A female contender who was adjudged to be an underdog in Cross River State, Adams Cecelia, has defeated the Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade in the contest for the Cross River North Senatorial ticket of the All Progressives Congress.
The governor came a distant third in the primary election.
Ayade polled 52 votes to crash out of the race against Adams Cecelia, who scored 140, while Martin Orim got 61 votes.
The Governor is rounding off his second term tenure next year on May, 29th 2023.
Ayade had dumped the party that made him governor, PDP for the ruling APC in May 2021.
In a reaction to his defeat, Ayade reacted on Saturday evening saying that he did not participate in the primaries.
Ayade’s Adviser on Media and Publicity, Christian Ita, said in a statement on Saturday that he (Ayade) is a Presidential aspirant who would participate in the APC national convention on June 6.
“The attention of the Cross River State Government has been drawn to a video circulating in cyberspace purporting to be a parallel All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries for Northern Cross River where His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade was listed as a participant.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we hereby state clearly that Governor Ayade did not take part in any senatorial primaries.
“His Excellency is a presidential aspirant who will be taking part in the APC presidential convention now slated for June 6.” The statement read
