“You impugned my father’s name, my character, my family name, for just a personal request that I’ve not met, out of many that I have met.
“Please for once, put yourselves in my shoes. All I simply did was to stay out of the issue.
“He’s in court for treason; a state does not have power to try anyone for treason, it’s not me.
“Agba Jalingo is not a journalist, he is the chairman of a political party and so once he started the campaign to overthrow the government of President Buhari, he ceased to be seen from the point of journalist because he has become the state chairman of a party.
“I have an intellectual background as a professor, I will stand with journalists at all times and I will never prosecute somebody.
“But if you ask Agba Jalingo today, I’m the one working with his lawyers for his freedom, I’m the one sustaining him and sending upkeeps.
“The same man who once called me a golden brother, that I’ve stood with him through tough times.
“I am of the opinion that Agba should be released because I think he was just youthfully excited.
“But let him not use the power of the pen, let him not use journalism and hide to blackmail, chastise, lampoon, destroy another person just for personal economic benefit,” Governor Ayade said.
The governor underscored the need to bring the Bakassi Deep Seaport to life to serve the northern part of Nigeria whose solid minerals deposits needed to be transported out of the country with ease.
He said apart from using the project to decongest Lagos Port, it would also serve as a strategic way of putting an end to the insurgency, militancy, kidnappings and the Boko Haram issues.
“He said President Buhari would be visiting his state to flag-off a new programme called G-money, which is an empowerment initiative to create jobs for 2,000 women and young people through agriculture.
