Cross River State governor, Sir Ben Ayade says his investiture as a Knight of Saint John International (KSJi), is an urgent call on him to rededicate his life to the service of God and humanity.
Reflecting shortly after his exemplification, commissioning and investiture by the noble order, Ayade, waxing philosophical, described the event as one that imposes a duty on him to ensure justice and fairness to all irrespective of religion and tribe.
According to him, the investiture is “about commitment to our God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth,” adding that “in all I do and in all I am going to do, going forward, I shall indeed rededicate and recommit myself to fairness, to justice to all, irrespective of color, religion or belief.”
The governor, who was invested along with his wife, Dr. Linda Ayade, as Lady of St. John International at St. Patrick’s College, Ikot Ansa, Calabar, spoke of the spiritual challenges ahead of him, maintaining that “I am today a warrior of God to fight and defend justice and to wrought humanitarian efforts in this world to bring value to mankind and to ensure that all of my talent, my funds, my time, my skills are all committed to the service of God.”
On how he will marry this responsibility with the challenges of his office as governor, Ayade quipped: “As a matter of fact, this is what can actually support my responsibility even as governor of Cross River State because we will ensure fairness and goodness to all. We shall be insensitive to religion and insensitive to ethnicity. My investiture is only to do the work of God and God’s direction is very clear: ‘Do unto others what you want others to do unto you’.”
The governor further assured that he will “be fair and I will be just and I think that by my being a knight today and my wife a lady, it is obvious that indeed, you are going to find even more goodness in everything about what makes somebody or a family a decent family in government.
“And I am very happy that my wife who is also a devout and strong Catholic has shared with me the aspirations for us to be elevated to this rank and I am totally grateful to God.”
