Something is cooking in Cross River North Senatorial District, where political gladiators are beginning to position themselves for the next senate election. Among those believed to be nursing the ambition to occupy that seat are a former governor of the state, Senator Ben Ayade, a former member of the House of Representatives, Legor Idagbo and the incumbent, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe.
TNN has been engaging stakeholders from that senatorial district on the issue. Mr Tom Agi, a former commissioner in the state who had also served as member of the state house of assembly, in this interview with OFONIME UMANAH, bared his mind on the likely choice of the people for the office, as preparations for the 2027 elections get underway.
Excerpts:
Let’s look at political developments in Cross River North, as the next election where the next senator for the zone is already by the corner. Speak to us about issues of zoning and what you think of the next senator that your people are likely to elect in 2027.
I have been part of the politics of the north. The House of Representatives and the senate seat as it concerns the north does not have any zoning formula. There was a time when Dr. Paul Ukpo was in the senate, that’s the same senate the present president of Nigeria was; that’s the same senate the former governor of Cross River, Senator Liyel Imoke was.
It came down to the senate where you had Musa Adede, where you had Kanu Agabi. When Kanu Agabi was senator, the house of reps was still in Bekwarra, even though it was short-lived by his appointment, but there has never been a time that the senate seat is assumed to be zoned to this people or that people, it’s a matter of the momentum, it’s a matter of the moment.
After Greg Ngaji was Prof Ben Ayade; then after Ayade was Rose Oko. Unfortunately, we lost her. May her soul rest in peace. After Rose Oko came Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, by the bye-elections and that has remained.
If you chronicle the Senate against the backdrop of the persons running now, Ayade has been in the senate for one term, Legor has been in the house of reps for two terms, Jarigbe has been in the senate for the remainder of what Rose Oko had, before running a full cycle.
The legislative seat, the advantage the people have is, when your representative is ranked, you can attract so many things more than just law making, to your constituents. We now have a Jarigbe who is ranked and then has a prime portfolio as chairman, gas committee. When you send people to the lawmaking house, you pray that they should be given prime committees.
In Cross River State, we are lucky, even in the South, in the Central and in the North, we have people who had choice committees already. So, if you ask for my opinion, I would say let Jarigbe be; let him run the senate seat. Ayade has been governor for four years, he did his best but I am not sure it was good enough to earn him a slot to the senate. Legor has been in the house of reps for eight years, his work should speak for him other than clamouring for zoning. I respect zoning if it was there from the beginning, but there have not been. If they are saying we should sit down now and do a referendum or say it should be zoned, it’s a different thing.
There was a time Ayade was governor, Jeddy Agba was a minister; why did they not think of zoning at that time? Because both of them were from the same local government. So, it’s a matter of momentum. At that time, the momentum was there.
You are saying Ayade’s eight years was not good enough to earn him a return to the Senate. Are you also saying his four years in the Senate was not good enough to make him go back for a re-election, because there are…
(Cuts in) I wish I was talking to Ayade directly. I would have asked him, did he forget anything in the Senate? If you had four years, being governor was a graduation from senate to a larger constituency that you would have affected the lives of your people. We had a road that was good, after the war the road was good. He came and with the intent, perhaps, to dualise and make it a better road. As we speak, that is a death trap to so many people except for the intervention of the present governor. That road never saw the light of day during Ayade, except now that attention is being given by the present governor. So, if you want to rate him by what has transversed the length and breadth of Cross River North, you won’t give him a pass mark. You may give him a pass mark in your personal opinion but majority of the people won’t give him a pass mark and I am sure that explains why he couldn’t win the election in 2023 to return to the senate, even when he was governor. If his record was good enough as senator then and good enough as governor, there is no way you can preside over a seat and lose.
I doubt if the picture is that bad, especially when you begin to look at some of the programmes and projects that he embarked on, but he initiated many lofty projects and he saw some of them through.
If you said he did so many things, you would have listed them, then we take it one after the other. I am not saying Ayade is bad in totality. There are policies that are good enough but you that is fronting it, mention them let us take a look at it, Sir.
If you want me to mention I can easily point to the garment factory which he did, I can easily point to the industrial area which he created which is still there till now, I can easily point to the fact that under Ben Ayade, people could feed well, under Ben Ayade the human face to governance was there.
Of the three you mentioned, his food on the table policy is the one you can foreground. You schooled in Calabar, you have stayed in Calabar. Do you have any shirt that you bought from the garment factory? Can you point out to anybody, even Ayade himself, the dress he sowed from the garment factory or the multiplier effect of the garment factory? Have you been to school road in Aba? These are colonies of tailors that as I sit with you, what I wear I made in Aba and I wear it proudly. Do you have a dress that you can point out proudly to, that this is made in the garment factory of Calabar, Cross River State?
The industries we went round to commission, we bought groundnut oil and kept and said ‘this is vegetable oil factory.’ After that day, who are the staff of that industry? What is the state of that industry during the pendency of Ben Ayade? How many products came from there and how many products are still existing till today. These are posers. But food on the table, upon his inauguration, he enlarged government and a lot of young men benefitted from the largesse of government. That means they benefitted from our common wealth in an unsustainable manner.
Let’s move to Legor. Legor was commissioner for works under Liyel Imoke’s government and everybody knows that under Liyel Imoke, rural development was top priority. Which means that was what Legor initiated, monitored, supervised and superintended over. So, will you also say that Legor is a push over?
The name, Legor, will not be a push over. He was local government chairman of Bekwarra before he became commissioner under Liyel. Legor did not initiate any rural development project. There was a RUDA(Rural Development Agency) headed by Eko Atu. There was a road maintenance agency headed by me. So, the roads you saw in the rural area were brain child of RUDA, not ministry of works. And the staff of RUDA were not staff of ministry of works, the staff of road maintenance agency were not staff of ministry of works. We had two COREN certified engineers and we had students who made 2.1 and they are still living, 2.1 from CRUTECH, that were supervising our roads. We had two COREN engineers. I’m not sure ministry of works had more than one who was their consultant and we too had a consultant. So, the students who were C’Riverians, I can mention three names that were from CRUTECH. We knew they had 2.1 and they had capacity to be engineers. We attached them to Zenith Construction and they were doing the maintenance of Calabar roads. And then we had Megalo as contractor that was doing the drain. There was no drain in Ekpo Abasi as at the time you and I were students there(the then Calabar Polytechnic). Megalo constructed that drain under the supervision of road maintenance agency.
The median you see on the highway on Marian, spanning through the highway was done by road maintenance agency. Ministry of works was simply supervising projects that you haven’t mentioned any, I am not the one who will mention it to him because I am not his consultant. I am speaking as somebody who knows the three of them you mentioned as aspirants and the things that they have done that endeared them to the people.
Jarigbe was in the opposition(PDP). We were not in the same party. He defeated us but did good to our people. If somebody does well… I was one of the apostles of those who said ‘please narrow our job for us by coming to our party. If you remain in that party, it will be difficult for us’ because we were not competitive enough as a party then. But now, he has simplified the hope of the common man because the organic response you get from the villages when you identify with Jarigbe is higher than any of those two persons you mentioned.
So, what’s the big deal about Jarigbe that you are speaking so passionately about?
No, no, no, I am not passionate. In comparative terms, in terms of electoral value, Jarigbe brings more to the table, he will have more number except you are going to write results. If you are going to vote, there will be more people who will vote for him. I am not saying he is a super star, but in comparative terms to the two persons you have mentioned, I think Jarigbe is ahead, electoral value wise.
Is it that you have interfaced with a cross section of people from the Cross River North for you to think and believe that…
(Cuts in) When you asked me whether I was in Abuja or Calabar, before we started this interview, I told you Ogoja and Abuja. My family is in Abuja, my businesses are in Ogoja. So, I go home. There is no 10 days that I am not in Ogoja. As I speak with you, I was in Ogoja for the last 10 days. I just came in. When Owan Enoh lost the younger brother who was a priest- may his soul rest in peace- I was home for all that period. I just came to Abuja the day before yesterday and I will go back to Ogoja by the weekend. I go to Ogoja all the time. The interface I am talking of, I interface with the people. But let us do this interview again after the elections, all I am telling you, I can boldly repeat because that is the aggregate thought flow of an average Northern Cross Riverian.
Can you point to the things that you think Jarigbe has done for which reason you think his shoulders are above people like Ben Ayade and Legor?
I can’t go to another local government. But for Yala, the road between Okuku and Ugaga, two kilometers on each half that takes you into the village of Ugaga, for the last hundred years had not been tarred. It is now tarred and has a drainage system. That’s for Yala 1. I come from Okuku, and that’s the road. The road between Okpoma that leads from the highway, that leads to Abakiliki into Owulacho is a tarred road now, with drains on both sides. It’s courtesy of Jarigbe. If you go to Ogoja itself, Jarigbe comes from Ibil, it takes you through Federal School of Arts and Science, Ogoja. That road has been a death trap but during the pendency of this administration, it has been done. I asked him how he got monies to achieve that, he said he has been doing it right from his house of reps, he has been doing it, one kilometers, two kilometers and now what you have left of that road is less than two kilometers to be a complete 15 kilometers road and I am sure, I haven’t spoken with him about the completion, before we get into the elections, that road that leads to his village, charity begins at home, will be a complete tarred road. These are the few ones I can readily mention but if I had a script, or if I had something from Jarigbe to tell for this interview, I am sure that it would be more but the results of the outcome of the elections that I am interested in, I am sure will not be too far away from the discussions we are getting.
