Ordinarily, the senatorial contest for the 2023 general elections for the people of Imo West Senatorial District (Orlu zone) should be between the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rt. Hon (Sir) Jones Chukwudi Onyereri Ph.D. (Mmiri na anwu), and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Seni Osita Bonaventure Izunaso. The candidates of the other smaller political parties are also qualified to vie for the position. However, Orlu Zone needs to present our best from the pack by sending a ranking, experienced and competent person to Abuja to represent us at the red chambers of the National Assembly.
Orlu zone cannot afford to send greenhorn or a neophyte in legislative business to the senate when we have two most experienced former lawmakers among the candidates already nominated by the various political parties. The senate is not a wrestling or boxing ring where the legislators flex their muscles in the form of Akpuruka. It’s not a place to exhibit your ruggedness or toughness.
The senate is the highest legislative body in the land where accomplished eminent statesmen congregate to brainstorm on how to make laws that govern the entire populace of Nigeria with over 200 million people. It is not a place to learn the art of legislation or how to compose bills and motions which when passed into law become the Acts of the National Assembly.
Some of these candidates already presented by the political parties ought to have contested for the state house of assembly position for their various state constituencies or at most the House of Representatives in order to be well acquainted with the nuances of legislation. As I earlier said, the contest should be between Jones Onyereri and Osita Izunaso both of whom are adequately equipped with legislative experience and exposure. However, equity, fairness and justice demand that Onyereri of the PDP should have a significant edge over Izunaso of the APC.
Orlu zone has 12 local government areas with four federal constituencies. They are; Nkwerre, Nwangele, Isu, Njaba (ii) Ideato North / Ideato South (iii) Orlu, Orsu, Oru East (iv) Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West. Since the advent of the Fourth Republic democratic dispensation which began in 1999, Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West federal constituency had produced Senator Arthur Nzeribe who was in the senate between 1999 and 2007. The same federal constituency also produced Senator Izunaso from 2007 to 2011.
After Izunaso, Senator Hope Uzodimma, who is the current governor of Imo state from Orlu, Orsu, Oru East federal constituency represented for eight years between 2011 and 2019. The incumbent Senator Rochas Okorocha is from Ideato federal constituency. He has been there since 2019 and his tenure terminates in 2023.
So, among all these four federal constituencies that make up Orlu zone, it’s only Nkwerre, Nwangele, Isu and Njaba (NNIN) federal constituency that has never produced a senator since 1999 and even since the creation of Imo State in 1976.
If Izunaso of the APC returns again to the senate in 2023, then one federal constituency (Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West) would have dominated the senate seat for another minimum of four years after taking the lion share of a cumulative 12 years in the past. The people of Nkwerre, Nwangele, Isu and Njaba who have the largest federal constituency in the state with the highest number of local government areas in the entire state, have been marginalised over the years in terms of representation at the senate.
Apart from his sterling performance at the House of Representatives, other factors that favour Onyereri for the senate seat come 2023, first is the fact that he actually won the 2019 senatorial election in the zone, but his victory was robbed or snatched at “gunpoint”. Every rational or sincere person in the Orlu zone knew that Rt. Hon Onyereri won the election fair and square, but powers-that-be at the time rigmarole his victory. The forthcoming senatorial election should be the ample opportunity for the Orlu zone electorate to compensate Jones Onyereri for his stolen mandate.
The second point is that Onyereri has a ranking status in his favour. He was in the House of Representatives for eight years where he chaired the banking and currency committee. Ranking and experience should matter a lot as Orlu zone electorate decide who they should send to the senate. If the presidential candidate of the PDP, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, wins the presidential race, the position of the deputy senate president is likely to be zoned to the South-east just like what happened during late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s tenure.
When the position of the deputy senate president is zoned to the South-east, Enugu state will not be in contention for the position having produced a former senate president, Ken Nnamani, and former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, who was in the seat for 12 solid years.
If Abia state elects any PDP senator, they will be freshmen without ranking status, so ineligible for the position of the DSP. Ebonyi and Anambra states would also not be in contention for the position having produced vice president senate president and speaker of the House of Representatives in the past. Since 1999, Imo state had only produced a presiding officer of the senate for a brief period of three months in the late Senator Evan Enwerem. So, whatever presiding position of the senate that would be designated for the South-east should come to Imo state.
Among all the three PDP senatorial candidates in the state, Jones Onyereri is the most experienced in terms of ranking having been in the House of Representatives for eight years unlike the other two candidates assuming the three candidates eventually win the three senatorial seats in the state.
Therefore, in terms of ranking, equity and fairness, Onyereri is the best candidate for Orlu zone in order to attract a presiding or principal position to the zone.
Ifeanyi Maduako,
Owerri, Imo state
