IT is always an easy and simple task to write about Sen. Andy Uba. The man who represents Anambra South in the Senate of the Federal Republic has left clear and positive prints on the sands of time and the paths which lead to his many accomplishments are uncomplicated and straightforward.

Even though mischief makers labour to derogate from the distinguished senator’s impeccable references, what is not in doubt and had never been, is the fact of a great number of people, who have so many good things to say about the man’s life of enduring philanthropy, which has made him the champion of the masses.

As the senator campaigns for re-election into the Senate, as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), political opponents have resorted to mudslinging and distortion of facts, in a desperate bid to soil the reputation of a man who has, by his sincere commitment to the welfare of people, become the obvious choice of many people in this election. The desperate bids begin and end on the pages of newspapers. A great number of students who have been given opportunity to go to school because of Andy Uba’s scholarships cannot be told that Andy Uba’s scholarship is a ruse.

What lies can be sold to the thousands of men and men who feed their families because of their thriving Keke businesses, which Andy Uba facilitated by giving them motorcycles and tricycles free. How do opponents of the senator intend to convince the widows not to vote for Sen. Uba, who before these elections, had given them grants to start up businesses, which have sustained them and their families? Numerous hospitals and orphanages cannot forget in a hurry, how much Sen. Uba’s financial and infrastructural assistance made them more capable and efficient in the discharge of their duties to humanity.

It has been said that politics is a dirty game but I do know that there are some records that even politics cannot tarnish or diminish. Andy Uba’s record is one of such records. Countless number of persons who got discharged from various hospitals because Andy Uba heard of their plight and paid their hospitals bills will vote in this election and common sense suggests how all these people will vote.

It is against this background that I find the various attempts of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the Anambra South election, to question the reputation of Sen. Andy Uba, very comic and infantile.

Few days to the election is not an auspicious time for rabble – rousing nor is it time to allow emotions to run riot. This is also not the time to sweep germane issues under the carpet or to be unnecessarily confrontational or disrespectful to the person of a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic. I advise all contestants to treat the present occupier of the office with as much respect as they hope to get, if they ever get into the office.

For instance, on March 19, 2015, one Ozoemena Ikwueto, ended up admitting that Ndukwe was guilty as many of us had charged him. Hear what Ikwueto wrote, “Pray, what has senatorial aspiration of this statesman got to do with his inability to attend age grade and town union meetings ……”. This is unbelievable coming from the camp of a man who seeks to represent a people. If you do not mix up with the people and attend meetings with them, how can you represent them?

Ikwueto was not done. Again, he said: “It would have been pitiful to have seen how Okpala would have felt and reacted during one of his Oraifite Town Union Meetings, watching Ndukwe on television making a representation for Nigeria at the international Telecommunication Union, ITU in Geneva, Switzerland instead of sitting in one corner of his village square, arguing about some family land disputes”.

This is the height of ignorance. Ndukwe is not aspiring to represent Nigeria in Geneva. He is aspiring to represent the simple folks of Anambra South Senatorial Zone at the National Assembly in Abuja. His knowledge of international telecommunications is not in dispute. What is in dispute is his commitment to community service.

If you cannot come down from your high horse and sit in one corner of the village square to listen to matters concerning your community, you are obviously not going to the Senate to represent these people and how then can the people of that community and the entire people of Anambra South Senatorial Zone trust you to represent them? Even President Barack Obama of the United States of America nearly lost the opportunity to become the first African – American President of the US, irrespective of his distinguished profile as a highly successful legal practitioner because Americans questioned his commitment to community service, for the single reason, that he has no known record of military service.

He now had to show Americans that he had an outstanding record of community service in his home state of Illinois. I challenge Ikwueto to come out and show the electorate of Anambra South Ndukwe’s record of community service, even in his native town of Oraifite. The truth that must be told is that Engr. Ernest Ndukwe has a very, very poor record of community service.This is why Sen. Andy Uba remains the choice of many.                                             He spends time in his “village square” arguing about ways of improving the lives of his people. They know him and he knows them and because he was diligent over his small community, the entire Anambra South voted for him as they will vote for him again.

because they believe he will do much more for the entire zone. But for those who cannot sit down and discuss with their people as acknowledged by Ikwueto, even the little area they believe they control will be taken away from them and given to the man that Anambra South has tested and found worthy and capable to represent them – Sen. Dr. Andy Uba.

Mr. By Odinaka Chukwuka, a political analyst, wrote from Awka, Anambra state.