Eneh John
“Leadership cannot be given, it must be earned. It cannot be taken away. You lose it by lack of performance.” -Anonymous.
The above can best describe the lawmaker representing Eket state constituency in the House of Assembly, Mr. David Lawrence.
His ascension to the house of Assembly, has been a retrogression in representation to the Ekid people.
A House of Assembly position in 2015, which the people of Ekid unanimously gave to David Lawrence, has been squandered by ineffectiveness. Never have we had it so bad in the Assembly, like this era, where even his voice has gone to the political wilderness.
It is evidently clear, that while other members of the sixth Assembly in Akwa Ibom State have engaged their people in discourses, to understand and get feedback on their performances so far, David Lawrence has so far been no where to be found in robust legislative performance.
I must commend the Chairman of Eket Local Government Council, Frank Archibong, who in the course of his electioneering campaigns, had transversed the length and breadth of Ekid, soliciting for votes, where David Lawrence had the opportunity of also going round in some places. Taking away the local government campaigns, the David Lawrence that we have come to know, would not have been to some of those places.
In one of the town hall meetings, some persons had abused the lawmaker as being self centered and had gone further to cast aspersions on him on his continuous disservice to the people.
In recent times, there have been calls for David Lawrence to brief the people on his activities so far, in the House of Assembly. Those calls have been repeatedly ignored, with no cogent reason(s) on why a lawmaker who is supposed to represent the people, is rather representing himself.
The calls for Eket State House Member to organize a constituency briefing, has not gone down well with the lawmaker, who view these calls, as anithetical to his representation.
The unanswered question remains, is David Lawrence forbidden from empowering his people? Why does he oppose these genuine agitations for a constituency briefing, when it is the right of the people to know how their Representative have fared so far.
Fewer than eighteen months from now, this ill representation of the Ekid people in the legislature will come to an end.
In the overall, David Lawrence knows that we have lost faith in him as our State House member. He has lost the goodwill of the people by lack of performance.
David Lawrence goes down in history, as the only Lawmaker in Nigeria, who rather than organize a constituency briefing, held a Choir singing competition as his constituency briefing.
I suggest that he takes a cue from his colleagues in the House of Assembly, who understands what it means to represent the people.
The people of Ekid are intelligent people, who leads at the forefront. We have never been known to be backward. Let the lawmaker not set a bad precedent for us. This is a call on the Lawmaker, to wake from his sleep and act as one who was entrusted with the people’s mandate.
#WENEEDCONSTITUENCYBRIEFINGINEKID.
In the coming days, we will publicly engage David Lawrence publicly, so that the right thing MUST be done. We cannot forever be taken for granted by one man’s selfishness.
In all, What legacies will David Lawrence leave and be remembered for?
A REPUTATION FOUNDED ON INTEGRITY, MUST BE NURTURED BY TRUTH.
Eneh John is an Investigative Journalist and Editor, Trail Reporters News.
Email: enehjohn33@gmail.com
