Former lawmakers, Stella Omu, Victor Lar and Austin Opara, have, for some time now been away from public office, but their records while in office are still inspiring. ELEOJO IDACHABA asks where they could be at the moment.
Stella Omu
Stella Omu, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) board of trustees, was one-time a senator on the party’s platform between 1999 and 2003 where she represented Delta-south constituency in the Senate. While in the upper chamber, she was appointed the chief whip and also as vice-chairman of the Senate Committees on National Planning, Women Affairs & Youth Development.
Senator Omu can best be described as the lawmaker who first caused a stir in the red chamber in 2001 following a letter containing suspicious powdery substance with the logo of the Federal Ministry of Communications she allegedly received. Other National Assembly members were later said to have received similar letters. This caused serious alarm as the lawmakers suspected the substance to be anthrax, an agent of biological terrorism. Letters tainted with anthrax had before then been reported in United States after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attack. She was also the lawmaker of the 4th Senate that moved for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution. This is because in June of that year after the Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly did not have the power to make laws for the governance of the local governments in the country, Senator Omu started the process of amending the relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution by sponsoring a bill to that effect in the Senate; however, that move never saw the light of day before she left the chamber. She was one of the senators said to be close to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for which her colleagues never liked. Because of this, she became a target of attack by some lawmakers around August 2002. This is also coupled with her statement that the one-day election clause in the Electoral Bill 2002 might be reversed. She later voluntarily resigned as Senate chief whip because of the frosty relationship she had with the leadership of the upper house then. In June 2003, she called on the National Assembly to quickly pass the bill to establish an agency that would cater for the citizens’ welfare. Analysts say this is probably because of her background as a former employee of the Nigeria Prison Service. In an interview she granted sometimes in August 2003, she urged all the warring groups in Warri to lay down their arms, saying that Ijaws and Itsekiris are brothers and should not allow political differences or other socio-economic factors to separate them. Omu was, again, a PDP nominee for the same position in 2003, but lost to James Manager, a former commissioner for works in the cabinet of James Ibori. Long after this former law maker who is now in her mid 70s left the Senate, not much has been heard about her anymore neither has any attempt to regain prominence in government been successful. She is, however, still a member of the PDP.
Victor Lar
Victor Lar is an indigenous Tarok speaker from Langtang in Plateau state. He was first elected into the House of Representative to represent Langtang-North and South Federal Constituency between 1999 and 2007 and later he was elected senator for Plateau South Senatorial District between 2001 and 2005. Lar, as a lawmaker in the lower chamber, was one of the first persons to declare his opposition to the third term bid of former Olusegun Obasanjo. In June 2006, he escaped assassination when four gunmen broke into his home while he was away; their motive was, however, unknown. In the April 2007 elections, Lar ran for election as governor of his state on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform, but lost to Jonah Jang of the PDP. In October 2009, he resigned from the party out of protest. In the April 2011 elections, he ran for the Plateau South Senatorial seat, this time on the PDP ticket and won. He defeated his former sponsor, Jerry Useni of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP). That has remained his last public appointment so far. Although in 2015, he attempted to contest the governorship seat of Plateau but lost the bid. According to him, “The party can win the elections in 2015 only if it presents a credible candidate who can govern the state well. The major challenges of Plateau state are insecurity, over dependence on federal allocation as it’s only and major source of revenue for the state and lack of innovation for industrialisation which invariably has led to poor internally generated revenue (IGR) in the state.” For a while now, he has not been able to find his feet on the political terrain of the country again even though age is still on his side.
Austin Opara
Austin Opara, a native of Ikwere from River state is a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives until 2007. After then, this former vocal law maker is said to have retired to his state as a contractor because of his loyalty to every government of the day. His foray into the public square was as a lecturer in the now-defunct River state School of Basic Studies. In 1999, he was elected into the House of Representatives to represent Port Harcourt II Federal Constituency; he was re-elected in 2003 where he served as the deputy speaker until 2007. While in the House, he served also as deputy chairman of National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, sub-chairman of the House Committee on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, member of House Committee on Petroleum, deputy chairman of House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and member, House Committee on National Security and intelligence. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he once called on former president Olusegun Obasanjo just before the last presidential election to advise his third force members to join the train of the PDP in order to oust the APC from the centre. He said, “PDP is the party today that is providing and leading the opposition. Those who feel dissatisfied with what the APC has done should join the PDP and unseat this government. We are all Nigerians. The truth is that we still have credible people in PDP who can lead this nation, so PDP should be given another chance.”
Although he was deputy to Aminu Bello Masari as speaker of the House between 2003 and 2007, Opara held other strategic positions including chairman, House Committee of the Whole; chairman, House Constitution Review Committee, member, ECOWAS Parliament and Governing Council of the International Parliamentary Union, the umbrella body that governs all parliaments in the world. It was at the 103rd session of this body Manila, 2005 that Opara canvassed strongly for parliaments of advanced democracies to exert pressure on their executive arm to grant Nigeria debt relief and cancellation. This request was interestingly acceded to months after as Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration at that time similarly intensified the campaign on the international front. Austin Uganwa writing on Opara during his 55 birthday celebration not too long ago said, “Opara exudes remarkable attributes that endear him to many who would naturally stop at nothing to ensuring that his new age, the 55-year-milestone is well commemorated and the celebrant honoured deservedly. Opara is not only humble and delightful to be with, he is welcoming and open to those who come around him. He is typically a devout Christian and discernibly God-fearing. Little wonder that he became a Knight of Saint Christopher of the Anglican Dominion in his early 30s.”
Writing further, Uhanwa said, “During his first tenure in the House, 1999 and 2003, Opara fundamentally distinguished himself profoundly. Apart from making robust contributions on the floor of the House, he sponsored and co-sponsored several major bills. Among his many bills was Gas Re-injection Bill which sought an end to gas-flaring and proper utilisation of gas resources towards ensuring clean environment and the enhancement of government revenue base. He was also deeply involved in the horse-trading and intriguing politics that gave rise to the passage of Niger Delta Development Commission Bill and its establishment in 2000.” He, however appears to have bided farewell to politics as his activities in recent times revolve around Port Harcourt where he is now said to be a contractor.
