Long before I got to know Barr. Dan Iyo, I’ve heard great testimonies about him. I was agitating for the good people of Obanliku to be given fair opportunity as other local governments in the Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku federal constituency without any particular person in mind but when I remembered him, I quickly joined those who have been on his neck to throw his hat in the ring.
Barr. Dan as he’s fondly called is unique because he doesn’t strike me as the typical Nigerian politician. The day I met him, I was awe by his humility and the story of his humble beginning.
He’s not like former President Goodluck Johnathan who went to school without shoes but he has had his own fair share of very touching stories to tell on how he climbed the corporate ladder. I don’t think there’s anybody that’ll hear his story without being inspired. And leadership is all about inspiring others.
What humbled me most about him is that, immediately he had a little change of status, he started touching lives. He didn’t wait to become a multimillionaire before realizing that there are many people like him who needed a shoulder to lean on to climb the corporate ladder.
I know I’ve been one of those who had opined severally on social media that leadership position shouldn’t be a reward for philanthropism. But his style is different. While some election-year philanthropists have been doing theirs for the cameras, Dan was doing his quietly in accordance with scriptural instructions contained in Mathew 6:3 that when you give to the needy with right hand, “Let not thy left hand know”.
Understanding the need for his rare philanthropist gesture to be more coordinated, the Lawyer and his dear lovely wife, Marian Dan Iyo set up the famous Dan & Marian Iyo’s Foundation about eleven years ago. At the time this couple set up the foundation, the media-driven politically motivated foundations were hear about today in Cross River were non-existent.
Silently but consistently, this couple took their philanthropism to another level with provision of scholarship for people, catering for the orphans and widows, training of law graduates in law school amongst several other interventions.
For a man who has not held any political office to use his hard earned money to touch lives like that for this long without asking for anything in return shows his genuiness. People like him need to be supported with everything we got because he has demonstrated for over a decade that he purpose for his existence is to inspire and lift others.
Beyond the fact that he comes from the local government where there’s a seeming consensus of opinion that deserve the reps seat in 2023 or his excellent law background that assured of his primary responsibility of making laws, he’s a man that anybody that means well for the people should support.
Please, think Barr. Dan for Obudu/Bekwarra /Obanliku federal constituency in 2023.
Think APC!
