Those who follow Anambra politics already know that the political power house of Anambra state is gradually moving to the south.
Caeteris paribus, the south will take over power from Anambra north – making the battle for the seat of Anambra south senatorial district even more competitive.
One man who will be on the eye of the storm is Distinguished Senator Andy Uba, who will unequivocally seek to represent his people for a third term.
Before him, no Senator of Anambra origin has ever been in such a position. Little wonder we have quite a number of individuals bearing the title Senator in the state – some serving for 6 months, 8 months and less because of the competitive nature of political contests in the state.
Andy Uba, an Uga born politician will a little over a year from now lock horns with individuals who will seek to dethrone him. His opponents will certainly seek to re-raise the issues which dominated the previous contests – issues such as, the quality of his representation, the questions about his personality and the contributions of his family (the Uba’s) in the political equation of the state.
While Sen Andy Uba by chance, prominence and hardwork has excelled more in the political space than his other brothers, unfortunately for him, he, at each point of contesting face issues surrounding not just his political activities but the political antecedents of his brothers, a trend which is not likely to change in 2019.
The core functions of a Legislator can be sub categorized into three: Lawmaking, Oversight and Representation. However, the first two is usually of little concern to an average senatorial constituent.
Even though Senator Andy Uba has exhibited good performance in lawmaking, ranking high in bill sponsoring. The believe by a number of his constituents remains that he is yet to attract as much as expected to the zone. Their expectations are quite high, some of them include roads, education infrastructure, employment, empowerment and public utilities.
But then, a comparative analysis of the Senators who have represented different zones in Anambra state in the past and present has shown nothing mind-blowing. The likes of Senators Annie Okonkwo, Ikechukwu Obiora, Chris Ngige and Stella Oduah didn’t quite produce the sort of representation most of their constituents craved for.
The question then is, are we expecting too much from our legislators or our legislators, both past and present not able to compete up there to attract higher dividends for ndi Anambra?
If the people of Anambra south decides to swap a potential third term Senator – the first of its kind in Anambra state, for a first term Senator, then based on the performance of previous first term representatives, chances are that the quality of representation of the former, vis-a-vis the attraction of representative dividends will be sub par, considering the politics of the National Assembly and the procedures of appointing both principal officers and committee heads in the red chambers.
Senator Andy Uba is currently the Chairman Senate committee on interior (internal security), and has formerly chaired the Public Accounts and INEC committees. His chances of becoming a principal officer in the 9th Senate is high, giving room for him to become more prominent in the Senate and stand better chances of attracting more for his people – a chance the people of Anambra south will lose if they choose to make a change. A choice which remains their exclusive reserve in 2019.
