They once served the country meritoriously, but long after their tenures it’s not clear where they could be at the moment; ELEOJO IDACHABA wonders in this report.
Jerry Ugokwe
He once represented Idemili North and South federal constituency of Anambra state in the House of Representatives in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was very vocal while in the House and was noted for the passage of many bills, especially for the award of the contract of the Onitsha/Owerri road which was in a complete state of disrepair and a death trap to many road users.
He was also very outspoken on the government’s poverty eradication programme which, according to him, was the only way to improve the welfare of the masses. A bold and courageous lawmaker, he always stood for whatever he believed in. Despite his robust contributions as a lawmaker, he could not return to the House after 2003. In 2008, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Austria at a time that the rating of Nigerians in that country was so bad. He was able to turn the situation around a few years after he assumed office.
Writing on the personality of Ugokwe as an ambassador, Uzoma Ahamefule, a Nigerian based in Austria, said, “Before the coming of Dr. Jerry Ugokwe as Nigerian Ambassador to Austria in 2008, the image of Africans particularly Nigerians was so bad that every black person on the street was suspected to be a criminal or a drug dealer and would be the first to be arrested within the scene of any crime. That Dr. Ugokwe has been overwhelmingly acknowledged by many as a good leader in Austria cannot be a mistake or by accident because people are judged and remembered in life for two things: the problem they solved and the problem they created. Across ethnic lines, political affiliation and religion, Dr. Ugokwe helped over 30 Nigerians to sustainable working positions in the UN, a feat many people in his status may not have bothered to use their positions to influence. He was a dynamic and a selfless leader. With his good deeds boldly printed in the heart of many Nigerians in Austria, history will be fair to him and we will never forget him.”
Although he was eventually removed as ambassador to that country, it is on record that the enviable record of this architect-turned politician made impressionable marks in Austria such that the negative stigma which was a burden on Nigerians in that country was removed. He has since been quiet even when his political associates have been making desperate efforts to out-do one another on the political scene.
Helen Esuene
Mrs. Helen Esuene was the minister of state for health, but later she was moved to the environment and housing ministry under former President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2005 and 2007. On leaving office following the end of Obasanjo’s regime, she contested election and won the senatorial seat to represent Akwa Ibom South in the National Assembly from 2011 to 2015, on the platform of the PDP.
Esuene was elected into the Senate in 2011 and did not return because she had to honour an agreement she made with her people. She said, “When I was campaigning for the Senate in my senatorial district, the unwritten agreement among the people of my district was that each federal constituency that occupies the senatorial seat should go for two terms and then it would move to the next federal constituency. You know when Senator Udo Udoma was here, he was representing Ikot Abasi federal constituency and he was here for two terms. Thereafter, Mrs. Ekaette came on board and she represented Eket federal constituency.
“I am from Eket as well. So, by next year, Eket federal constituency would have done two tenures. And it is supposed to move to the third federal constituency which is Oron. And when I was going to contest, it was a deep pushing during my campaign. And the issue was that ‘since you are going for the first time, are you sure that you will not want to go back’? That was the fear they had. And I gave them my word that I would do one term and leave. So, I wouldn’t want to go back on my words.”
Esuene was a first lady of Old South Eastern states and almost became first lady of Nigeria because her late husband, Brig.-Gen. Udoakagha Jacob Esuene (retd.), was the presidential aspirant of the now defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Writing about Mrs. Esuene, a social commentator, Nseobong Okon-Ekong, said, “As there is no school for widows to go learn how to overcome the emotional trauma of losing their spouse, Chief (Mrs.) Helen Esuene, wife of the late former military governor of the then Cross River state, Chief Udokaha J. Esuene, had to depend on instinct to give meaning to her life again. If she were to write a book now, it would focus on how widows of famous men can find their feet after the demise of their husbands.
“There may be no guarantee that what has worked for her may work for someone else, but she has since put together other workable approaches in a book that she is tinkering with. Her late husband was a distinguished pilot who flew fighter planes in the Nigerian Air Force. He became a military governor for seven years, reigning over what is now Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. In the run-up to the 1993 presidential election, he was one of the candidates seeking the presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).”
Lately, however, not much has been heard about this woman again.
Dapo Sarumi
Chief Dapo Sarumi hails from Lagos state. He was the minister of information under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former governorship aspirant on the platform of the SDP, but was later disqualified. In 2014, Chief Sarumi who was also alleged to be eyeing the governorship seat of Lagos was rumoured to have developed stroke, a rumour he came out to deny, saying, “Those peddling the rumour of the ailment have a dirty mind and sinister motive for such a rumour. The person who told you that I am sick lied in every way. Is he a doctor? Even if I have stroke, how does that stop me from contesting? Is that one of the criteria or qualification to contest? I was in Aso Rock Villa recently where I spoke with many prominent people. As you are speaking with me, do I sound like someone who is sick?”
Chief Sarumi came into the national consciousness in the defunct Third Republic when he and his compatriot from Epe town, the late Dr. Femi Agbalajobi, contested for the SDP governorship ticket in 1991. Both were disqualified when none was willing to step down for the other and the acrimony between them was heating up the polity. It is not clear where this former minister is and what he is doing presently.
