Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
As anti-Igbo comments by some Igbo political elite continue to spark controversy in certain quarters, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa who represented Abia North in the 8th Senate, has called for DNA test for Igbo political elite involved in anti-Igbo comments.
The Abia North senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who made the call during a media chat with the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Abia State, said time had come to ascertain the authenticity of the Igbo ancestry of some self-acclaimed Igbo political elite.
The former Leader ECOWAS Parliament, expressed disappointment that some self-overrated Igbo elite have decided to make comments injurious to Igbo interest in their desperation to get political patronage.
“I’m Igbo first before becoming a politician, and it will be unjust to speak against my race just because I want to curry favour from some people.
“It’s time DNA test be conducted for all those speaking against Igbo interest to know if truly they are Igbo. How can a true Igbo man open his mouth to say Igbo can’t be President?”
Ohuabunwa called for unity among Ndigbo if the nation would recover their lost position in the political equation of the country.
On his assessment of the performance of the All Progressives Congress APC-led Government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Ohuabunwa said the President “has failed woefully in every sector.”
According to him, Buhari ought to have been impeached for ineptitude but for a weak National Assembly.
He expressed displeasure over the failure of the current 9th NASS to put the President in check unlike the 8th NASS which he said was the best Nigeria ever had.
“I’m angry that you have a President who started by going to London for medical treatment. Not once, not twice, and for the past seven and half years he has been going to London without building a single state-of-the-art hospital in Nigeria.
“By now Buhari should have built at least six quality hospitals one in each geopolitical zone. Yet the National Assembly is looking at him and smiling.
“In 1999, PDP had over 75% of members of NASS but we began an impeachment proceeding against the then President to cut his excesses.
“But today we have a President who is performing poorly and the National Assembly has refused to call him to order. Whatever he brings they will just confirm.
“The 8th Senate was the best Nigeria has ever had because when we were in the Senate we held the President accountable.
“But today, look at Nigeria slipping into Abyss to the extent that we can say there was a country but the NASS has watched helplessly.”
Senator Ohuabunwa urged Nigerians to ensure that only men of integrity and courage would be elected into the National Assembly.
The former Senate Committee Chairman on Primary Health and Communicable Diseases, said that the biggest challenge of Nigeria is weak institutions including the National Assembly that lack the courage to checkmate executive rascality.
He recalled that he was the one who opposed a letter by President Buhari to the Senate saying that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo should oversee the affairs of the country while the President was going on vacation.
He said that he pointed to the Senate that the constitution recommended that the President should transmit power to his Vice and not ask him to oversee, adding that the outcome of his protest gave rise to the decision of the Senate that any time the President is out of the country for more than two weeks, the Vice President automatically takes over in acting capacity.
Senator Ohuabunwa who regretted that since his exit from the Senate in 2019, Abia North had almost become voiceless, said his intention to return to the red chamber was to restore the dignity of the zone and give his people a quality representation.
He regretted that some of the projects he attracted including the N5.2 billion Bende-Ohafia-Arochukwu road, Federal College of Education Arochukwu, and the proposed Item Federal Polytechnic which had all passed third reading at the Senate were not followed up by his successor.
Ohuabunwa regretted that instead of championing the cause of Abia North, his successor had been busy promoting Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress, and “Ruga.”
He said that his successor ought to have been recalled for poor representation and incompetence.
Senator Ohuabunwa lamented the festering insecurity in Abia North in particular and the docility of the people’s representatives at the National Assembly who he regretted were not courageous enough to even raise a motion on the floor of the National Assembly.
“Even if the insecurity in Abia North ends today, it will take Umunneochi and Isuikwuato years to recover,” Ohuabunwa agonised.
Ohuabunwa maintained that the primary function of government is protection of lives and property, hence the APC-led government has no excuses not to protect Nigerians.
He challenge the government to live up to its responsibilities and stop trading blames.
