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By Stan Okeke
For more than two years now, save for the brief spell Iyom Uche Ekwunife had at the Senate, Anambra Central Senatorial Zone has been without a representative at the Senate.
It has been an unfortunate scenario where the political gladiators in Anambra Central cannot sheathe their swords and unite as one family for the common good of their people and in their own interest. The main battles for the Senatorial seat had been between some contestants and some intruders who have vowed never to allow Chief (Dr.) Victor Umeh go to the Senate.
It is worrisome that in this ill wind that has blown nobody any good, that the former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Peter Obi, had, before now, been said to have sworn that he was ready to spend his last kobo than allow Umeh be in the Senate. Somehow, I believe that he doesn’t hold the same position now.
This battle for political supremacy has raged without end while an entire Senatorial zone bears the brunt of this rascality, as they don’t have any representation at the Senate and by extension, at the Federal
Government level. Unfortunately, nobody seems bothered about this situation.
Umeh, the erstwhile national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, obviously is at the receiving end of this grand conspiracy, as he appears to be the favored candidate of not only his people but the entire Ndi Anambra. His political sagacity, ability to command attention and respect at the National level, is not in doubt.
In all his political endeavours, he has left nobody in doubt that he is the man. It will be repeating history to recall his grand performance at the National Conference even as he was late to the Conference. He championed the course of Ndigbo and got the conveners to listen to the voice of reason in the marginalisation of his people.
When the first Anambra Central Senatorial election was held in March 2015, Umeh was clearly the popular choice even before the election. However, there was a grand conspiracy to ensure that he did not get to the Senate. That conspiracy later snowballed into one of the most intriguing political upset in our political history where the People’s Democratic Party candidate, against the popular wish of the people, was declared winner of the election.
Not satisfied with the outcome and result of the election, Umeh went up to the Court of Appeal to get that election nullified and a re-run election ordered by the apex court. Therefrom, a sophisticated battle for political supremacy erupted between Umeh and Ekwunife, the rest is history that we all know.
After the major cases at the Supreme Court was disposed of and the apex court upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was ordered by the Supreme Court to fix a date for a re-run election; the electoral body is yet to obey that order.
Two years on, what are the implications of not conducting the election till date? Multiple are the implications one of which and most important is that the people of Anambra Central do not have a representative at the Senate and, therefore, the infrastructural development of the area is in jeopardy, which in turn, affects the people and the entire Anambra State.
It is sad that for whatever reason, there is a criminal conspiracy to deny Chief Victor Umeh his constitutional right to be at the Senate, as he stands out among the candidates qualified to run for the election. The question now is, what are the people of Anambra Central doing to ensure that they are not further denied their right to have a representative at the Senate?
What are they doing to back up and support their choice candidate and compel INEC to conduct that re-run election? In other climes, the people of the zone would have continually besieged INEC Offices both at state and national levels to compel them to conduct the election, protesting massively that they are denied their rights to have a senator.
Constant picketing of INEC would have achieved the desired result by now. It is not enough to follow Chief Umeh to ceremonies, beating drums for him, singing his praises. Some of these people are known not to be genuine supporters of this great man of history. Nooo! What are we doing practically to achieve this noble objective?
Nor is the battle in the social media that can only go as far as it could go. The macho thing is to get to the streets, carry placards at the right places and offices and cry out that enough is enough; no more, no less.
I say this because in all of these, Umeh is not the loser, it’s the people. Senator or not, he has very little to lose. Again, this is not the time to continue with these internal and external bickering, claiming political superiority; this is the time to come together as a family and get what belongs to our people.
Instructively, the three most powerful politicians in Anambra Central come from the same Anaocha Local Government Area…. Victor Umeh, Peter Obi and Uche Ekwunife. And I dare ask, what is it that Peter Obi and Victor Umeh are fighting for; what is it? Isn’t it time they realised that they are unwittingly punishing their people?
A stitch in time saves Anambra Central Senatorial Zone!
•Okeke is a public affairs commentator.
