Cross River State is set to recognize four former civilian governors on November 30, 2025, during the annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, which marks the official start of the month-long Carnival Calabar. Governor Bassey Otu approved this unprecedented gesture. The former governors—Dr. Clement Ebri, Mr. Donald Duke, Senator Liyel Imoke, and Professor Ben Ayade—will receive the state’s highest Merit Honour for Leadership during the event, which also launches the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Carnival Calabar. As part of the recognition, their names and statues will be permanently installed on the Walls of Heroes at Millennium Park, and they will be given 24-carat gold Star Medals and other symbols of leadership excellence. Each leader is being honored for significant contributions to the state’s growth: Ebri for stabilizing leadership during the Third Republic, Duke for tourism transformation, Imoke for infrastructure and social reforms, and Ayade for his industrialization drive. Their combined legacies represent major achievements in the state’s political and developmental history.
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