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By Omife I. Omife Mbuze Mbaukwu
Something akin to a mega political rally took place recently in Awka, Anambra State, when a large crowd made up of religious leaders, traditional rulers, stakeholders comprising politicians, women and youth leaders mainly of Anambra Central People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stock assembled at the Uche Ekwunife Centre.
Their mission was to hear Senator Uche Ekwunife give an account of stewardship of her three years representation in the Senate.
Although Ekwunife’s massive record of achievements in Anambra Central and beyond since her tenure at the House of Representatives and now in the Senate has been in the public domain and public acclaim, the idea of a public account of stewardship has been her routine practice, in the interest of transparency and public accountability to the people who elected her into office, as well as to publicly challenge political opponents and detractors.
The occasion had the scenerio of a jumbo political rally, with cars filling every available space at the venue and spilling over to streets around. I tried to make a count of Anambra Central communities represented in the hall and found out that only two presidents-general were absent. The few traditional rulers who were absent sent their Onowus.
The massive turnout of people underscored Ekwunife’s popularity and her high approval rate among the people of Anambra Central.
Ekwunife’s arrival in the hall was greeted with a deafening applause by the capacity crowd, as she mounted the podium and opened a bag and brought out different ledgers, about five in number.
Then she began to reel out the records of her projects, from one book to another and from one community to the other, everything was documented, including roads, scholarships, empowerment loans, jobs and employment, and hospital bills for indigent patients, the scope was endless.
Every community had its share of projects and each community had their representative to confirm, contradict or challenge Ekwunife, which nobody did.
The highlight of her presentation was the distribution of documents, including several photographs of modern bungalows built for widows and the less privileged across Anambra Central, a scene that melted the hearts of several people, who wept out of joy and emotion over Ekwunife’s heart of charity. It was a sight to behold.
At the end of her address, the entire hall burst into another round of thunderous ovation. I have not seen even a state governor that did what Ekwunife listed, not to talk of any senator.
Former Governor Peter Obi, who was present in the hall, confessed that he had not seen any senator do what Ekwunife had done. It was unbelievable.
With what happened at Awka, everybody agreed that Ekwunife has ended the scramble for the senatorial contest in Anambra Central.
1. Whoever is coming out for senatorial election, what is he coming out to do again?
2. Anybody coming out and claiming to be a messiah, what messiah again? A super-messiah?
3. Anybody pretending to come out for Anambra Central senatorial position, if the God of heaven will not punish such a person, maybe because God is not a politician, the gods of the land will certainly do.
4. I advise that nobody should allow himself to be used by the Devil to betray the cause of Anambra Central. What everyone should do is to thank Uche Ekwunife for her marvelous feat and give her every support to ensure her second term. Thereafter, like Oliver Twist, we will ask her for more dividends of democracy during her second term.
My humble advice to Ekwunife is to continue to be the stateswoman she has been by regarding every part of Anambra Central as her constituency in her projects, not minding party affiliation or communities that did not vote for her.
One thing she should be proud and sure of is that present and future generations of Anambra Central will never forget her spirit of patriotism and honest service to her people.
God Himself will never, never forget.
