Obonoh Calls for End to Impunity in Akwa Ibom Politics

A frontline politician in Akwa Ibom State, Hon. Friday Obonoh, has called for an end to impunity in politics in the state, adding that the game of politics in any civilised society should be played according to set rules.

Obonoh, a former councillor and chairmanship contestant of Oruk-Anam Local Government Area, said he has come to agree that politics in Africa “is a dirty game and even if you have the noblest of ideas, you might not be given the opportunity to serve.”

The politician who was hosted by his people recently in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital after what he described as a political holiday, said “Politics in my state is now based on political patronage and imposition of the candidate against the wishes of the people.”

Obonoh, councilor under the former administration of Governor Obong Victor Attah, served the people of Oruk-Anam; and his tenure heralded many democratic dividends and projects for his people.

However, his travails in politics started after his intention to run for the chairmanship of Oruk-Anam Local Government in 2017, a venture that did not go down well with power brokers in the state’s politics and forces bent on imposing their own candidate on the people of Oruk-Anam.

This unpopular decision associated with the violent political culture of the elite allegedly led to a campaign of calumny, harassment and peddling of wrong information on mainstream and social media to discredit his candidature.

While encouraging young people to get involved in the 2023 election as a way of giving the dividends of democracy to the people, he used the opportunity to make a case for a level playing field and in an attempt to end political intimidation that has pervaded the system.