By Bernard Okpi, Esq.
On May 29, 2026, after marking three years in office, the Executive Governor of Cross River State, His Excellency Sen. Bassey Otu, made a choice (albeit an irrational) to host an extravagant Town Hall meeting in Abuja rather than Calabar, the state capital. Concerned Cross Riverians immediately raised alarm, asserting that the Governor fled to Abuja to evade local public scrutiny. The administration relied heavily on polished presentation slides, elaborate media packaging, and grand promises to mask a glaring lack of tangible infrastructure projects, and economic hardships back home.
(Bernard Okpi Esq.)
In what appeared to be an orchestrated Public Relations attempt to counter growing public outrage and silence critics, the Governor’s son, Edem Bassey, launched a highly publicized initiative tagged the “Evidence Group.” Outfitted with fleet vehicles, branded t-shirts, customized caps, banners, flyers, bodyguards, and aggressive media promotion, the group spent hundreds of millions of Naira.
On October 6, 2026, the Evidence Group issued a widely circulated press release signed by Andrea Ekeng Inyang for its Directorate of Media & Publicity. The release invited the public to join its three-day “Northern Invasion Tour” across the Northern Senatorial District covering Ogoja, Obanliku, Obudu, Bekwarra, and Yala Local Government Areas. The advertised itinerary promised project showcasing, media documentation, youth town hall engagements, community interactions, and a grand rally.
While the group successfully executed its political jamboree, youth mobilization, and photo-ops, it failed miserably on the singular, most critical item on its agenda which is project showcasing.
Throughout the tour across Northern Cross River State, the entourage lodged in the most expensive luxury hotel. In Bekwarra, for instance, the group held a town hall meeting at the Ukan Idagbo Youth Center in Abuochiche, surrounded by curated crowds clad in branded “Evidence Group” apparel, before proceeding to pay homage to political leaders like Hon. Omang Idiege (Adah-Bekwara) and swiftly exiting. The exact same hollow routine played out in Obanliku, Obudu, Ogoja, and Yala.
Instead of presenting newly constructed roads, commissioned hospitals, modern schools, or economic hubs, the Evidence Group’s high-convoy tour served only to expose the brutal reality on the ground: dilapidated roads, primitive housing, unchecked poverty, and overgrown bushes. Despite their high definition cameras and aggressive propaganda team, the group failed to point to a single completed or impactful project executed by the Otu administration in three years.
This colossal failure validates what critics and the vast majority of Cross Riverians have maintained all along: the Otu administration ran to Abuja to hold its third-anniversary town hall because there was literally nothing on the ground in Cross River State to show for three years in office.
Furthermore, this charade reinforces serious allegations of financial misappropriation under the guise of showcasing non-existent governance achievements. Just as the Governor spent hundreds of millions renting luxury halls and printing oversized banners in Abuja, the Evidence Group has replicated the exact same pattern of squandermania, flooding the streets with branded cars, custom apparel, and heavy security details simply to take pictures and record videos.
The fundamental question every patriotic Cross Riverian must ask today is: Who is bankrolling the Evidence Group? Who is funding this lavish roadshow just to document neglected communities?
It is time to put an end to this charade of shame, wasteful spending, and unnecessary political adventures. Cross Riverians demand real infrastructure, functional governance, and accountability.
