A’Ibom Guber Aspirant Decries Prevalence of Cultism

Okon Bassey 

Worried by the prevalence of cultism, which has penetrated the basic schools system including primary school, one of the governorship aspirants in Akwa Ibom State  in the 2023 general election, Obong Ide Owodiong-Idemeko, has vowed to eradicate the menace, if he becomes the next governor of the state.

Owodiong, a former ExxonMobil manager, noted that  cultism persists because of lack of political will to contain the situation.

Fielding questions from Journalists in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital,yesterday, the governorship hopeful stressed that the evil of cultism thrives in the state because of no appropriate punishment to deter the offenders, assuring that if elected, the menace would be tackled.

Owodiong, a former student union leader, is among nine governorship aspirants under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  who have so far obtained  nomination forms in the state.

Speaking on his development plan for the state, the gubernatorial  aspirant said he would set up Diaspora fund to help in developing the state, noting that ‘governance is a continuum”.

Also, he said he would evaluate all the ongoing projects in the state including the science park initiated by former governor Obong Victor Attah’s administration, explaining that his decision to complete all the ongoing projects in the state was “to add value to tax payers money”.

“All previous projects embarked upon by the previous administration that have not been completed will be evaluated.

“This is the first thing I will do when I come into office because I don’t believe that disagreeing with the previous administration should make you abandon projects sponsored by the tax payers.

“Our industrial programme must be tied to specific resources  that we have competitive advantage. We have to develop our blue economy as we have the longest coastal in the country,” he said.

He promised to build a strong democracy practice,  saying he would run an open and accountable government while elected officials would be held accountable in a bid to deepen democracy.

Owodiong, who had in 2015 aspired to be a senator representing Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) senatorial district, said he would develop the youths and encourage sports in addition to giving much attention to women development.

“With regards to youths, I think that is an area we are really here to advocate for human capacity development and we will work for human capacity development. I want to keep sports separate but bringing youths and sports together because they are the most vulnerable in our society.

“We will deliver in four thematic areas of human development including economic empowerment for our women and see how we can end the issue of violence in the society,” he said.

He said he was in the governorship race to win having been involved in leadership positions in all his career including his University days where he was the first elected secretary general as well as being a member of the governing council of the University of Uyo.

He lauded the Udom’s administration for its industrialisation programme, saying a lot has been done as seen in the aviation sector and the establishment of many factories.

He, however,   expressed dismay that “our people are not involved and are not befitting from the value chain of the industrialisation programme.