From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
The spokesman for Dr Kasarachi Enyinna Michael Campaign Organisation, Chief Emperor Ogbonna, has x-rayed the content and character of representation of Abia South in the senate and declared that it deserved a better deal.
Ogbonna said Enyinna, who is the senatorial candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Abia South, is the real deal. He said the incumbent senator had fallen short of the expectations of the people, despite spending many years in the upper legislative chamber. He also commended Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for delivering a verifiable dividend of democracy.
He spoke on why he is supporting Enyinna, the need for a change in representation, allegations that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is sponsoring the NDC candidate and what he believes he will bring to Abia South.
He said: “For those of us who are young, we align with the NDC and we brought out Dr Kasarachi Enyinna, who is the right candidate for Abia South. Abia South is made up of Aba South, Aba North, Obingwa, Ugwunagbo, Ukwa West and Ukwa East.
“We have looked at the political situation in Abia State. The person that has been there is Enyinnaya Abaribe. He has been there for a very long time. From being deputy governor, he started talking about Otu Onu (one term). Later, he was elected to the Senate on the grounds of Otu Onu. And he has been there for over 20 years. I am a voter in Abia South. I am a taxpayer too. I pay taxes and I know that the man has not really been doing so well. That is the truth as a senator. So, that is the reason. For those of us who are young, we aligned with the NDC and we brought out Dr Enyinna, who is the senatorial candidate. For those who don’t know him, he is from Ogwe in Ukwa West.
“Obingwa has been there for many years. So, we feel that there should be a paradigm shift.
We are not looking at it from where you come from. We are looking at it from competence. He is a young man, who is very competent and very efficient.
“He is actually up to 40 years, but he is a very young man. If you see him, you will see that he presents himself as very young. He is an achiever and he is a very nice guy. I don’t know how to say it. This is a guy that, if you stay with him, you will feel like staying with him. Very friendly and very nice. He is a giver. He is not only a giver; he is also somebody, who when he looks at you, knows what your problem is. He is a true democrat. He is not a pompous person. If you see him, you will like him. Everybody likes him.”
Ogbonna explained that though Enyinna is a young man, he is not new in politics. He described him as a popular politician, having contested as the vice-presidential candidate of the Young Peoples Party (YPP) in 2019.
He further said: “This is an achiever. He is a technocrat. He has a company, Fintech, that operates in Abia State. His family has a house on Azikiwe Road. He grew up on Azikiwe Road, so he knows Aba very well. He is an Aba guy. And he has companies operating here, operating in Abia. So, it is not as if he is a foreigner coming to run elections in Aba. He is somebody who has been consistent in promoting Aba’s welfare. So, that is the thing.
On the rumour that Abaribe sponsored his candidacy to reduce the votes of the opposition and improve his chances of winning, he said: “That is a very big rumour. There is no truth in it. Dr Enyinna is not somebody who another person can bring out. Nobody brought him out. He came out on his own, and we, the young people, are supporting him. There is no reason an established man will see an old man who has been there for over 20 years, achieving nothing and you tell me you want him to continue to stay. We know who won and lost the last time. But the truth is that, this time around, we feel that there should be a paradigm shift. Somebody else should be there.”
He said it is important for Abia South to elect Enyinna, particularly in the context of the political future of Peter Obi
“Let me tell you why it is important that we vote for Enyinna. Now, we all talk about Peter Obi. Everybody is talking about Obi, that he is the Ronaldo of Nigerian politics today. In fact, he is the most popular Nigerian today, as you know. Now, if Obi becomes the President and we don’t have senators in the National Assembly or members of the House of Representatives, how will he perform? It is a normal thing. Assuming I am the President today and I am bringing reforms that would reduce the cost of governance, reforms that would stop corruption, first of all, I have to call my party men and I will tell them, please, this is what I want. If NDC does not have a majority in the House and you vote for Obi, you are wasting your time.
Assuming the APC or other parties have the majority, they will just gang up and impeach him. It happened in Anambra State. They impeached Obi in Anambra State as governor. Later, he went to court and got his mandate back. Now, in Nigeria, they may impeach him because his party may not have the majority.
“That is why we are telling Nigerians to be the grassroots. If you want a change, be the change yourself. You get what I am saying. We are looking for a way to get the country back and it is very simple. We need people like Enyinna, who shall be a senator. We also need NDC House of Assembly and House of Representatives members, so that if the President wants to make a reform, there will be people from his party who will help him do it. That is why I advise Abia South to support Dr Enyinna. He is an achiever, a young man, who is down to earth and we need a paradigm shift, he said”
Rating the performance of the incumbent senator representing Abia South, he said: “You know the truth; he has not performed. That is the truth. Now, let me tell you, when it comes to constituency projects for a senator, I have not seen much. What I have seen, to be honest with him, is that I have seen streetlights. That is what I know. Even from the road to his own house, go there. It is not tarred. I won’t lie to you. Go there. You will see the road to his house. You ask yourself, can a senator do this?
“We have some senators. I don’t want to mention them, but let me just mention Orji Uzor Kalu. He has done some roads. Even the road that passes through my house, Orji Kalu built it. But which road can you confidently mention that Senator Abaribe has started and completed? I want people to tell me, if possible. So, you see that we are very honest here. He has tried; let us give him that.”
Advising the incumbent senator to retire from the Senate, he said: “Let me tell you, it is better to bow out when the ovation is loudest. You understand what I am saying? Bow out when the ovation is loudest. Don’t allow somebody to humiliate you. If you see a musician or a singer, when they are clapping, he bows out.
“In the past, I voted for Abaribe several times. When he was in APGA, I voted for him. When he was in another party, I voted for him. But today, I feel that, ‘Oga, you have tried. It is better for you to retire.’ Let a younger person take over. That is all we are asking for.
“We are not telling him to retire because we don’t like him, but we are saying that it is a normal thing about life. A time comes when nature tells you that you have to leave. So, right now, the man there has tried. It is time for him to leave. And even some members of his own party will come to me and tell me, ‘Emperor, we are not going to vote for him in the Labour Party. We are going to vote for Dr Enyinna.’ I believe Abia South should consider Kasarachi because of his youth, energy and intellectual sagacity. We know that he has everything it takes to redeem Abia South and to make the zone the pride of Igboland”.
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