By Our Reporter
The continuous violent clashes among communities in Obubra is as a result of outright leadership failure in the council area, a lawyer and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barr. Enama Clement Cyprian, has said.
Recall that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was quoted last week as saying that violent communal clash between Odonget and Esabang communities in Obubra left dozens dead and hundreds displaced.
Besides, communities like Ochon, Alesi and others have been involved in years of intermittent violence.
In a chat with our reporter, Barr. Enama, who is the House of Assembly aspirant for Obubra 1 State Constituency, said all cadres of leadership in the area should be blamed for the incessant carnage.
“My desire to take part in the House of Assembly race for Obubra Constituency 1 is to give quality representation and much needed leadership because there is a leadership decay in Obubra.
“After the demise of the previous leaders we’ve had, the likes of Chief John Oyom Okpa, that is, the late deputy governor and others, Obubra has never been the same. We are lost. You turn left, there is war, you turn right, there is war. There is war everywhere,” he stated.
Enama said he was on a salvage mission to “bring back communal control, that leadership. We need to bring back Obubra,” adding, “If elected, I will help by reorganising, rearranging the leadership, and streamlining certain things that I think are missing.”
The lawyer-cum politician, who had never held any political position in his lifetime, said further, “I am using hard-earned resources from my private practice to embark on this mission because I feel that even in private practice, I cannot change this ugly narratives.
“The truth is that Obubra’s voice has long gone in the scheme of things politically. We can no longer go to ask for a political position, or for an appointing position, or for anything, even infrastructural requests. We have not been able to go as a group, as a block.
“Let Obubra people unite themselves for the very first time. As we speak today, and for over three years now, we’ve not had electricity, not even a blink of it. There is not even any good source of water in Obubra.
“We will tackle the leadership decay and bring the narratives to an end.
“This is why I have offered myself, this is why I am calling on all our people to wipe their tears, rise to the occasion and send me to the House of Assembly for the overall good of our people.”
On the chances of the governor’s re-election next year, he said “We are here to showcase to the world that indeed, our Governor, having done very well, the entire Cross Riverians are still very much interested in him returning to Government House to complete the good work he started about three years ago.
“We are very confident that by the time he completes his second term, Cross River State will have a new shape and a new look infrastructurally, economically and socially.”
