By Our Reporter
A House of Assembly aspirant for Obubra 1 State Constituency, Barr Enama Clement Cyprian, says he is in the race to restore the ‘politically lost’ voice of his people.
In a chat with our reporter in Ikom during the 1.5-million-man rally for the Governor’s re-election, organized by the ‘Prince is Coming Again Movement, Barrister Cyprian said “My desire to take part in the House of Assembly race for Obubra constituency 1 is to give quality representation. There is a leadership decay in Obubra.”
Going memory lane, the lawyer-cum-politician said, “After the loss 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. There is a failed leadership. We are lost.”
READ ALSO: 34-year-old arrested for unlawful possession of firearm in Cross River
He said the vacuum created “provoked me to come out to say, no, we need to get it right. Enough is enough. We will not continue crying every day over the past leaders. We should rather cry for the living.”
Barr Cyprian, who had never held any political position in his lifetime, believed that there are individuals in the council area who have capacity to perform like or even surpassed achievements of their past leaders, and therefore vowed to utilize his hard-earned resources as a private legal practitioner to change the narratives and give his people a quality representation.
“Right from the days of AC, ACN to APC, I have been there. I have been in private practice. I have never held any political position that probably would have motivated me to say, Oh, let me spend these resources to make sure Obubra is in the political orbit.
“I am using hard-earned resources from my private practice because I feel that even in private practice, I cannot impact on Obubra people the way it should be. And that is why I said, let me come to serve, and tackle the leadership decay. If my people would give me this opportunity, by the special grace of God, my one tenure in the office will prove that we have leaders.
“We need to bring back that control, that leadership. We need to bring back Obubra. If elected, I will help by reorganizing, rearranging the leadership, and streamlining certain things that I think are missing.
“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. You turn this left, there is war, you turn right, there is war. There is war everywhere. This is as a result of leadership failure.
“This is why I have offered myself, this is why I am calling on all our people to wipe their tears, rise up 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.”
