…Reveals why she seeks to return to senate
The Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly, Senator Uche Ekwunife has said that some desperate politicians are making frantic efforts to pit her against the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi for political gains.
Ekwunife who made this assertion during an interactive session with members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ Anambra State chapel in Awka on Wednesday revealed that some disgruntled elements were forging her letterhead to blackmail her and pit her against Mr. Peter Obi.
Recalling that her detractors had gone as far as alleging that she had dumped the People’s Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar for Obi, forging her letter head in order to blackmail her, Ekwunife said, “We have to do politics of maturity and shun the current politics of blackmail. People are pulling down my billboards, they are only tearing my pictures and not Senator Uche Ekwunife as a person. I am doing my campaign in all wards and local governments.
“Those who are forging my documents to pit me against Peter Obi should know that I am not contesting anything against Peter Obi. I am a member of Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP and not a member of Labour Party. I cannot attack Peter Obi, my opponent in the election is (Victor) Umeh, not Obi. I am not running for president but for senatorial seat.
“I want any person challenging me to match me projects for project, bills for bills and what the person has done for the development of the senatorial district.”
The Senator maintained that she had empowered many youths with pensionable jobs, attracted many roads constructions and many other developmental projects adding that she was campaigning to go back to senate because she had done well for the people of Anambra Central Senatorial District.
She also said that she wanted to return to the Senate to pursue Local Government Autonomy as according to her, “without local government autonomy, development at rural areas would be stunted”, even as she regretted that that the third tier of government had been helpless because funds meant for them were being diverted by state governments.
Insisting that her election into the Senate was divine as she was neither a product of federal nor state government, Senator Ekwunife said, “I am not product of any Government, neither federal nor state government produced me . It is just divine intervention and that is why I am working hard to ensure I touch lives in my constituency. I am working as a woman and the first woman to be senator in Anambra Central and I want to leave a legacy and open doors for the incoming women into politics to follow.”
She, therefore, warned her opponents to stop castigating her, pleading that all contestants should be given a level playing ground. “I am being blackmailed because I am a woman but God knows that my hands are clean”, she concluded.
In his speech, the Anambra State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Dr. Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, while thanking the Senator for finding time to interact with the journalists, assured her that journalists in the state would be fair to all and objective in their reportage before, during and after the election.
Photo: Senator Uche Ekwunife, Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly.
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