Ndoma-Egba: When A Good Man Returns To Abuja

Ndoma-Egba: When A Good Man Returns To Abuja

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 5:50 pm


Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba


By Nkrumah Bankong-Obi
A key nugget that good women and men adhere to is that which admonishes people to make copious lemonades and share with those in need, if life gives them lemons. In our clime, where one shoulder sometimes bears the burden of an entire clan and beams the light yet for much more to walk towards, it is difficult to please everyone and still retain a high pedigree. Members of the political class are worst affect. It is even worse, given that our understanding and practice of politics in many quarters is still medieval, parochial and patently myopic.
But a good man is a good man. Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, fits the description, since greatness by whatever perspective we understand it, is a trademark of good men. And what is greatness if not as captured by the British dramaturge, William Shakespeare, when he asserted that; “some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them”? Indeed Ndoma-Egba, by birth was born great. His father was a renowned lawyer whose legal practice took him across the defunct Eastern Region which then included Southern Cameroon. The senior Ndoma-Egba joined the Bench in 1976 and retired meritoriously in 1989 as a Justice of the Court of Appeal. His reputation as an honest and dedicated jurist still reverberates around Nigeria. It is likely that his son inherited a double portion of his father’s legal robes and charisma.
The legal profession moulded and led the younger Ndoma-Egba to platforms of great national service. His quest to achieve greatness saw him come against headwinds. He finished legal studies, tried his hands at journalism(little wonder his occasional contributions to national discourse are so deep, eloquent and nourishing). At various times, he spent part of his time moulding students to become lawyers while also in active legal practice. He remains in the history books as one of the youngest persons to be appointed as commissioner in Cross River State. He also held positions in investment promotion in Cross River when democracy was reinstituted Nigeria. Ndoma-Egba acquitted him responsibly well in each of these positions of responsibility. Who says hard work doesn’t pay?
Based on his effective delivery on previous assignments, o greatness was literary thrust on this gentleman lawyer. In 2007, he was popularly elected as senator representing Cross River Central Senatorial District. This became a sort of a national unveiling of an intellect and technocrat in the Red Chamber or Senate wing of Nigeria’s bicameral legislature. In the first coming, he became Deputy Senate leader while his associate, Teslim Folarin from Oyo State held sway as leader. Senator(Brigadier-General)David Mark was the Senate President. Ndoma-Egba began to ingratiate himself into the minds of Nigerians as a man who can be trusted, a man who understood the kind of legislation that the country required. So, his reelection in 2015 was relatively easier. This isn’t to foreclose the primordial intrigues that still characters politicking in Nigeria.
At the start of the legislative session or 7th Senate, Senator Ndoma-Egba was the natural choice as Senate Leader. With David Mark, he became the fulcrum on which the senate lithely revolved. Nigerians remember the maturity, cohesion that hallmarked that Senate, and quality of legislations passed by the National Assembly at that time. Regularly, friction between the arms of government was managed by subtle dèmarches. Unlike nowadays days when senators have been fingered in all sorts of absurdities, Ndoma-Egba and his colleagues were not and no sane person can dare say they were saints. But those legislators raised the bar that a lot of the new men are lowering now. It is in this light that one can confirm that the subject of this piece was nationally approved and internationally recognised as a legislator.
Does his achievements as a lawmaker alone make the Senator a good man? When the interventionist programmes in road infrastructure and provision of vehicles to move people and goods within Cross River State are aggregated, one can only give kudos, especially as some of these interventions were sui generis.
People have often described Ndoma-Egba as ‘elitist’. They accuse him of not making enough appearances at social functions, most of them at odd hours of the day. Of course, we all listen to our minds and bodies and follow appropriate regimes. Perhaps he doesn’t make under-the-table deals like most unscrupulous politicians in our country. Also, I don’t see how doing rounds at every mickey mouse ceremony can make one a good leader. Great leaders spend more time decking the mental laboratory. Ndoma-Egba is a man who understands the yearnings and aspirations of the people, not the few who want even tomorrow eaten today. In any case, there are pointers that he celebrates or mourns as appropriate, present or absent, with those within his extensive tentacles. Like all mortals, he is endowed with his foible. Hasn’t it been said though, that “talent is always balanced by foible”? Regardless of this, his performance in private practice and public service has been excellent.
Apart from the support given to individuals to climb up the ladder of life, Senator Ndoma-Egba assisted communities to access funding for their programmes and projects. Graduate lawyers heading to law school found in him a father. And he never failed to support or outrightly sponsor such people. The sick, orphans and scholars engaged in projects that concern the State looked up to him. In many cases, he never failed to put in his widow’s might – after all there are much more comfortable individuals in Cross River State who never lift a finger in show of fellow feeling. What is most important to me is the acclaim that the Senator brought to our Senatorial Distirct and indeed, our beloved Cross River State. He gave the zone a voice. I was always elated watching him lead debates and when people sent me Youtube links to his contributions on the floor of the senate and elsewhere.
With his profile accelerating in a geometric progression, Ndoma-Egba’s political adversaries began to dust up their gombah manuals. Elections 2015 provided them the avenue derail a good man’s ascension. These perennial obliterators, egotists and self-centre plunderers of our commonwealth stage-managed a situation which made Senator Ndoma-Egba’s return to the Senate, in their view, impossible. The imitable bloke declined to join the skimmers in the ring. He sat by and watched them triumph only momentarily. This refusal to hop into the sty with them won him many converts. Providence also smiled at him.
After a period of settling down, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed this illustrous son of Akparabong, Ikom, as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC board. It is yet another class act as the SAN, rendered services with precision, civility and uprightness. As the 2019 elections began to drew close, the people of Central Cross River began to call fervently for this worthy son of theirs to return to Abuja and be their eyes, ears and voice in the capital. Nigeria’s governing party, the All Progressives Congress, APC chose him as their senatorial flag bearer for the zone. That mandate which he got at the recent primaries of the party is a flight ticket handed to him to return to Abuja and speak for our people despite the snares observed by a persona in one of my poems:
“The hate chamber rose in flames
Pharaoh’s wards melted
In desires weaned on kitsches
Alas, the lodestar appeared
Darkness frothing in the morning jug, refrains
With a tail tucked between watchdogs…”
When this is accomplished, we don’t expect scott upcars as gift items or extremely perishable ‘empowerment’ items that some of our representatives have deployed to insult our heritage. In his third coming, we expect a university, a federal medical centre and at least a dam in Ogoja Province, even if we adopt a top down bargain. And if God guides our leaders in that direction, we will welcome a State of our own with both hands. Importantly, Senator Ndoma-Egba must push for the recognition of Ogoja Province as Nigeria’s truest centre of unity. Need I remind the reader that The Nigerian Civil War started in Ogoja.
When a good man goes to Abuja, especially after stocktaking, a lot of things are possible.
*Bankong-Obi is a journalist and poet. He sent this piece from Abuja via [email protected]


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