Linus Obogo 

From Obanliku, crisscrossing Obudu, Bekwarra, Yala with Ogoja as the melting pot, the Northern Senatorial District of Cross River was aglow with renewed fervor as the Deputy Governor, Hon. Peter Odey, undertook a five-local government areas tour that was more than an official outing. It was a pilgrimage of culture, unity and sweetness. From Ogoja to Obanliku, the echoes of drumming feet, the colours of dancing fabrics, and the warmth of communal embrace testify to a people reawakened by leadership with a listening heart.

Like a storm that does not destroy but fertilizes, Odey’s tour has swept across the northern landscape with a hurricane’s energy and a farmer’s patience. Villages and towns have become theatres of joy, where communities pour out their dances, tell their stories, and offer their loyalty in celebration of a government that remembers its people. It is the ‘Season of Sweetness’ not as rhetoric but as lived reality, alive in the faces of market women, farmers, youths and elders who thronged out to welcome him.

At every stop, the deputy governor became less of an emissary of government and more of a bridge between the people and their destiny. His words, heavy with reassurance, painted a vision of inclusion where no voice is too faint and no culture too small to matter. “This administration belongs to you, and it is for you,” Odey declared with conviction, his voice rising above the hum of anticipation. “We are committed to ensuring that every community feels the sweetness of governance.”

The tour has become a rolling carnival of identity, a celebration where masquerades and maiden dancers weave the threads of heritage into the garment of unity. The colours of the north—its foods, festivals and rhythms—have met the melody of government presence, creating a symphony where culture and governance dance in harmony. For the deputy governor, culture is not a relic of the past but the soul of a people, and by celebrating it, he affirms their pride of place in the state’s collective journey.

Beyond the dancing and drumming, Odey’s visit also carried the weight of purposeful engagement. In town halls and village squares, he listened attentively as farmers spoke of roads, as women raised concerns of health facilities, and as youths dreamt aloud of skills and opportunities. Each voice was not dismissed as noise but gathered into the fabric of government’s promise—a testament to the administration’s ‘People First’ philosophy.

Observers note that the deputy governor’s northern odyssey is both symbolic and strategic. Symbolic, because it reconnects government to the grassroots heartbeat; strategic, because it fosters the unity without which development remains an empty shell. The north, often seen as the cultural citadel of Cross River, has now been given the sweet assurance that it is also at the centre of governance and progress.

Indeed, Peter Odey’s tour has turned into a tapestry of belonging. Where once there may have been distance, now there is closeness. Where once there may have been scepticism, now there is faith. The deputy governor has not merely visited communities; he has inhabited their hopes, embraced their concerns, and amplified their dreams into the corridors of power.

As the caravan of sweetness rolled on, it left in its wake not only mud splashing from village paths but also the fragrance of promise rising from grateful hearts. In this unfolding season, the north has rediscovered itself—not as a forgotten corner, but as a vibrant pulse in the Cross River story. And at the centre of this rediscovery stands Hon. Peter Odey, the hurricane that sweeps with grace, unites with purpose, and leaves behind the sweetness of hope.

* Obogo is the Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser to the Cross River State Governor on Media and Publicity

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