Reminiscing On Senator Ekwunife’s Courageous Call For The Inclusion Of A South Easterner On The NCC Board And More

KINGSLEY UBANI

It’s few days to party primaries and the political atmosphere is quite heated with Aspirants wooing delegates – some promising both the possible and impossible.

For some of the delegates who will elect party flag-bearers and pre-select the options for the electorates, it’s a feast-like season that presents a ‘once in a life time’ opportunity for them to grab their share of the proverbial National Cake – they milk aspirants without mercy, and rate them mostly by what they share – bags of rice, beans and the all important cash envelope – if an aspirant ever attempts to share ideas on governance without sharing any of the aforementioned, then he or she may have based on what is obtainable wasted everybody’s time.

If one should frankly trace the source of the political rot in our nation, it would be impossible to achieve a sincere result without looking at party congresses in the Ward, LGA and State levels. Yes, I mean the congresses that produce the party delegates that produce the candidates that when elected govern the people!

While I hope that one day most of these delegates will stand for proper, competitive election before becoming delegates and not be selected by party leaders who intend to control them, please permit me to redirect myself to the title of this article and discuss the courageous call on the floor of the Senate by one of the finest federal lawmakers in Nigeria who is making every free-spirited follower of her activities proud.

Distinguished Senator Uche Ekwunife, the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District is always in the news for one positive reason or the other. Most recently, she was in the news after many of her friends, colleagues and supporters took to several media platforms to celebrate her for emerging the recipient of the prestigious Sun Humanitarian Service Icon of the Year Award. Senator Ekwunife is a public servant, therefore a first thought on the award should make one think that a Public Service Award should have been her lot.

However, in my previous piece on the Sun Award, I had stated that Senator Uche Ekwunife is a humanitarian before anything else. This assertion holds true yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The humanitarian in Ekwunife enables her to connect to the inner need of a troubled individual or community and strive to address that need. Public office only allows her to do this on a larger scale. It is therefore a no brainer that with Ekwunife, a higher public office guarantees a larger impact on humanity.

Now to the main discourse, Senator Ekwunife’s call on Wednesday 9th October 2019, for the inclusion of a South Easterner on the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, during a heated plenary session of the Nigerian Senate was beyond just fighting for her people – it was in line with her natural ability to fight for what is fair, just and equitable!

On that faithful day, the grassroot-friendly lawmaker stood tall on the floor of the Senate to address an anomaly, calling on the federal government to include a South East appointee after the President of the Senate read a list of appointees for the NCC Board from the Presidency without an appointee from the South East.

“Mr President, we must query the non-inclusion of the South East on the Board of NCC!”, Ekwunife thundered after listing the number of appointees other geopolitical regions had.

Senator Ekwunife is not known for playing to the gallery. When she seeks to address a challenge, a solution must surface. It is therefore unsurprising that many communities are today consequent of her efforts, getting solutions to their road, erosion, infrastructural, youth and women empowerment challenges etc. This is not different from the outcome of her call for a South Easterner to be appointed on the NCC Board which led to the appointment of Uche Nwude, a South Easterner on the Board of that very important agency.

Therefore, ahead of the 2023 general elections, those who seek to replace Ekwunife claiming that they have what it takes to fight for Ndigbo in the Senate, should first show us the result of their supposedly previous fights. It is my belief that 2023 presents an opportunity for our Senatorial District to consolidate on the massive gains it has recorded under Ekwunife. With many of the top ranking lawmakers from South East not seeking a return to the Senate, the re-election of Senator Uche Ekwunife to the upper-legislative chamber will add immense value to Anambra Central Senatorial District, Anambra State, and the South Eastern region at large.

PS: Attached is a video of Senator Uche Ekwunife calling on the Nigerian Senate to query the non-inclusion of the South East on the Board of NCC

https://www.facebook.com/100000598807427/posts/5742979209065316/