Winners of the last Obudu International Mountain race held 10 years ago, precisely in November 2014, have appealed to Governor Bassey Otu to intervene and pay them the cash prizes as announced by former Gov Liyel Imoke.
Making the appeal in Calabar, their spokesman, Sylvester Ikpi said government was a continuum, meaning that succeeding governments would naturally inherit any liabilities of preceding governments.
Commissioner for culture and tourism in Cross River State, Abubakar Ewa had last week announced that Otu’s government will resume the annual Obudu Mountain race.
Ewa had said that Otu’s government will not pay prize winners because they do not have records to that effect.
“As I speak to you, we have settled every debt. I cannot say we owe anybody in respect of the Obudu Mountain Resort. We have no records that we are owing any athlete that may have participated in the race.
“We’re looking at a situation where the East Africans will no longer dominate or cart away the top prizes,” he said.
But spokesman of the 2014 prize winners, Sylvester Ikpi, who won the 1st prize of $2000 in the Media Race segment, said such a statement was unfriendly.
“We strongly appeal that we be paid our prize money which the government of Senator Liyel Imoke formally announced.
“We know that the government of Senator Bassey Otu is people-centred. We believe that they will look at our plight having been patient and hopeful for ten years,” he pleaded.
