Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State has cautioned world leaders over maltreatment of Africans as slaves and sub-human beings.
He said that African leaders should not be silent over such maltreatment but create opportunity for young Africans to remain in their countries rather than traveling abroad to be used as slaves.
Speaking at the grand finale of 2017 Calabar Carnival which has as its theme ‘Migration’ Ayade said, “Our leaders should create opportunity in Africa so that our young Africans should stay within Africa rather than going out to be use as slaves and sub-human being.”
He called on other African leaders and the entire world to be fair with young Africans, “treat them with humanity; be fair to them as they find themselves in your country, government of African are making efforts to bring them back, we shall and we will and I hope so. The young Africans should put an end to migration”
“For those of us who are in the leadership positions, we have the responsibilities to reverse that trend. It is not only about dancing and celebrating but to tell our sorrowful story that African will ultimately win the war. America and Europe was in like Asia is today, Africa is the feature of the world, it is the last continent to be discovered, and it’s the continent that is everything.”
Consequently, Governor Ayade re-iterated that the carnival was telling the world that Africa is the richest continent.
He added, “We are aware of the pains, the agony, the frustration and all that is characterized by the travel, indeed the best place you can ever be is Africa.
“As we do this, we will always be the best, we have the strength, our colour shows vitality, shows energy, it shows wealth and so we are gathered here as Africans to tell the story of Africans perspective and African narrative.
“We want to put an end to migration and so we are calling on the entire world, Mexicans, Americans Germans people from Europe Asia all gathered here with us to celebrate, we tell you that African is so blessed and so rich; sometimes we began to wonder why we African go through the Mediterranean sea, going through Sahara desert going through Morocco and we must put an end to it.”
