C’River Rep Fetes Disabled Constituents On 60th Birthday
Edith CHUKU
In his habit of seeking avenues to touch the lives of his constituents, the member representing Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency of Cross River State in the House of Representatives, Dr. Alex Egbona, opted to celebrate his 60th birthday with physically challenged constituents.
The event which held on Sunday, at Egbona’s home town was an opportunity for the disabled to feast and dance with their representative in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
Describing the occasion as rare, the overwhelmed disabled people in Abi/Yakurr constituency praised Egbona for marking his birthday with them and prayed God to bless and lift him to greater heights.
In an interview with TNN, Mr. Vaman Andrew-Moren, the chapter chairman of Abi persons with disabilities, expressed excitement, describing the event as wonderful.
Moren, whose right arm is impaired recalled that Egbona hosted physically challenged people during his 50th birthday, noting that it was the second time the lawmaker was celebrating his birthday with them. Egbona has, however, not celebrated his birthday in public, since the last one, in 2014.
He also narrated how they benefitted from the lawmaker’s empowerment programmes and how Egbona intervened when he(Moren) was booked for an operation with no fund to pay for it.
His words: “I feel so excited because this is the second time. In his 50th birthday, then I was still in school, Chief Alex invited us, it was wonderful, even one of our persons that was empowered then, in fact, the money that he was empowered with, he used it to start a business and he has been successful and got married through that empowerment then. I feel so good that he invited us for this one also.”
He described Egbona as “oga wey dey help people’. He is a man that always makes us smile, he is somebody that we always pray for and hope that he continues to excel because when we go to him, he can never say no.
“This my hand when I was about to undergo operation in orthopedic hospital, then I did not know him, I was short of money, the hospital applied to my state government, the letter got to them and the thing somehow delayed. The letter was minuted to Chief Alex, then he was Chief of Staff, Cross River State, as soon as I got to him, he saw my condition, he did not waste time, he treated the letter and everything was settled and I went back for the operation. He is somebody that I don’t play with. I always pray for him”
Moren charged other physically challenged people not to give up, saying there is ability in disability. He encouraged them to, “go to school because there are lots of opportunities, some persons can give you scholarship.
“Those doing business are doing well with the encouragement they are getting, and we believe that our condition is getting better especially with Dr. Alex Egbona by our side.”
Another disabled person, a native of Ediba in Abi LGA, Mr Eminent Ubi, expressed gratitude to God, while describing Egbona as a good man.
“I feel so elated in my spirit, so happy, so grateful to God Almighty. He is a good man; good people are so rare to come by these days and I feel so special sharing the same date of birth with him.
“In a world where persons living with disability are not given concern, this man has come out to be so wonderful.
“People call him a philanthropist but I call him a man with the heart of gold. You will never see an event held anywhere and persons of my kind are called to be partakers of the event, except him alone and to that, I say God bless him.
“I call him my friend and you know what it means to call him my friend; he has been a good man to me, he has shown me concern and attention. Whenever I call on him for assistance, he does it without any iota of reservation.”
Ubi prayed that “the good Lord who sees beyond the ordinary, who sees the heart of men and know the intent thereof, God Almighty will bless him, he will replenish him the more.”
On his part, the celebrant expressed gratitude to God for making him see his 60th birthday, narrating that at a point while growing up he was not certain he would make it to 40 years following an experience in the community where he lived with his uncle.
Egbona had also used the opportunity of his birthday to distribute his autobiography to the disabled and urged them to read about the trajectories of his life and note that if he could become somebody in life, they too would triumph over life oddities.
He also gave rice and cash to all the disabled persons in the constituency who were present to celebrate with him.
