By Pat Onukwuli
It is right to say that perception does not always hold true, but can push an agenda sometimes very far. It wields the power to deal and to manipulate, especially the tide of public sentiment.
For many a politician, perception is key. It has dealt with many as it pleased. To some, it has called names and made political outcast upon insufficient proofs and from partisan consideration. To others, it allowed good escape from its harsh judgment.
For this reason, many have been forced to wear a front either to prevent its harsh verdict or curry its favour. The November 6, 2021, governorship election in Anambra state has exposed the aspirants and their choices. The good, the not so good and the bad have all mounted intensive media campaign to push a positive narrative.
While this happens, the sophisticated Anambra voter watches with keen interest as they (aspirants) seize the political space to say many things at a time. He makes his deductions both from perception and from what he knows. But there is one aspirant who appears not to command as much attention yet, but who has all it takes, if elected, to change the political and structural landscape of the state.
Senator Andy Ubah may not be media friendly and would have suffered as a result, but he is indeed one politician who holds all the aces. His public perception may not rank the most due largely to his association with the Obasanjo presidency which was wrongly perceived as anti-Igbo. But Andy has both the temperament and contact to lead the state in this trying time. He is perhaps the only aspirant among those already on parade, fighting to take office on March 17, 2022, who has the requisite political experience to govern the state.
He has been in the presidency as a high-profile aide. He has been a senator for two terms of eight years. He has also been a governor even if it was for a brief period. Within two decades, Andy has gathered enough experience uncommon among the other aspirants to navigate the complex political mine of the state. The closest experience any of the aspirants has in elected office is either the Senate or the House of Representatives.
Andy had this and more. He has well honed experience in public office that leading Anambra at the level of a governor will naturally fit the needs of the struggling state. It will take a dispassionate analyst to appreciate what an Andy governorship will offer the state in this inauspicious time that requires active governance as it does real politics. Surviving vicious power play under the Obasanjo presidency for eight years and going further to superintend two powerful Senate Committees on INEC and ministry of Interior for the same number of years without scandal, shows Andy as tactful and a consummate politician.
As a matter of fact, Andy is not just tactful, he is also imbued with political wisdom enough to deal with the challenges of leadership at this critical time in a frontline Igbo state like Anambra. It should not escape the attention of all that most of the appointments made by the Obasanjo government in favour of the Igbo had the support of Andy. Though this may not be public knowledge as was Andy’s wont, but the appointment of Professor Maurice Iwu as the INEC chair did not happen without his support as were the empowerment of many young Igbo businessmen. It is a fact that many players in the oil industry had their major break at the instance of Andy as were countless number of those employed in various federal ministries and parastatals.
Andy has done for the people what many, often projected as leading stars of Ndigbo, have not attempted. Sadly, he has carried on without the attention of the media. For want of explanation, he may be called media shy and that has not advanced his cause. What has continued to dominate the public space and even tried to impugn his impressive public record was the politics of his brother. However, those who push this narrative know that Andy plays a different kind of politics. Gentle and urbane, he plays little of braggadocio politics which most of those with less of his exposure and contacts are known for.
The name Andy may not easily evoke the kind of passion that of a politician who has done less of what he has done in the advancement of Ndigbo. However, for the same reason he does not hug media glitz, he also
shuns campaign of calumny and hate.
Just recently, those uncomfortable with his quiet, but consistent progress in the run up to the his party’s primaries and eventual election, commissioned some hatchet writings against him. A family relationship he built over the years with the Ukeje family of Abia State was caused to seem as having assumed marital status. Accusing him of a secret marriage with Hon. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, a former Abia federal lawmaker, was intended to cast him in public eye as irresponsible. But his reaction was simple. He did not only dismiss the fabrication, but went further to accept the apology of the erring publisher against the advice of his lawyers. He insists that not every dog that barks deserves to be pelted with a stone. “My lawyers insist we sue, but I can’t go about suing every Tom, Dick and Harry simply because somebody paid them to do a hatchet job. I know the politician who sponsored the media attack, but this is not what Anambra needs at this time”.
Fair- minded, he hardly bothers with unnecessary distractions and does not employ foul language in his politicking. He believes that Anambra has what it takes to lead the way for other states to follow and should not struggle. To him that does not speak well of the ideals of its forebears.
There is no doubt that Andy is brimming with ideas on how to move Anambra State forward. This may explain why he has sought to govern it over time. Those familiar with him and who can claim reasonable knowledge of what he represents, his worth and values, are aware that he is selflessly motivated. He may not be loud about what he has done or will do, but suffice it to say that he is committed to building that Anambra of our dream.
Dr. Onukwuli wrote in from Bolton, UK