AS the clock ticks towards the 2015 general elections, political actors, including godfathers have started strategizing towards clinching elective seats and throwing their weight behind their anointed and favoured aspirants or candidates. Political backbenchers are looking at options available to them, or rather trying to create openings towards having an in road to electable personalities that they can invest on.

These self-anointed godfathers are preparing to anoint candidates into the various state legislatures and the National Assembly to ensure they remain politically relevant in their domains and communities. The godfathers in choosing those to represent the people at the grassroots only consider their pecuniary interests without taking into consideration the capabilities of such individuals to effectively represent and champion the interests of the people they represent.

Since the advent of democratic rule in 1999 and to the followers of events at the state and federal legislature, cases of lawmakers who after been elected fail to contribute to debate, do not attend legislative sessions and generally lack the acumen to discharge their legislative duties to the benefit of their constituents or alternatively, improve the act of democratic governance. When the electorate is disenchanted with the performance of their elected representatives, the law gives them the right to recall such a lawmaker. But considering the cumbersome nature of successfully recalling a state legislator, House of Representatives member or senator as the case may be, it is no wonder that many lawmakers who fall into the category of non-performing lawmakers have served out their term and in some cases, being re-elected against the wishes and aspirations of their people.

The question begging for an answer is whether the majority of our lawmakers considering their pedigree deserve to be elected representatives of the people in the first place? The response to this million dollar question will be a resounding no. Based on the foregoing, one will like to beam the searchlight on whether the people of Anambra North Senatorial District had had the kind of representation they deserved since the advent of the present democratic dispensation.

From 1999 to 2003, the flamboyant late politician and former Senate President, Senator Chuba Okadigbo represented the Anambra North at the Senate. However, from 2003 till date, Anambra North Senatorial District has had the ill-luck of being one of the hotly contested and controversial senatorial districts in the entire country. In 2003, Senator Emma Anosike took over from Senator Okadigbo of blessed memory before the court removed him in favour of the former Special Adviser on National Assembly Matters to President Goodluck Jonathan, Senator Joy Emodi.. Her attempt to serve out a second term as senator from 2007-2011 was thwarted by the courts which annulled her election and declared Senator Alphonsus Igbeke as the duly elected senator to represent the zone on the platform of the PDP.

Again, in the 2011 general election, Senator Igbeke, John Okechukwuemeka and the incumbent, Senator Margery Okadigbo, slugged it out in the PDP to represent Anambra North in the Senate. But the legal tussle that followed over who the legitimate PDP candidate was ended when the courts declared that Senator Margery Okadigbo was the authentic flag bearer. Thus, she had the singular honour of replacing her late husband as senator for Anambra North.

Senatorial representation

It is pertinent to observe here that since the inception of senatorial representation in Anambra North, it has been mostly dominated by people from the Omabala axis of the senatorial district to the detriment of the Ogbaru axis. Also, the two major parties in the state had an understanding by conceeding the governorship seat to Ananbra North Senatorial District with the same Omabala axis producing the two governorship candidates in the persons of Governor Willy Obiano of APGA and Comrade Tony Nwoye of the PDP.

It can be argued that based on the principle of equity and fairness, and the fact that the Ogbaru axis had never produced a senator to represent Anambra North, the position should be conceded by both the APGA and the PDP in favour of aspirants from the Ogbaru axis to contest the 2015 senatorial seat during the National Assembly elections.

This argument one believes should be taking into consideration by leaders of both APGA and PDP in the choice of a candidate to fly either of the parties flag in the general elections as there are very credible and capable aspirants within Ogbaru axis who can effectively represent Anambra North in the Senate and attract the much needed development in the multi-riverine, and agrarian communities that constitute the seven local governments in the zone.

Political leaders in Anambra State should remember that one of the cardinal points of the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan is the adherence to the 30 per cent affirmative action in women representation. Anambra, the trial blazing state had always been in the lead in satisfying this global yearning with great women emerging from Anambra North Senatorial District. It is time once again, to return to that glorious era by propping up tested women from the zone who can make Anambra State and Igbo land proud.

Anambra as a state can be described as a hot bed of politics as well as a melting pot of commerce.

The northern senatorial district of the state is one of the focal political points in the country where qualitative representation is demanded by the constituents, following the contributions made to national development by men and women from this part of Igbo land. I strongly believe that the political, economic and educational legacy which the men and women from this part of Nigeria have left behind cannot be sacrificed on the altar of any primordial sentimental considerations because Nigerians expect much from this zone in accordance with the legacies left by the sons and daughtersof the land.

It’s on record that in the past, senators from this zone had stood out among their contemporaries with their impact felt across the country. It is time to return to the great era when the zone was a shining light of the nation.

It is a well-known fact that Anambra North and indeed, the Ogbaru axis boasts of well tested and capable men and women who have demonstrated unique leadership qualities, and possess the capacity to attract national and international developmental projects that would impact positively on the socio-economic lives of the people.

I dare to say without fear of any contradiction that the Ogbaru axis has persons with senatorial ambitions who are tested and proven in both the private and public sectors; people whose capabilities are not in doubt, aspirants with impeccable integrity and capacity to add value to national discourse and development which the upper chamber as the highest legislative body in Nigeria represents, and people who will not be swallowed up or cowed in the Senate.

Anambra North Senatorial District needs a representative at the Senate who is capable of making the Igbo people proud. Someone who through previous experience already knows the nuances of political engagement; who has been into philanthropic activities because he or she knows what the people at the grassroots desire; who already has the strategy and frame work to better the life of the people deep in the rural and urban communities. Therefore, political and opinion leaders as well as traditional rulers, community and religious leaders must make the right choice in choosing their candidates as 2015 draws near.

Humphrey Chiwuba, a public affairs analyst contributed this piece from Onitsha.