Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, was yesterday recognized by Tell Communications Limited, Publishers of Tell Magazine as The Governor of the Year 2016 barely two months after clinching The Vanguard Governor Of The Year award.
Governor Ben Ayade and his Borno counterpart Kashim Shettima jointly won the Governor of the Year Award at a ceremony held at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos,
Speaking while presenting the award, President of TELL Magazine, Mr. Nosa Igiebor, said the award to Governor Ayade was well deserved.
Giving the reasons why Ayade was picked, Igiebor said: ”Ayade’s leadership style has shown that with the right kind of leaders, Nigeria can indeed be a great country we all dream of.”
He added: “When the committee decided that we threw the selection process open to Nigerians to decide who their Governor of the Year was, Ayade’s name was a recurrent decimal because of his outstanding performance in Cross River State.
“We wanted to celebrate heroes of service in Nigeria. Ayade was less than two years in office and he had already shown the way as well as become a role model in the country.”
He noted that the organisers of the award were impressed with the governor’s performs in such a short time despite the challenges of the economy.
Ayade, who was represented by Deputy Governor Ivara Esu, said it was a great challenge to deliver democratic dividends to the citizenry, given the parlous state of the economy and the harsh realities of the current economic recession.
He dedicated the award to the people of Cross River, the state executive council members, as well as members of the state House of Assembly.
Other awardees include Oni of Ife who bagged the award of Man of the Year, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Icon of Democracy.
Posthumous awards were also presented to Gani Fawehinmi as All-time National Hero of Rule of Law and Human Rights advocacy, and Dele Giwa – All time National Icon of Freedom of Speech. Their awards were receivedby their families.
