2023: Onor unveils agenda for Cross River governorship race

[From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar]

Ahead of the gubernatorial contest in Cross River, senator representing Cross River Central in the National Assembly, Professor Sandy Ojang Onor has unveiled a “Restoration and Development Program’ Agenda for the state.

Professor Onor made his agenda known in Calabar during an engagement with media practitioners in Calabar.

The Professor of History said the state has derailed over the past six years and he hopes to rebuild the state and focus on people oriented policies.

“Regrettably, we have in the last six years, undoubtedly derailed from this trajectory by running a system that is hugely rich in theory but lacking in practice. The morbid results are easy to see.

“Clearly, the challenge we face as a people post 2023, is to have in place a government that can restore the foundations for sustainable growth, development and restore the state to the path of progressive growth.

“Our vision is to restore the state to this path and we propose to implement a ‘Restoration and Development Programme’ through which we intend to achieve this vision”, the Professor said.

The restoration and development programme Oracle Today learnt shall be hinged on the development of four thematic areas in the socio political and economic environment of the state.

These are security, the economy, infrastructure development, as well as, human development.

Professor Onor added that his agenda shall be simple, albeit deep, all encompassing, realistic and realisable.

He added that he will only make promises he can keep within the context of the resources available to the state and will expand the frontiers of development of all sectors of the state’s economy.

On zoning, Onor said Cross River State has never practiced it and those championing it are ethnic jingoists who want to mislead the people.

“Zoning has never, and I repeat, zoning has never been practiced in our state since the advent of the current democratic experience in 1999.

“We cannot afford to sacrifice competence on the altar of zoning, as we prepare to choose a candidate for the governorship or any other election.

“That those who are promoting and spreading the message of zoning are either cowards who do not have what it takes to contest the party’s ticket under a free and fair process, or are ethnic jingoists who are only interested in misleading our people in pursuit of their very personal and selfish interests”, he said.

He insisted that nobody or group of persons should divide our state and its people in the name of zoning.

The people of the state he said share commonalities with deep historical roots and it would be thoroughly unfair for anybody to fan the embers of geo-ethnicity, just to satisfy their selfish ambition.