Owerri Senate: Mike Nwachukwu, only hope of effective representation

A transverse of the local government areas that make up Imo East senatorial district, otherwise known as Owerri Zone, will reveal a total neglect of infrastructural development in virtually all the nooks and crannies of the senatorial district.
The situation is more worrisome given the dense population and electoral relevance of the senatorial district. Unfortunately, successive political office holders from that zone at various level of government see this all important geo-political area as a mere platform to ascend to power.
That explains why the baffling ignominious attitude towards infrastructural development by the same people who were supported to political relevance by people of the zone. Since the advent of democracy in Nigeria, !mo East senatorial district has not ceased to occupy its seat in the 109-member Red Chamber of the National Assembly, yet infrastructural development especially access roads, has become luxury despite the buoyancy and flamboyance of our representatives at various times. I do not intend to mention names but, it is common knowledge that the zone paraded eminent officers of Senate and House of Representatives which should have translated to human and infrastructure growth for the people they represent, but reverse is the case. The constituents are therefore right when they ask, “Why are we so under-represented? Why have the juicy position occupied by our representatives not snowballed to equitable federal government presence and infrastructural growth in the district?
Such inquiries are proper because the national assembly is unarguably a place where the national booties are appropriated and shared according to merit of reasonable engagement of colleagues and level of understanding of the legislative process by the representative of the senatorial zone. It follows
therefore that the level of federal government presence attracted from the legislature in any political enclave is largely dependent on the effectiveness and efficiency of the representative.
So whether the infrastructural deficit in Owerri Zone is attributable to ineffective representation by successive representatives of the zone is left to your imagination. It is in the light of these obvious representation abnormalities that the people of the zone heaved a sigh of relief when eventually Chief Mike Nwachukwu, the Owerri Senatorial candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), won the party’s ticket to occupy the senatorial seat at Abuja.
The people’s hope came alive again because they were sure that the man who has deep passion to change the ugly trend of senatorial representation in the zone has arrived. His pedigree shows his capacity. Chief Nwachukwu has exhibited the intelligence, relationship management prowess, deep budgetary knowledge and legislative understanding to achieve this feat. No wonder palpable fear gripped his opponents, including serving lawmakers who intended to seek a second tenure, when news of his senatorial ambition flittered in.
Their fears were understandable because they knew Chief Mike’s track record of performance, grassroots acceptability, empathetic disposition and un-quenching thirst to satisfy his people. They are not unaware that Chief Nwachukwu understands the process so well that he will surely embarrass them by turning the zone into a construction site of infrastructure development within the first four years as a senator.
He showed signs of superlative performance by the vigor and thoroughness with which he pursued the party ticket. He is probably the only senatorial aspirant that undertook a consultation tour in all the 104 wards in the nine local government areas of the zone.
He did this without sparing the huge resources involved. In each of the visit, he did not only tell the people that the solution will come but went on to explain how he will use the federal government legislative and intervention processes to solve the challenges. No wonder from Owerri West, Owerri North, Municipal, Ngor Okpala, Ikeduru Ahiazu, Aboh, Ezinihitte and Mbaitoli, the people took over his campaign.
Nwachukwu narrated how the consultation tour exposed him to the excruciating suffering of the people of the zone, he recounted how communities with common affinity and closeness became far separated from one another owing to lack of connecting access roads. In fact, there is a community in Ikeduru local government that requires a round robin journey to Ahiazu Mbaise local government before connecting to a sister community in same Ikeduru. The scenario is not particularly different in all the local government areas of Imo East senatorial district.
Chief Nwachukwu has vowed to correct these once he emerges as the senator of the zone. His deep knowledge of federal government budgetary process, gregarious disposition and sound education in relationship management are all values which the people of Owerri zone saw in chief Nwachukwu and aligned themselves to his political ambition.
Interestingly, he has become a bridge, a corrective measure of years of marginalization and imbalance in the senatorial zone where the Mbaike and Mbaise blocs have dominated the senatorial seat. People of the Senatorial district have pledged their unflinching support for Chief Nwachukwu, a native of Egbelu Obube, Owerri North, part of the old Owerri Local government that hardly had a tenured representation at the senatorial seat.
The entire people of Imo East senatorial district has found a rare opportunity in Chief Mike Nwachukwu and are committed to voting massively for this cerebral incoming senator whose only interest is to harness his experiences in public and private sectors, his human and material resources to interface with relevant intervention agencies and other government instruments to offer the most effective and qualitative representation to the good people of Imo East Senatorial District.
Ifeanyi Onyekachi 08034453068