APC to PDP, are simply practicing political prostitution? Well, I don't know what you mean by political prostitution because I don't know how many prominent politicians in this country today that have not even the president was at some time in CPC and you know that freedom of association is guaranteed in the constitution. So there's nothing like political prostitution? No. So Mr. Issa, could you give me fundamental and ideological differences between the PDP and the APC? There isn't much, which is why he downplayed party, party just a vehicle. Did you say there isn't much, there isn't much difference between APC and PDP? There isn't much, but the emphasis was on the character of the president. He emphasized that yesterday, that the character of the president is what drew him to the APC. Okay, so Mr. Issa, could you expand more on the character of the president? What exactly about the president's character must have drawn Ayadeh to move from the PDP to the APC? He highlighted his commitment to the nation. He highlighted his uprightness. He highlighted his commitment to battling ill such as corruption and many more. So those were the things he highlighted. That while he might appear that he's not achieving more, but the tensions are very low. So those are the things that drew him to the APC, not so much as the party. Okay, well, quickly also share with us why you think it took this long before deciding to make this decision. All right, I think we still have to reconnect with him. Just also quickly introduce our guest in the studio, Mr. Khairadeh Ladeh, senior news editor. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Good morning. Good to be here. So it's mixed reactions to Governor Ben Ayadeh's defection. First Eskayamu, of course, has praised him as one of the most brilliant governors in Nigeria. Very cerebral. Yeah, exactly, some of all those words. But what have you seen as the biggest point being made here? Yeah, this is long expected for those people who have been following politics in Nigeria. And it became, you know, it reaches crescendo this time around when you know that the party structure has been completely taken away from you. You know, as a governor, as a sitting governor, if you lose the party structure, you're as good as, pardon my language now, you're dead politically. So what is left for you? You need to have a saving phase. You need to find an alternative. And that is APC. Before now, we've seen that kind of romance between him and the president. You remember that one of the first projects the president did when he came in. It has to do with Cross River State. And people were like, oh, this president looks like he's not going to be partisan. He's not going to be about the party that he belongs to. So the romance has been there. But what is obvious is the fact that when you are no longer in charge of the party structure, you are left with nothing but to try the other option. What do I mean by that? Is Godfather, is S.Y. Godfather? That's the former governor, Leah Limonke, as taking over the old party structure from the world to the local government to the state level. So what do you expect him to do? So it is not really about the people. Forget those rhetories. Forget those statements we see in his press release when he said that it's because of the style of Mr. President. And you are wondering who is even who is wooing him? Who is toasting him to come to APC? So let nobody be deceived. It's about the fact that he has lost grip of the party structure in APC. Hence, it goes to other parties. Let's bring back Christianita. Walk on once again. Don't have anything. All right. So you were about speaking on, you know, those who refer to Benayade as being a double agent, you know, in the PDP of this world. But also I want you to add Mr. Coyote Ladeh in his thoughts that he very likely has lost the party architecture and the grip on the party in this state to former governor Leah Limonke. And that's one of the reasons why he might be here. You know, it's funny that we sit down to speculate on things we have very little or no information about. Number one, this governor, the moment he came into office in 2015, he said the moment you're elected to public office, you must draw a line between party structure and governor. And that is the being of Africa. Because if you believe that whether you're in party A, if you have no business to do with a party B, who is to have this in power at the center, it's wrong. And this is why we say unhealthy political rivalry is unhelpful for the country. So what is wrong in that APC, PDP governor, having on that between the move Ayadeh and the president, I'm coming to whether he lost grip of the party structure in this state. It's completely unbothered. If you are aware, there has been a battle over the southern and the northern territorial district election. As I speak to you today, is a candidate that was supported by the governor by the senator Ayadeh Rasena said this. So he lost grip of nothing, OK? Who is that? Like he said yesterday, he never had issues with the PDP. Even when the issues came up, when the contention came up, the National National Department was always with him. So it's not a question of losing political grip. It's a question of aligning the interest, his interest and the hard interest of the country. OK, well, is he making? I'm having a hold back. I don't know. Apologies for that. Is he making this move, or is it likely he's making this move along with others in the state, or is he moving alone? Are there, from a PDP, are there likely to be his followers joining him on this move from the state architecture? Even just yesterday, a member of the House of Representatives crossed over to the APC. As we speak, there are about five other members of the National Assembly who soon declared for the APC. And when he had jammed the thing with the PDP governor, he wasn't, the decision wasn't up to him. The speaker of the State House of Assembly and the members of the House of Assembly were in attendance. The entire State Executive Council was in attendance. All the local government chairmen in the state were in attendance. All the councilors, people, all the critics were in attendance, but they were not in electoral decisions. And these things will be used to manifest in the future just from now. All right, Mr. Ladende, I'm going to go back to you to quickly also respond. You know, he says he doesn't in any way agree with your narrative. And of course, this is all done in good faith. And he has, Ben Adi has the support of the whole political architecture of the state. OK, definitely what is, it is expected. That's the spokesperson of the governor and the government. And we need to understand that they need to explain the narrative to us. But just a little time, this one is not a matter of a time in terms of one year or two years that we'll explain it. Just a little time, let's find out how many members of the House of Reps are going to defect with him. This is traditionally a PDP state. That's what political observers will call a suicide. You know, for you to live a state that has been prominent, I mean, to be dominated by PDP since 1999, just move to APC. Check what is going on on the social media. A lot of people are saying that, wow, why, why? But for those of us who understand, we know that it is about the structure as being check the result of the last Congress I was done in PDP. And Mr. Krista and Nita can tell us more about the power play that happened. So it is a matter of he has taken the right decision in his political interest. Please hold on, Mr. Ita. You will come in, you will come in, sir. So I'm just saying that while it would do all its best to convince us that it is about the interest, but every political observer, every political observer who is monitoring the situation knows about the fact that the party structure has been taken over by its key rival, and that's the Lee and the Mookie. All right, so Mr. Ita, I want you to respond to Mr. Khair De La Rende also to respond to, you know, people who say, you know, Crossover State can never be an APC state. First of all, let me speak directly to the issue of losing party structure. I don't know which one is more valuable to the politician. Controlling local government, controlling all the councilors, controlling the entire House of Assembly, or having what executive. That's one point. Two, if this is not the first time Crossover is faced with this kind of issues, I was lucky enough to have been in the two p.s. to Governor Mookie in the last three years of his administration. And I do remember that these things, hello? Go ahead. This is played out in 2014, when some members of the National Assembly led by former Senate leader, Victor Andomezba, took control of the same words, the same word Congress is that today is being seen as being controlled by Mookie. What happened at the end of the day? Victor Andomezba did not lead back to the National Assembly. All everybody that was on that side of the party never lead to the National Assembly. Now, the work Congressional referencing was in place when the primaries for the Northern Territory Election primaries was, sorry, took place. What happened? Is Governor's candidacy warm? So it's not about political structure. It's not. And the point that Cross River can never be anything but political is untrue. If you go back to this, it was 1999. Cross-APP had more local government than the political Cross River. APP had more members in the state as Varsalmi than PDP. What year are you referring to now? I'm referring you to when Donald Trump was a governor. Well, Donald Trump was APC 1999. So I'm giving you history. There was no APC 1999, Christianita. But also, go on and also add to this, what's the relationship between Governor Ben Ayade and former Governor Lee Ellimonkey? Let's speak. They are speaking terms. They are friends. In fact, he was checked in the government, emphasized this yesterday. He has no issues with anybody in PDP or PDP itself. And if you check the response of the PDP to the development, they were very understanding. What did I say? Governor Ayade, we wish you well in your future endeavor. Is that a typical PDP question? So let's not impute things that are not good. So really, we know that the APC too has talked about this, responded to the defection, talking about how the PDP is a sinking ship, asking other people to join the All Progressives Congress. But really, we have to really talk about the likelihood of Ayadee bringing in people from Cross River states into the All Progressives Congress. People see the likelihood as very, very slim. You know, seeing the stronghold that the PDP has on the state. It's not slim at all. I like how the whole thing will unravel. Quite a number of people are excited by this moment, and they are going to declare. Like I just told you yesterday, when is the development of course, a member of the National Assembly has arrived from the PDP and gone to the APC. Usually we can see the number of National Assembly members that are linked in the next week. I'm not saying one month. In the next week. I hope we can invite you sometime next week to follow up on this discussion. OK, so how about you, Mr. Cairdian? I just want to quickly explain to my friend, it's actually my friend, to just get it clearly. What Professor Ayadee has done politically is not wrong. If you, I continue to insist, if you have lost the party structure in PDP, what is the relevance of an executive going to still be in that party? So for me, PDP pushed him away. So he is not wrong to have taken such a decision, but just to put it on record that it will have to do more to deliver that state. You remember what happened to Apabio when he said this is an uncommon defection and you know that today is still finding it hard to bring that state under the grip of APC. This is not something it is known to everybody that South South region is a PDP region. However, we know there are heavy weights in the political terrain. Remember what happened in Biasa governorship election the last time, just because of the infighting between the former president, good luck Jonathan, and that of the former governor then, talking about Siracke Dixie, the state was practically lost to APC because of some heavy weight. So for me, that's the challenge Ben Ayade has now. Is he a powerful defection that can move votes irrespective of how strong PDP has been and the South South? So, and I think that's what is before Professor Ben Ayade and Mr. Chris Tendita to prove to the people that this is not about this state being dominated by PDP, it's about the personality that has turned this. Personally, I don't see that happen but trust me, Mr. Chris Tendita is not going to agree with me on this but time will tell and like you said, from one week time we will see it. As a political observer, I want to see that happen too. I'm looking forward to what the next one or two weeks brings. Chris Tendita, thanks for accepting that we will be inviting you to speak on this again. Thank you. Thanks for your time this morning. All right, I think we may have lost him there. Thank you very much so far. And thank you, Mr. Khairjee. It's a pleasure. Stay with us. We're going to be talking about the reported death or we are seriously injured above Kashakaw after the short break. Stay with us.