Featured

Senatorial Bye-Election: Ukelle Diaspora Drum Support for Hon Agom

Published

5 years ago

October 26, 2020

…Kicks Off electioneering campaign Cross Northern Senatorial District

Cyril Ogar – Abuja

As the race for the Cross River northern senatorial Bye-election gathers momentum, A Group under the auspices of Ukelle in Diaspora, has thrown their weight behind their preferred candidate RT Hon Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, ahead of the Cross River North Senatorial bye-election in Cross River State.

This was made known in a press statement signed by the Acting National Coordinator, Bar. Alex Ebi Edim, and made available to AljazirahNigeria in Abuja. While enumerating the achievements made by Hon Agom who currently represents Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

According to the group, the lawmaker has all it takes to represent the great and good people of Cross River North Senatorial district at the Red Chamber based on his experience, knowledge, and pedigree over the years.

The group in the statement Advocated that it is the turn of Ogoja to emerge as senator following the death of late Senator Rose Oko, who the senator was representing Cross River North at the Senate, which he described as a blow to the entire senatorial district and Cross River State as a whole.

The statement reads in part, “Just as Senate seat is never a birthright for an individual, so also we should know that is never a birthright for a particular local government or ethnic or tribal group to be a senator.

“Each day people cry for a dividend of democracy when someone is representing them but when it time for the leader to come out, we use all strategies to say it must be from a particular place without considering if another zone has ever produced someone from there or has tasted that seat to keep doing the good work he has been doing.

“For a very long time since the inception of Senate till the present 9th Assembly, Ogoja local government Area which is one out of the five local government areas that constitute the Northern part of Cross River State has never in history produced a senator.

Not because they are not good enough as compared to those who have been there but because they are patient and always following due process.

The time for Ogoja is now “Hon Jarigbe is a man who over the years have proved to his constituency that power belongs to God and who believes that being in the green chamber is through the help of his people and not himself.

He is always seen appreciating his people. He is the only leader who has his people at heart anytime.”

According to the group, Hon Agom’s second tenure which he is currently serving he has empowered over 200 constituents from across the 24 wards of Ogoja/Yala with Birds, Feeds and Vaccines to run agribusiness; free medical outreach across Ogoja/Yala with Over 5,000 constituents as beneficiaries; empowered over 50 constituents with commercial motorcycles, over 25 tricycles (Keke NAPEP), mechanized farm implements and five cars to people across Ogoja/Yala; facilitated the supply and installation of 2nos 500kva transformers in Ogoja; provided cash for small and large scale business start-up capital to his constituents; special invention with N250,000 to youth from Ijibor in Bekwarra Local Government Area to a start-up business.

Rehabilitation of Borehole in Ochochi Okpudu in Okpoma, in Yala LGA; Yuletide Palliative to widows; entrepreneurship development training facilitation for over 400 constituents in order to access CBN’s AGSMEIS Loan of N10 million; organized skills acquisition training for youths across the 24 wards of Ogoja/Yala including cash for start-ups; paid JAMB registration fee for 240 students from 24 wards of Ogoja/Yala; payment of bursary to students of a high institution of learning in Ogoja/Yala; provision of materials against COVID-19 pandemic in the constituency including hand sanitizers, nose masks, and hand gloves along with palliative to vulnerable persons.

He also reeled out some ongoing and completed projects facilitated by the lawmaker in his federal constituency which include supply and installation of 2nos kva Transformers in Ogoja; onstruction of Nwang road in Ekajuk; construction of classroom block with library and offices for Comprehensive Secondary School in Ekajuk, Ogoja LGA; drilling and installation of solar-powered bore-hole projects at Abachor-Okuku in Yala LGA; Wanikade Ward, Yala LG; Ogoja Central Mosque; Ishindede in Ibil, Ogoja; Ntagamol, Ogoja; Bansara, Ogoja; Ekumtak, Mbube; Ishi-aya, Ogoja; Oyirim, Ogoja; Okpodon, Ogoja; Oba, Yala; Ijiraga, Yala; Gabu, Yala; Abachor, Yala; and Igbekurikor, Yala; Yehe, Yala.

From the above, we can attest that Hon Jarigbe is a purpose-driven leader who is ready to rescue our people by providing more employment, projects, build infrastructure, and render services to us.

He is people-oriented and concerns about the rural areas because he felt the pains of those in rural areas. “Your total support for him won’t be a regret but a plus in the development of our dear political district”, he added.

In a related development, the Cross River State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has kicked off electioneering campaign for the Cross River Northern Senatorial District with Mr. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe as its flag bearer with the inauguration of a campaign council
Addressing the campaign council, Barrister Venatius Ikem, the Director-General of the Campaign Council congratulated every member of the campaign council on their appointment,

Ikem who is also a PDP state chairmanship candidate in the forth coming state Congress of the party, charged everyone to remain steadfast and focus on delivering victory to the PDP and Jarigbe Agom in the forthcoming Senatorial election.

Also Speaking, Chief Austine Edibe the Secretary-General of the Campaign Council underlined the need for unity especially in the days ahead,

Chief Austine appealed to all members of PDP to take the Jarigbe Agom message of a better Cross River North to every part of the Senatorial district.

Share on Facebook

Featured

ELECTING A POPE: THE BURDEN OF MAKING CHOICES

Published

16 hours ago

May 11, 2025

The Gleamer

By Olubunmi Mayaki

“Habemus papam!” which in the English Language means, “We have a Pope.” was pronounced by Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, a French Catholic prelate, His Eminence, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti from the iconic loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican City on Thursday 8 May 2025 after white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Those Latin words proclaimed to a tensed global audience the result of the election of a new Supreme Pontiff after the death of Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) on 21 April 2025 at the age of 88 years.

The Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Cardinal Robert Prevost (Pope Leo XIV) emerged as primus inter pares (first among equals) from the cardinals after undergoing detailed election rituals, which have been the process of selecting the head of the 2000-year-old Catholic Church for centuries.

A papal conclave, the process by which a new Pope is selected, was held consisting of one hundred and thirty-three (133) College of Cardinals, drawn from different parts of the world converged at St. Peter’s Basilica for a public mass before heading to the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes to elect the 267th Pope. During the mass, part of the choir renditions reminded voters to remember their last day when they would stand before God in judgment to render their stewardship on earth, which is to prevent them from rigging the voting process. At the behest of the senior cardinal deacon, voting formalities were read to the electors, which included- oath-taking- “I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one whom I believe should be elected according to God”. Other processes are banning phones, jamming calls, forbidding speaking or contacting any of the candidates, voting rounds, spiritual pauses etc.

Looking at the voting process, one should be curious about how an election to pick a leader for a religious body could be so systematic and attract such global attention. It is a sharp contrast to elections where political leaders are chosen. Even in the so-called advanced democracies, we have seen electoral flaws and a dearth of political leaders. States are finding it difficult to pick genuine statesmen, giving rise to hegemonic leaders. These political imperia ums are emerging and stoking crises in their domain. Fallouts of elections are no longer favourable due to unpopular candidates forced on citizens.

Africa, as a case study, shows that no matter the rules put in place by the continent’s leaders, our election processes have been fraught with rigging, corruption and waste. In most cases, the leaders who set the rules are the violators of the same process. Governments conspire with electoral bodies to truncate election processes at will. Such political brigandage has destroyed the progress of the continent.

Closing this view, I hope that African leaders will take a cue from the Catholic Church’s election process to reinvigorate and rejig the continent’s faltering political process for the good of its people. Better still; political scholars from the continent can study the Catholic model. The common features of elections in most parts of Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, are riddled with vote rigging, violence, human rights abuse, repression, barbarism, crises, untold hardship, and sometimes, outright war. This is the bane of Africa’s development.

The burden of making good political choices should ordinarily rest on citizens. However, politicians have hijacked this process for selfish reasons. It has given birth to bad leaders. If we fail to get it right, what we see is what we get. That is the story of the world politics!

Share on Facebook