The change we need in the Senate, by Ernest Ndukwe, ex-NCC boss Dr Ernest Ndukwe, a former Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), speaks on his ambition to represent Anambra South in the Senate. You served in the PDP government as Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). What informs your choice of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as platform for the Anambra South senatorial contest? The issue is that I still have a very good relationship with the president and you know APGA has its presidential candidate as Jonathan, so there is actually a lot of synergy there. We don’t have a presidential candidate. So we don’t have a problem as such because there had been consultations here and there. I must confess that I have always had passion for APGA for a very long time. And my running for the Senate is not something that happened all of a sudden. I have given a deep thought to it. In fact, you can trace it back to about 10 years ago when I started thinking about running for a political office. So, it is not just something that happened all of a sudden. That is why when people ask me what are you doing, I tell them that I am enjoying myself very much because I have learnt a lot of geography and I have covered territories that I have not covered before. I have related with the people at the grassroots. I have also had a feel about the needs of the people and the exact situations on ground with respect to various amenities, infrastructure deficiencies and things like that. So, it’s a very big training programme even for me during this electioneering process that we’re able to appreciate the true situation of things in our country. That has even fired me more to be anxious to be part of making a change in our country. You’re running the election against one of the Uba brothers. How prepared are you for this contest? Let me first of all say that Andy Uba is somebody whom I have known for a long time. When I was in government, I used to relate with him one on one, so I can regard him as a friend. In fact, before I started the process, I visited him and told him that I would be joining the race, because since he is somebody I knew so well, I didn’t want him to know from outside that I am running for the Senate. So, I will like to say that it is something that he is fully aware of and I hope we are going to have a healthy competition. I was telling him that they have had two chances. You know his brother was a senator and he has been a senator for one term. That maybe, they should leave this one for me this time, so that we can have a change in the place. So, I suspect that it would be a contest that would be smooth and devoid of any problems.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 09:50:21 +0000
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