• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

The noble political ambition of Stella Oduah

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It is the season of political posters. Public buildings are being defaced with posters. Both ugly and good-looking politicians are smiling at us from posters pasted on walls, vehicles, and electric poles. The masses are the beautiful brides that are being courted with political platitudes and promises. The elections are months away, and politicians are engaged in frenzied activities to shore up their chances of winning elections in 2015. Some ministers in President Jonathan’s cabinet have resigned their ministerial posts in order to contest the next periodic election.

Periodic election is a feature of representative government, which is the best form of government in the world. Periodic election offers us the opportunity to vote out bad leaders, and vote in new ones. That is why it is said that sovereignty resides with the people. In order to transform our country and take it to a great economic and technological height, we should install people with patriotic fervour and leadership qualities into positions of power. So, it behoves us to cast our votes wisely in the upcoming national election.

Many politicians have indicated their interest to vie for diverse elective positions in the country. Some have joined the political race for pecuniary and egoistical reasons; others are in the political contest in order to acquire political power, which they’ll use for the betterment of their country, and the uplift of their compatriots.

Among those who will contest for elective positions in the next national election is Stella Oduah. Who doesn’t know the charismatic and drop-dead gorgeous Stella Oduah? She hails from Akiliozizor in Ogbaru L.G.A of Anambra State. It was she who led the Neighbour-to-Neighbour movement that sold President Jonathan’s presidential candidature to the electorate in 2011. She financed the activities of the group. Her efforts contributed in no small way to President Jonathan’s victory at the presidential poll in 2011.

Stella Oduah was made the aviation minister soon after. She carried out her duties with conscientiousness, integrity, fear of God, and uncommon patriotic fervour. During her tenure as aviation minister, many airports in Nigeria were given face-lift. She embarked on the task of re-modelling airports in the country with uncommon zeal. Also, the Akanu Ibiam airport in Enugu was upgraded to an international status. Sadly, her political detractors who are afraid of her meteoric rise laid booby traps for her, which led to her exit as aviation minister. But her good works were not lost on the people. Not surprisingly, laudatory comments and eulogies have continued to trail her based on her stellar performance as aviation minister. Some communities bestowed chieftaincy titles on her in appreciation of her contribution to nation building.

So, I received the news of her entrance into the 2015 Anambra North senatorial election with glee. Is she not eminently qualified to represent Anambra North senatorial zone in the Senate? She is well-educated and widely-travelled. She has garnered political experience and maturity while serving as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Stella Oduah is not unfamiliar with the nitty-gritty of politicking in Nigeria. A grassroots politician, she is not unaware of the niggling problems that are besetting the people. So, she would like to articulate their problems, and become the voice of the voiceless. And, a seat for her in the National Assembly will offer her the opportunity to help in the formulation of laws that will positively transform the country and reduce the suffering of the people.

Again, Oduah is a formidable politician with towering pedigree, who cannot be easily defeated in an electoral contest. If she flies the flag of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the next Anambra North senatorial election, she will easily defeat her political opponents. Have we forgotten how her Neighbour-to-Neighbour group swayed people’s sentiments in President Jonathan’s favour? The charismatic politician is ready to re-enact that feat again on the platform of PDP.

Moreover, Stella Oduah is a loyal member of PDP for a long time. Unlike some politicians that switch allegiance when they are not favoured by their parties, she has stuck with the PDP through thick and thin. When she was relieved of her duty by President Jonathan, Oduah did not rail against the party apparatchik; neither did she defect to another political party. That is a measure of her political faithfulness, maturity, and sagacity.

I urge members of the Anambra PDP to nominate Stella Oduah as the candidate that will contest for the Anambra North senatorial election on the PDP ticket. Fair play and the unwritten law of rotation of power demand that. Oduah hails from Ogbaru, and no politician from Ogbaru has represented Anambra North in the Senate since the inception of the fourth republic. Those that represented Anambra North in the past are Edwin Onwudiwe (Ogbunike), Chuba Okadigbo (Ogbunike), Emma Anosike (Umuleri), Joy Emodi (Onitsha), Alphonsus Igbeke (Nsugbe), and Margery Okadigbo (Onitsha/Ogbunike).

Stella Oduah’s entry into the Anambra North senatorial race has electrified the Anambra political arena. She has added verve to our politicking and upped the political tempo in the state. If given the ticket by the PDP, Oduah will be the candidate to beat in the Anambra North senatorial election given her political clout, acceptance by the people, and past leadership achievements.

Victor Uchechukwu