OPINION: The Magnet: Why Senator Jarigbe is Indispensable to Cross River Politics

BY Peter Agi

Politics is not a monologue. It is a conversation, a circulation, a current. And in Cross River State today, the man who understands current better than anyone is Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe. 

He does not shout. He does not chase every microphone. He carries what our people call intentional mystery. You will not find him in every trending post, but you will find his footprints in every local government. You will not hear him promise what he cannot do, but you will see value arrive in your community long before election posters go up. That is the difference between politics of noise and politics of flow. 

The first law he lives by is simple and it is ancient. Generosity is the lubricant of magnetism. 

Look around our political space and you will see why many leaders are running dry. A stingy person blocks the flow. When a leader decides that everything must come to him and nothing must go out, the people close their hands too. The youths stop mobilizing. The elders stop speaking. The party becomes a building with no life inside. But Senator Jarigbe refused that model from the beginning. He gives to receive political support and patronage, yes, but not in the small transactional way that expires after voting day. He gives values without expectations. He gives scholarships and does not wait for the child to come and prostrate. He gives medical interventions in Ogoja, Yala, Bekwarra, Obudu, and walks away before the cameras arrive. He gives roads, empowerment, access, and he does it with the quiet confidence of a man who knows that politics is always a two way flow. 

That is why he is not afraid to serve his people. Because in giving his source is inexhaustible. Men who think their source is in a bank account will eventually go broke and become bitter. Men who know their source is the people will never lack. And that is why Senator Jarigbe will never lack people to support his political agenda. He is magnetic. When things get hot, when factions rise, when money is flying everywhere, the people still look for him. Not because he bought them yesterday, but because he fed them when no one was asking. 

And beyond giving, he is an obsessive builder of his people. Cross River politics has too many demolition experts. Men who are brilliant at tearing down opponents, scattering structures, and collecting for themselves. We have very few men who are obsessed with laying blocks. Senator Jarigbe lays blocks. While others were fighting for titles, he was fighting for classrooms in communities that had been forgotten. While others were chasing contracts, he was chasing jobs for graduates who had no godfather. While others were building walls around their own house, he was building bridges so that his people could cross into relevance in Abuja and beyond. That is the kind of building that does not collapse when government changes. That is the kind of building that makes a man indispensable. 

A political system cannot survive without builders. You can have a hundred speakers, a hundred press releases, a hundred committees, but if no one is actually laying bricks, the house will fall on everyone’s head. Senator Jarigbe lays bricks every day. Quietly. Consistently. Even in years that are not election years. And that is why Northern Cross River still has a voice. That is why the youths still believe someone is listening. That is why the party still has a backbone in the zone. 

But let us not mistake generosity for carelessness. This is where the intentional mystery matters. He is very vigilant with his inner circle. He does not open the gate to everyone. He does not allow noise to sit at his table. Because he understands that a magnet attracts both iron and dirt. If you are not careful, the dirt will clog the magnet and the flow will stop. So he protects the center. He protects the people who have shown that they are about service and not just stomach. He protects the agenda of his people. He protects the dignity of the office he occupies. That vigilance is why he has survived political battles that swallowed bigger names. He does not react to every insult. He does not chase every shadow. He builds, he gives, he watches, and he lets the people do the talking for him. 

Now, in this season of 2027, Cross River is tired. There is hunger in the land. There is fatigue in the party. There is too much complaining and too little doing. People are asking hard questions about representation, about rotation, about who is really working. In that kind of season, you do not need another megaphone. You need a magnet. You do not need another complainer. You need a builder. 

This is the lesson every other politician in Cross River State must learn from Senator Jarigbe, and learn quickly. 

To those in the House, in the Assembly, in the Councils, other members in the National Assembly and those aspiring: stop blocking the flow. Generosity is not weakness. It is strategy. If you give, you will receive. If you serve, you will be defended. If you keep everything for yourself, you will enter election day alone. Learn to give values without expecting a thank-you card. Learn to put something in a ward that will still be there after you have left office. 

Learn to be builders, not demolition men. It is easy to criticize. It is easy to tear down what someone else started. It is hard to start something and finish it. Pick one school. Pick one health center. Pick one road. And finish it. The people are tired of groundbreakings. They want to see completed work. An obsessive builder will always outlast an obsessive talker. 

Learn to be vigilant about who is around you. Not everyone clapping for you loves you. Not everyone in your meeting is for your agenda. Protect your center. Protect your people. Protect the reason you went into politics in the first place. Otherwise the dirt will clog you and you will wonder why the people left. 

Learn that your source is not inexhaustible because of your pocket. It is inexhaustible because of your service. The moment you are afraid to serve, the moment you start calculating every naira before you help, the people will calculate you out. But the moment you serve freely, the universe backs you. Doors open. People appear. Loyalty multiplies. 

Senator Jarigbe is indispensable to our political system precisely because he embodies these things at a time when we have so little of them. Remove him from the equation and Northern Cross River loses its most consistent voice in the Senate. Remove him and thousands of youths lose the one man who still answers their calls. Remove him and the party loses the one leader who still knows how to give without making people feel small. 

Cross River does not need more noise in 2027. It needs more flow. It needs more magnets. It needs more men and women who understand that when your ambition is aligned with service, your structure becomes indestructible. Anyway, he can’t be removed ! So there’s no case to worry about. 

So to every politician reading this: study him. Not to copy his face, but to copy his code. Give. Build. Be vigilant. Be magnetic. 

Because in the end, the people will not remember how many press conferences you held. They will remember who fed them when they were hungry. They will remember who built when everyone else was breaking. They will remember who kept the flow moving. 

And that, in Cross River politics, is why Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe cannot be replaced.

Peter Agi (FCA)