Who Is Senator Andy Uba?

OBI TRICE EMEKA

The name, Andy Uba, surely resonates with anyone who is conscious in the politics of Nigeria and Anambra State. To many, he represents diverse things; to some, he is a kindhearted taciturn fellow who transforms, positively, the life of anyone who comes across him. To others, he means several other things.

However, in all the mystic surrounding his personae, not many have details of his being. All they revel in are mere gossips, half-truths and outright belligerence based on hear-say.

Yet, among his kinsmen of Nigeria’s South east region, it is communally agreed that true justice is not derivable from hearing from only one side of an argument.

A position which our world acclaimed daughter and writer, Chimamanda Adichie, forcefully tags “Fallacy of the single story.”

For this purpose, therefore, a sneak preview into the Andy Uba enigma would suffice.

Born on the 14th day of December, 1958 in the coal city of Enugu, Uba hails from Uga, Aguata Local Government of Anambra state.

Despite the horrors of the Nigerian civil war and the ravaging hunger that trailed it, the young Uba got his basic education at St. James Primary School Uga, between 1966-1970. At the end of the war, like most Igbo his parents returned to Enugu to pick up the pieces of their disrupted lives, whereupon he enrolled at Union Secondary School Awkunanaw, Enugu State from 1970-1974 for his Secondary School Education.

By a stroke of good fortune – which is perhaps a permanent feature in his life – the young Andy Uba moved to the United States of America, USA, the land of hope and dreams.

On the journey, he took along with him, a grim determination to succeed having witnessed firsthand the ravaging poverty and hunger brought about by the Biafra war.

In a United States of America still rife with racial discrimination, Andy Uba took recourse to menial jobs to get by, much in the same way as his role model; the irrepressible Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe did several decades earlier.

By 1984, Uba had saved up some money that propelled him to enrol at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

Because of the heavy financial burden placed on him and the multiple jobs he did at that time to survive, he had to suspend his university education and rather focused on working harder to better his financial status. He would later on transfer his records to the California State University, where he eventually bagged a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and Urban Analysis.

Owing to his selfless support for the development of the education sector, he was conferred with a honorary PhD in Public Administration by the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka in 2009.

Uba had between 1985-1992 worked for the Golden State Mutual Insurance of California where he rose to become an assistant manager, winning numerous awards as the best staff for a number of years.

After leaving Golden State Mutual Insurance in 1992, he embarked on an entrepreneurial journey and alongside some of his friends set up a Health Insurance Investigation firm. They soon established a chain of health clinics in the United States of America, specialising in conducting evaluations on workers’ compensation claims relating to their medical conditions.

But because he didn’t lose sight of happenings in his native home, Nigeria and was eager to contribute to its development, he joined the league of those who frequently discussed and advocated for a return to democracy.

Hitherto apolitical, his new passion saw him publicly support the candidacy and emergence of Olusegun Obasanjo as President in 1999.

On the insistence of the newly sworn-in President Obasanjo who appointed him as Special Assistant on Special Duties, Uba returned home to Nigeria.

He was to serve all through the Obasanjo years and in the process proved his mettle as a deft administrator.

This earned him unparalleled recognition from a grateful country which conferred upon him the national honour, Member of the Federal Republic, MFR.

Uba’s love and passion for Anambra state and the urge to transfer to the state the wealth of experience he gathered both in the USA, the bastion of democracy, and the understanding of leadership he got while working at the Presidency saw him contest for the 2007 Anambra gubernatorial election as the flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.

He won that election massively with his Igwebuike mantra becoming a singsong in remote villages and communities across the state.

By an inexplicable twist of fate, his victory was however, cut short by a Supreme Court judgement which stated that the tenure of his predecessor in office was yet to run its full course.

Not deterred, Uba went on to contest and win the Anambra south senatorial seat in 2011 and was reelected in 2015. While he served at the National Assembly his influential voice resonated in the Red chambers, translating into over 24 bills, mostly economic bills, making him one of the highest ranked Senators in Nigeria in terms of bills and countless motions.

During his time at the Senate, Uba was renowned for focusing his constituency projects on school infrastructure, especially in rural communities and also the needs of farmers in the believe that both are necessary to combat rural poverty.

In the Senate, Uba served as Chairman, Senate committee on INEC; Chairman, Senate committee on Interior; Chairman, Senate committee on Public Accounts. He was also a member of several other committees in the 7th Senate.

Sen. Uba has to his credit, provided support to hundreds of indigent students who have benefitted from his scholarship scheme and other youth empowerment schemes.

For instance, he built a large skills acquisition centre at his hometown, Uga and donated heavy agricultural equipment to farmers in the 21 local government areas of Anambra State.

A Knight of Saint Christopher in the Anglican Communion, he is recipient of several awards and commendations too numerous to list.

He is happily married with children.