Michael Bush, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in Akwa Ibom State, has condemned the usage of ‘ARISE’ badges as a sign of loyalty to Governor Umo Eno.

The veteran broadcaster and newspaper columnist made the condemnation in an exclusive interview with Sunday Independent.

Being an acronym for Agricultural Revolution, Rural Development, Infrastructure Advancement, Security Management, and Educational Advancement, ARISE is the policy thrust of the Umo Eno-led administration in Akwa Ibom, which four-year tenure began on May 29, 2023.

The Inscription of the ARISE tag, which appears in fashions such as badges, prints on clothes, hats, footwear, among others, have been used by a section of people in Akwa Ibom to indicate loyalty to Eno.

Decrying misplacement of loyalty in the state, Bush opined that “Akwa Ibom people owe loyalty only to the state and not the office of the governor.”

With reference to the trend of using badges with respective attachment to an individual governorship era, the journalist-turned-politician said that if the need to use a badge becomes necessary, “it should not be a badge that would be changed every tenure, but Akwa Ibom badge that anybody could wear anytime.”

Vowing “to liberate the people” if he gets elected, Bush described the badge wearing culture as “almost like enslaving the people”.

Asserting that his governorship candidacy is more of a mass movement than a single party affair, he disclosed that his preference is for a government that would have appeal across party lines and one that the people would not be conscripted to pay loyalty to an individual or a party. (Daily Independent)

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