By Sylvania Ushie
In the last two weeks, the political barometer in Cross River North has been on the rise as agitations and permutations all linked to 2027 politics, have arisen.
It all began with the formation or rebirth of NORTHCO, a political pressure group laying false claims to representing the interest of Cross River North. But practically, all its members have been in office more or less continuously since 1999, yet the North of Cross River has nothing to show for their countless years in power. They have resurfaced, not with the clearest of intentions for the people, but with a fleeting claim to loving Cross River North. It is a deceptive enterprise and I just must ask, can a vulture turn into a dove?
In all their years in government, these people did not remember the North, it just did not exist in their minds. Now, for the first time, the North of Cross River has a practical senator, fervently working for the North and pushing her interests forward, then lo and behold, these forces are limping through a realignment process, loudly dead on arrival. Is it now that members of the House of Reps from the North are meritoriously serving the people of their various constituencies that these expired fellows want to come and spoil the flow of development in the North?
In all their years in office, most of these prodigal politicians never went near home; they operated far away in Calabar. Their politics was in Calabar, far removed from the people. Even when the government of former Gov. Liyel Imoke sent them home with goodies for the people, they never went home. Their stock in trade was to take hotel rooms in Calabar, lavish the people’s commonwealth there and send pittance to the people. Those of them who were ferried on the people’s ticket to Abuja returned only to Calabar, never to the North, where they stayed until they went back to Abuja. They never cared for the North then.
These same folks were part and parcel of the rapacious Ayade administration; an administration that left the North worse than it met it. It was during Ayade’s tenure that the Obudu Ranch Resort was stripped bare by these executive thiefs who ensured that the ranch collapsed. It was also during Ayade’s tenure in government that the Obudu International Marathon was scrapped for rocket science reasons. We have not forgotten that during Ayade’s tenure, many roads that the people were had over the years managed to use, were scrapped but never repaired, yet billions of naira were siphoned off in the name of the North, through these sons of the North.
These men ganging up now, played critical roles in the pauperisation and destruction of the North. They were the page boys and men of a regime that didn’t make the North rise. They are gathering again, clearly to feast on the carcass of their own people.
Today, after a long drawn out political battle, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe and co are beginning to make our people have a taste of government amenities and facilities, but to these real enemies of the North, it is for them a time to get together again and seek to push back, the forward thrust of representation, the kind Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe and co are delivering.
But sincerely, there is nothing to worry about because we know the enemies of the North and their fickle gathering, the attempt to gang and see how they can deceive the leadership in our state let them leech on our commonwealth again. It will all be an exercise in complete futility because they cannot win anything politically.
The North of Cross River, the land that birthed greats like Joseph Wayas, Mathias Offoboche, I. I. Murphy, and their ilk, will refuse to be led by persons who have nothing to offer the people. Our political dishes must not be served by men with leprous fingers
Ushie, writes from Calabar.
The views expressed are the writer’s and do not in any way represent the views of www.calitown.com
