By Simon Utsu
A couple of months ago – I resolved within me to be more involved in the 2019 political process, than I’ve been in any other general election season previously. In supporting a candidate – my first port of call is my conscience and the first question that my conscience always throws at me is: Is the person people oriented? I’m delighted to throw my little weight behind Representative Legor Idagbo because for starters, my conscience has overwhelmingly allowed me to. My rep (Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku) at the Federal House of Representatives has performed excellently in the last three years as has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he went to Abuja for the people first before any other thing.
As early as 2015, I sought clarification about some major constituency projects being carried out by a colleague of his in Edo- I wanted to know if he too was doing something similar. I messaged him and if I remember well, my tone was unfriendly. The rep took out time to list out his ongoing and proposed constituency interventions in the most pleasant tone.
In the last three years, he has surpassed expectations and evenly rolled out projects across the three local governments under him. They’re too numerous to mention in a single post and range from building and equipping of skills acquisition centers, construction and renovation of classroom blocks, solar powered boreholes and street lights, supply and installation of step-down transformers and even repairs and construction of some remote roads. Over time (sometimes in real time), I reached out to his office to get these data and personally sent a couple of my associates to verify and they did in the affirmative!!!
And in April this year, Rep Legor partnered with an American based NGO to pioneer the first private sickle cell clinic in Cross River. The Centre located in Bekwarra will service sickle cell patients in northern and central parts of Cross River and even neighboring Benue state. This novell project is the one that touched me the most as I’ve lost a number of friends and loved ones to the terminal blood disease over the years.
Barrister Legor has also successfully sponsored over a dozen bills in the period under review, which include a bill for Nigerians with disabilities, a bill for a sexual offenders register to be launched (like is obtainable in the western countries) and a bill to amend the criminal justice (release from custody) act so our prisons could be decongested. These are in addition to the honorable rep moving scores of motions. Barrister Legor is blessed with the gift of the gab- when he speaks, he does so fluently and convincingly and everyone around would always want to listen 👂.
For those who don’t know, he is the son of the late Justice Idagbo, who together with the late Justice Ekpapong and Justice Ndoma-Egba, remain three of the finest judges the Cross River nay Nigerian bench ever had!
Legor served as Imoke’s works commissioner for four years. Prior to that, he was chairman of Bekwarra local government area. He’s a very polished gentleman. He attended Charles Walker memorial nursery-primary school Calabar, a sister school to Madonna Montessori which I attended! Back in the day, parents who wanted their kids to have the best foundation in Calabar took them to either of those schools or any of the very few other available options.
Legislation is serious business; it’s not for the inexperienced. Our (his constituents) aim should be to return him to the Federal house of reps in 2019 as this would see him gaining more ground and being allocated more (deserved) responsibilities by the leadership of the house to the advantage of his constituents. Who knows, he could even be elevated to house leadership level! 2019 isn’t a year for experiments or needless risks, rather, it’s a year for rewarding the performers and also, righting our wrongs.
Utsu wrote in from Lagos.
