Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nsima Ekere, said, weekend, that the days of ethnicity as a determining factor in the politics of the state were over for good as the people had risen above such primordial sentiments.

Ekere, who spoke, weekend, during the 24th anniversary of the foremost Ibibio youth organisation, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, and reception for Governor Godswill Akpabio, said it was unfortunate that some unscrupulous elements within and outside Akwa Ibom were still fanning the embers of ethnic discord and seeking to distract the Akpabio administration four months after the elections.

He urged members of the socio-cultural organisation to condemn “these elements that are bent on damaging the image of Akwa Ibom and, in the process, scare away investors from the state.”

The Deputy Governor, who represented the Governor, berated those who regard Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio as an ethnic body, saying they failed to understand that the core philosophy of the organisation was the unity of the state.

Mr. Ekere stated that the future of Akwa Ibom lied on the path of unity and urged members of Mboho to remain agents of unity and brotherhood for other Akwa Ibom people to follow.