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)