Information reaching 247ureports.com indicates the Senator representing the south senatorial district of Anambra State may have not joined the All Progressive Congress [APC] against what the rumor mill had disclosed – Senator’s decampment from the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] to the APC.
According to a competent source within the APC national executives, Senator Andy Ubah may have been approached by top stakeholders within the APC to open talks on potential decampment into the APC – against the upcoming gubernatorial tussle in Anambra in 2017.
This was after Senator Andy Ubah had already expressed interest in joining the fray to compete for the seat of governorship.
Following the disclosure by Senator Ubah of his interest to join the race, many of Senator Ubah’s followers assumed he was going to contest under the banner of PDP – particularly being that he had held the party in Anambra together for several years, alone. Political spectators assumed PDP was going to be his jersey come 2017.
But unofficial discussions with handlers of Senator Ubah indicates that the Senator may have finalized plans of his entry into the ruling party. One of his trusted aide cautioned that the Senator isn’t joining the APC as his only means to defeat the incumbent Governor. “He does not need APC to defeat Obiano. He can defeat Obiano with or without APC“. The aide however did not disclose why the Senator decided to consider APC as his new party of choice.
The aide did reveal that the APC had been on an aggressive recruitment exercise for politicians from the South East to help bolster the APC image in the said region. The recent entry of the former two-time governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, is said to be part of the recruitment exercise of the APC. “Other South East politicians are expected to announce their defection from the PDP to the APC. Some are expected to leave the All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA] to join the APC“.
When 247ureports.com contacted Senator Andy Ubah he did not confirm nor deny his entry into the ruling party. He stated that his major concern remains serving the people of his constituency. “Our youths need jobs and skills to earn a good living. I have been able to get meaningful jobs to over 400 youths from my constituency. I have also been able to influence over 300 projects in my constituency. And it is still not enough. I am busy trying to add to the list. APC is a political party but service to my people is what my job is. When I become governor, my people will see the difference.”
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Stay tuned
I am from Anambra South and Andy Ubah is my Senator. I live in the USA and Nigeria. Andy Ubah lived in USA and enjoyed the benefits of US democracy which we Nigerians borrowed and pretend to practice. In the USA, I can easily reach my Federal/State Legislators with one phone call. They call town hall meetings where we discuss our needs and concerns. For your information, I am a voracious consumer of information in both Nigeria and the USA. As I write, I do not know how to reach my Senator, Andy Ubah. He does not have any published communication tool for his constituents.
He just published 300 constituency projects as his achievement while in the Senate. I verified the donations he made and 90% of them are not working or dilapidated. The donations did not create any jobs for the youths as claimed. Andy is a young man and a smart one for that matter. I expected that he would employ what obtained in the USA to better the lives of his constituency. He did not.
He was there when his brother, Chris, led the burning of the State during Ngige’s governance. He did nothing. Absolutely nothing, not even publicly rebuking his brother. That left a lasting stigma on his person as a politician and as an Anambrarian. He needs to mend that fence with Ndi Anambra before he seeks to lead them again. They rejected him during Obasanjo’s tenure and they will again, if he does not repair his image in Anambra State and Nigeria.
My advice to him is that he will be the most foolish politician if he joins APC in Anambra State. So, do not join APC. He should rebuild PDP while staying in the background. He should make sure that the new PDP is populated with young vibrant technocrats with a sense of world geopolitical and econo-social trends; and the young Nigerians that will see themselves as Nigerians and not see themselves as Igbos, Yorubas, Hausas, Fulanis or minorities. Such a PDP will win the hearts of the people while instituting strong regional governments and a region-dependent federal government. The regional governments will have to manage their natural resources and pay a certain percentage of tax to the federal center, manage their security operatives, manage their governance tools including the collection of State taxes and intellectual property/other licenses.
If Andy broadly implements these and others not mentioned, he will be invited to a deserving seat of power in Anambra State and Nigeria. Yes, he will be. Right now, his ego is leading the way for him and that would not serve him nor Nigeria well.
The Onitsha-Okigwe road that he and Azubogu led some strange contractors to scrape to convince their people to vote for them has developed scatters and gullies. He may need helicopter and flying saucer to carry out his campaign. That is if his brother Chris has forgiven him.