Akwa Ibom community demands chairmanship slot

Stakeholders of the Nkari community in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have cried out to the state government to intervene in the prolonged marginalization of the community which had denied them basic amenities and political opportunities in the state.

Briefing newsmen in Ikot-Ekpene Local Government, the International President, Nkari community, Elder Effiong Udoete, while making a case for the community to produce the next chairmanship of the local government, lamented that since 1999 to date the community has yet to produce either a Senator, House of Representatives or House of Assembly member, adding that even appointments such as Special Advisers have not come to them.

He said that the exclusion of the community from political opportunities had profoundly affected the community economically and politically.

“All of us are aware that since this dispensation politically- from 1999 to date, Nkari community has not produced any elected officer of the rank of a chairman of the council, House of Assembly, House of Representatives, or a Senator or all of that.

“We have not also enjoyed the fruits of democracy in the sense that we have not also been appointed by the government of the day to take charge of a remarkable position like the commissioner, chairman of board appointment, even SAs has ever come to us but we are interested in the appointments.

“That is why we are asking the government of Akwa Ibom State and everybody who should be concerned in our matter that in the face of equity and fair play, we should be given the opportunity of the chairmanship slot,” Odoete said.

Speaking, one of the stakeholders, Bassey Ekpo Esq, lamented that residents of the Nkari community are still living in the stone age.

“Just take a walk to Nkari, you will see that at my age, I am a little above 40, I don’t know what electricity looks like, whether it is black, white, green, or yellow. Not that it has been there before; it has never been there before.

“We don’t even have access road and portable water supply, I don’t know what these look like, we are still in those stone age, that is why we are urging the state governor, Umo Eno, to ensure that the right the people of Nkari is giving to the people of Nkari,” he said.