It will not be hyperbolic to say that Anambra Central is the most contested Senatorial District in Nigeria today. This is so much considering the number of heavy weights and big names in Anambra politics who are vying for the seat in the forthcoming 2023 general election.
Apart from the incumbent, Senator Dr. Uche Ekwunife who is contesting under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the other determined challengers poised to wrestle the District away from her include Senator Victor Umeh (Labour Party), Hon. Dozie Nwankwo (APGA), Chief Kodilichukwu Okelekwe (APC) and Dr. Chinedu Anthony Umeadi (YPP). These renowned politicians and philanthropists have contributed and are still contributing immensely to the developments and wellbeing of not just the people of the Senatorial District but the entire Anambra State.
Take Senator Victor Umeh for instance: a former APGA Chairman during the tenure of Governor Peter Obi and the immediate predecessor of Ekwunife, Umeh is seen as a political colossus with inimitable record of accomplishments in Anambra central.
Hon. Dozie Nwakwo is a rising star in Anambra politics who many believe represents a new order that has come to replace the old order represented Senator Ekwunife. Like Senator Umeh, Hon. Nwankwo has a sea of supportersand huge developmental record to his name.
Politically, Dr. Chinedu Anthony Umeadi is virtually unknown. However, he is a formidable force in the areas of infrastructural and human capacity development. Dr. Umeadi has touched so many lives through his Dr. Chinedu Umeadi Foundation (DCUF) that the song on many lips in Anambra Central today has become “give us Umeadi and we will be satisfied!”
All these put together have made the 2023 race for Anambra Central Senatorial District the Clash of the Titans. Obviously, the fight will be heavy and the warriors and their supporters are already mobilizing. After all said and done, there will be winners and losers. Where does this stand the incumbent, Senator Uche Ekwunife? With the kind of fierce opposition she faces, will she get a return ticket to Anambra Central or is it time to change the baton?
Senator Ekwunife, Rewriting the History of Representation in the Southeast
Quality Representation
One of the bases for judging the performance of a lawmaker is in the number and quality of legislation the lawmaker is able to propose to legislative institutions. In the past, Anambra State and the entire Southeast were performing very badly in legislative matters because the zone had consistently produced lawmakers who saw the legislative chambers in Nigeria as a retirement homes. However, Senator Ekwunife is currently rewriting the story. It is on record that the seasoned lawmaker is the most active female senator in the Ninth National Assembly and one of the best the chamber has had since 1990. For her, the people come first and she does not shy away from this responsibility in the Senate, where she holds sway as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.
In 2020, when the current massive deployment of security agents to roads in the Southeaststarted, Senator Ekwunife was the only senator who took up the hardship the deployment was causing to road users in the Zone to the Senate. In fact, in Senator Ekwumife, the people of theSoutheast found a confident voice, which they lost since the civil war, ringing loud and clear,through the senate floor.
Also, it will be good to note that Ekwunife was the sponsor of the Electoral Amendment Bill that birthed what is celebrated across the country today. Ekwunife took on the job to sponsor the Electoral Amendment Bill when it was not convenient to do so. And, contrary to false claims that she refused to vote in favour of electronic transmission of results, Sen. Ekwunife was not on the floor on that fateful day. She had planned to participate actively, but the leadership of the Senate, without any prior notice, decided to vote on a different day.
No wonder, in 2021, OrderPaper Nigeria, a media organization dedicated to reporting parliamentary issues, reported that since the inception of the Ninth Senate, Senator Uche Ekwunife representing Anambra Central, have sponsored the highest number of bills. In a statement by Oke Epia, the Executive Director of OrderPaper Nigeria, Ekwunife has sponsored 23 bills, while Ifeanyi Ubah, Senator representing Anambra South, has 20 bills to his name. Epiasaid, in total, Anambra lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives have sponsored 141 bills in two years. The Executive Director said the mid-term report is in:
“Continuation of the consistent data-driven periodic analysis of performance of the national assembly. Female lawmakers from Anambra lead the pack in terms of sponsorship as the State posted a total of 141 bills in the first two years of the 9th National Assembly. Conversely, 14 lawmakers from Jigawa State were able to make do with only 22 bills in the same period under review,” he said.
“These were some of the highlights of the second batch of NASS Report Card released by OrderPaper Nigeria, focusing on Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Ondo, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Bauchistates. Seven members of the House of Representatives from Jigawa State had no bill in two years, while the three senators had 5 bills between them. It is very interesting to note that some members have no bills sponsored in two years of the four-year tenure, while others have made concerted efforts in sponsoring a reasonable number of bills.”
Provision of the Dividends of Democracy
Outside her primary legislative functions at the upper legislative chamber, Sen. Ekwunife has spread concrete democratic dividends across the length and breadth of her senatorial district. There is plethora of social amenities and other developmental projects ranging from Roads Construction, Housing Projects, Provision and Donation of Educational Equipment, Empowerment of Women and Youths, which from different towns and communities found within her Senatorial District.
Very importantly, regardless of whether she was contesting for any political position or not, Ekwunife never stopped helping out and giving back to her people and others through numerous empowerment programmes, with special focus on women and youths. According to verified report, she has built and handed over 26 houses to widows. Whoever goes to her, asking for help is never turned away. And that was why, in the last one year alone, Ekwunife was able to single-handedly get jobs for over 1000 people and still counting, regardless of ethnicity and religion. She has facilitated, at least, a road each for the 58 communities in her senatorial district. Twenty of the roads are ready for commissioning.They include the Awovu Village Road, Enugwu-Ukwu, Onukwube/Kabe College Road, Amawbia, St. Matthias Catholic Church/Igbadisi Road, Umuowelle Agulu, Timber Market Raod, Umuokpu; Oguejiofor Road, Adazi-Nnukwu; E.Onyeagba Road, Enugwu-Ukwu; and Echezona/Igwe Nwokeobi Road, Obosi.
Ekwunife recently attracted many capacity-building programmes to her senatorial district. These include the recently concluded Entrepreneurial Development and Skills Acquisition Training for women and youths in Anambra Central, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) technology board distribution programme, which benefited about nine schools in Anambra State, facilitation of a strategic seminar for the clergy in Anambra Central, training for the Presidents-General in Anambra Central and others.
For a woman who has attracted projects to Anambra Central worth over N10 billion; who has given Federal Civil Service jobs to over 1000 constituents; awarded scholarships to thousands of students in her place and intervened in several other critical areas. A woman who has sponsored some of the highest number of bills and motions in the Senate and who spokes for her people at any given time, one would think that she deserved another rewarding term to represent thedistrict in 2023.
Preference for Female Politicians
The reality of the marginalization of women has created the need for preferential treatment of women, particularly in politics around the world. In many polities, globally, special numbers of executive and legislative positions are earmarked for women. In fact, politicians around the world run for political positions under the promise that their governments would not just be all inclusive but that will specifically favour women.
This underlines the need for women inclusion in politics. Thus, it will be right to say that Anambra Central is very lucky to have a woman in their midst who is not asking to be reward with political positions because she is a woman but who has fought her way through thick and tins and through many odds to be where she is today. Is it not interesting therefore, that all the people wanting to unseat Senator Ekwunife are men? Also, will it be right that while other parts of the world are doing everything to right the wrong of the past by demonstrating that the world and political positions are for men and women the people of Anambra Central would be moving backward in history. Why it will be wrong to campaign for incompetence and mediocrity in the name of supporting women in politics, Senator Ekwunife’s performance has shown that she is not the type of person who plays the gender game to get what she wants. She has demonstrated this by defeating the renowned Senator Umeh in 2015 and 2019 and by her outstanding performances in the floor of the senate.
Let me allow Mazi Omife Omife to recapture the sentiments of the people of Anambra Central about Senator Ekwunife’s 2023 senatorial aspiration:
Since the Second Republic, no woman had represented Anambra Central in the Senate until the coming of Senator Ekwunife. “I won’t deny that all the men who served as Senators in the past, did well to the best of their abilities. But let me observe that as former Chairman of the General Assembly of ASATU and incumbent National President of Association of Past PGs of Anambra State (APPAS), I have gone round all the communities in Anambra State, Anambra Central inclusive.
“Let the truth be told. I will swear in the name of all the known gods in Igbo land. No Senator in Anambra State has equaled the performance and achievement of Senator Uche Ekwunife in spite of her uncompleted tenure in the 8th Senate. She simply performed wonders on several fronts encompassing infrastructure, educational projects, programmes, scholarships, job creation, youthemployment, name it.
“Indeed, if we have 10 Uche Ekwunifes in Igbo land, I guess all Igbo governors will have little job to do in their respective States, going by her massive record in Anambra Central. Anybody therefore coming up to challenge Senator Ekwunife in the coming Anambra Central Senatorial election or anybody who votes against her simply does not have the interest of Anambra Central constituency at heart. It is as frank as that. This time around, there is absolutely no vacancy in Anambra Central Senatorial election.”
With this, I don’t think there is anything to add, but before you leave, lets recap the initial question: Does Senator Uche Lillian Ekwunife deserve a return ticket to the senate from Anambra Central in 2023? Your guess is as good as mine!
