Forum opposes Nigerian senator’s third-term bid

The Anambra North Elderly Forum has rejected the candidacy for the third term of the senator representing the Anambra North District, Stella Oduah.

Ms. Oduah seeks to return to the Red Chamber in 2023 on the platform of the Democratic Party of the Peoples (PPD).

The Anambra North Elderly Forum, a lobby group in the district, held a meeting on Thursday in Otuocha, a community in Anambra East Local Government Area of ​​Anambra State, where its members said Ms Oduah, who has represented the Anambra North District for nearly eight years, has taken his fair share of representation from the people of the district, according to a report by the newspaper Vanguardia.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, the group’s president, Nathaniel Onuora, said the senator has not “effectively represented” the district in the past seven years.

“Odua’s voice was not heard clear and loud in the Red Chamber defending his people as others were doing or proposing bills of interest that would benefit his electorate,” he said.

“After our meeting here in Otuocha today, we resolved to reject the senator’s candidacy to represent the Northern District of Anambra in the Senate.

“She hasn’t performed well. We are not aware of any bills and motions that she sponsored in the upper house of the National Assembly. In almost eight years of her representation of her area, (she) failed woefully to empower people even with the enormous money that accumulated in her office,” added Mr. Onuora.

The group said it wants a senator who is accessible and who, in turn, makes himself available to voters.

“We don’t want someone who gets distracted by constant attendance at cases with anti-corruption agencies,” he said.

oduah reacts

In reaction, Chinonso Chukwudebe, Ms Oduah’s spokesperson, described the allegations as “political stunts” sponsored by the senator’s political enemies with the intent of blackmailing her.

Chukwudebe said that all the accusations were false.

He said the senator has been helping her constituents through her “various empowerment programs.”

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“Just yesterday, this woman (Oduah) delivered 99 shuttle buses to the 99 districts of Anambra North District. She also delivered more than 500 motorcycles, more than 300 tricycles, and grinders. All of these things are verifiable,” she told PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday.

On the allegation that Ms. Oduah did not sponsor bills and motions in the Senate, the spokesperson stated that the senator has sponsored the most important bills and motions.

“The bill for the establishment of the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Onitsha has been approved. That was (sponsored) by this very senator,” stated Mr. Chukwudebe, explaining that Onitsha General Hospital will now become an FMC as a result of the bill.

He also said that the senator has carried out various road projects and built classroom blocks throughout the district, among others.

“When the Covid-19 hit hard, the palliatives that Senator Stella Oduah released, no other senator from the Southeast did that. They (the palliatives) were shared with the churches, traditional rulers, etc. ”, she added.

The spokesperson said that the senator has also empowered various widows and farmers across the district and has been conducting free medical services for the people of the district.

Mr Chukwudebe refuted the claim that Ms Oduah is not accessible, saying that the senator was currently in the state meeting with her constituents.

He added that Ms. Oduah was chosen to represent and advocate for the constituents in Abuja and should not be expected to be in the state all the time.

Oduah’s political journey

First elected in 2015 on the PDP platform, Ms. Oduah has spent nearly seven and a half years in the Senate.

The former aviation minister was re-elected to the Senate in 2019.

In August 2021, she defected to the Congress of All Progressives of the PPD.

The senator rejoined the PPD in April 2022, some eight months later, saying she had returned to where she was “highly respected.”

Rivalry

The PDP candidate faces the hurdle of defeating Ebelechukwu Obiano, the wife of a former governor of Anambra state, in the 2023 general election.

Ms. Obiano is the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the same district.

APGA is the ruling party in the state.

It is not clear, for now, if the forum would endorse Ms. Obiano for the 2023 elections in the district.

Corruption accusations

Ms. Oduah faces corruption charges at the Abuja Federal High Court.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had accused she and the Nigerian subsidiary of the Chinese construction giant, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) in alleged fraudulent cash transactions of around N5 billion over five months in 2014.

the senator was remote as Aviation Minister by then-President Goodluck Jonathan on 12 February 2014, following a N255 million armored car scandal that saw the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), an agency under his supervision, buy him at inflated prices.

Furthermore, after her removal as minister, Ms Oduah secretly acquired four properties in London, hiding behind an anonymous company she concealed abroad and possibly in breach of the Nigerian public service code of conduct, a Investigation of the Pandora Papers found.