A lawyer and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Obubra local government area of Cross River state, Barr Enama Clement Cyprian, has said leadership failure was the reason for continuous communal wars among various communities in the area.
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 Blueprint.ng in Calabar, Wednesday, Barr Cyprian, who is the House of Assembly aspirant for Obubra 1 State Constituency, said all cadres of leadership in the area should be held responsible 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.
Cyprian said he was on a salvage mission to “bring back communal control, that leadership. We need to bring back Obubra.”
“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.
“We will tackle the leadership decay and bring the bloodbath to an end.”