A frontline aspirant for the Mbaitoli Ikeduru Federal seat, Barr Chinemerem Amara Egbuchulam, have insisted that his emergence in the race, is to challenge the age long belief that people without bags of money, godfathers and a certain age, cannot represent the people.
Speaking to correspondents upon his return to Owerri, the Imo State capital, after a week, long tour to consult national leaders such as the former president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo amongst others, Amara MBAIKE stated that he was standing up for the people and against that age long belief that without money to throw around or a godfather to pave the way for a person, he cannot represent the people.
“I’m here to change the narrative, I am coming to challenge the status quo,” Amara MBAIKE insisted. “I don’t have a bank account filled to the brim with money to throw around or buy my people to vote me. I don’t have a godfather who is waiting for returns when I get to Abuja. My bank is my people. My godfathers are the people of Mbaitoli and Ikeduru.
“I know my declaration have made a lot of people uncomfortable. Those who believe in the old ways of doing things that has deprived us real development and growth. I’ve heard things being said against me. ‘Ojikwa ego’? ‘O’ga akwoli ose’? Who is carrying him? Is he a plant? I’ve heard all that and more and I am not bothered by all that. That is how people have been playing politics in MBAIKE and Nigeria that have denied us proper development and it is a narrative I am here to change. We cannot continue like this.
“I have heard of those bankrolled by one godfather or the other. Let me ask you, if a godfather gives me one billion to buy the votes of the delegates and bribe the masses to vote for me at the polls, will I be going there to work for the people or for the godfather? Our people should start putting two and two together and make the right choices if we want real development.
“Some politicians sell property just to get into power. That’s desperation if you ask me. Why must I sell my property if I want to serve the people? If I sell my property for say ₦100million to prosecute the election and get into power, will I be working for you or for myself for the next four years? Remember property appreciates by the day so a property I sell for ₦100million will probably be worth ₦200million or more by the time the election is done and I go to Abuja. So what do you expect the person to do? He has to return on investment which means the first ₦300million he is supposed to bring for Ndi Mbaike goes to replacing that property. Now this is a business for him and after replacing the property, he’ll make profit and that would be before he remembers that you sent him to Abuja.
“The jobs he is supposed to attract to our people will probably be monetized and from their he will buy some second hand buses and do empowerment for you. Is that what we want? Must we continue in this way?
“This is a narrative I have come to change. Countries like the United States or Britain are not led by billionaires. Many of their leaders are common people. Their campaign funds which is just for logistics such as paying staff and moving around, not for bribing delegates or the people, are donated by the common people, you and I, who are sending them to represent the common people and not from their own pocket. When they get there, they work for the people because even the Whiteman’s ‘ofo na ogu’ will hold them if they fail.
“If I give you money for your vote and I fail to perform which is what anybody who gives you money for your vote will do, even God will turn His back on you if you call upon Him to punish the representative. Take him to ‘arushi’ and the deity will ask you if you took his money. You become powerless to speak against him.
“Ndi MBAIKE’ are not interested in bags of rice given for political reasons not from the heart neither do they care about free bus services that will only last till after the election is over.
“MBAIKE need real development. We need jobs for our youths. We need good roads. We need economically viable projects that will uplift the lives of the people. That is why I don’t believe in political freebies which are given because a politician wants to confuse you for your votes. We need people who will go and address the real problems facing the people not to go and bring us bags of rice and ‘Tokunbo Keke’ buses.
“Even if you are a good philanthropist, it doesn’t make you a good leader, 2011 to 2019 should have taught us a lesson about that.
“Every election year, you see emergence philanthropists. Ask yourselves, how many of them keep sharing bags of rice after they lose election or even when they get into power?
“There is also this notion that you must be a certain age to represent the people. You can imagine somebody we should respect, querying who I think I am to be contesting. She referred to me as “that boy”. To her, I’m not old enough to hold that position. For her, sending an older man with little or nothing to offer, is better than sending our best brains to work for the people.
“It’s a known fact that we perform best in our young. Nigeria under Buhari should have taught her that.
“On the issue of whether it should be Mbaitoli or Ikeduru producing the next representative, let me ask you a question, if your brother is a brick layer but you know he is bad at the job while you have a neighbour who is good at the job, who will you call for the important job of building your house?
“Mbaitoli and Ikeduru are one. Before this separation, we were one local government and for me, I think sending the best hand for the job overshadows which local government a person comes from.
“We should have learnt from the past that whoever we send there doesn’t change what they bring to us. Ikeduru was there before then Mbaitoli. Did we see anything fantastic in the local government of the person on seat at both times? How did the man from Ikeduru transform the lives of Ikeduru people over Mbaitoli people or vice versa?
“Some people in this country have been sending the same person every election year and they don’t care about which local government the person is from. They are interested in sending the best.
“For Mbaitoli Ikeduru, I am the best for the job.”
Amara Egbuchulam is a practicing lawyer with interest in the hospitality industry. He is contesting the MBAIKE seat under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP.
