As the journey to 2015 general elections
commences, political activities are also gearing-up at various parties to
ensure a colourful election year. Principal Actors in various levels are also
warming up with much hope and preparations to occupying their targeted
positions. One of such men with passion to serve his people is Chief Madaki Omadachi Ameh of All
Progressive Congress (APC) who aspires to become the next Senator representing
Benue South Senatorial District (Zone C). The Abuja based legal practitioner
recently declared his aspiration and gave reasons why he should be considered
during the election. Read the full text of his declaration.
“Since I first announced my candidature for the Benue South Senatorial District
on 26th January 2014, this singular move has elicited a lot of interests and
ardent followership by Idoma people and non-Idoma alike. Many have wondered
what inspired this decision, especially in the face of the apparent aversion of
other Idoma sons and daughters, who though are equally eminently qualified,
have refrained from expressing interest in vying for this office which has been
occupied by one individual since inception of the current political
dispensation in 1999.
To address
these inquiries, I have outlined below, why I think the incumbent holder of
that office should no longer continue in that office when his current tenure
expires on 29th May 2015, when he would have spent 16 years in office.
1. He has not fulfilled any of the many
promises he made to Idoma nation since first being handed this mandate in May
1999. We all know that one of the major planks of his campaign has been his
promise to facilitate the creation of Apa State for the Idoma people, a subject
so dear to the Idoma nation because of the challenges we face within the
context of our current existence since the creation of Benue State in 1976. Not
only has he contested and gone to that office for the past four consecutive
terms on the strength of this promise; he has also occupied this position as
conventional Senator for 8 years and as Senate President for another 8 years.
It should be
clear to him by now, that having occupied the highest possible office he can
aspire to within the Senate, and not having been able to deliver on this
promise during the past 16 years, another term of four years to make a record
20 years in that same office will not make any difference. The Idoma people now
know better that they can no longer be hoodwinked into believing another round
of recycled promise of Apa State, because the process of State creation is no
mean task within a complicated Federal structure like ours in Nigeria, and no
single person, no matter how well connected, can make it happen.
2. The Idoma people cannot point to any
significant achievement the incumbent Senator has made during his past four
terms in office. All roads in Idoma Land are a mess, including the one leading
to his own village of Akpegede. The
only new Federal project during the past 16 years, which is the reconstruction
of the Otukpo - Oweto Road, was inexplicably terminated at Iga-Okpaya, leaving
out much of the rest of Apa Local Government and the entire of Agatu Local
Government, both of which have hardly seen any form of government presence
since time immemorial.
This road,
which terminates at Oweto, provides a very short access to Abuja, if there were
a bridge across River Benue at Oweto. Even though a contract has reportedly
been awarded for the construction of this bridge and preliminary works are said
to have commenced, no one knows when this project will be completed, if at all,
judging from the penchant for abandoned projects in Nigeria.
Considering
the enormous influence the Senate President wields over the budgetary process,
he could have included any project within his constituency in the Federal
budget all this while if he so pleases and all the Ministers would have been
falling over each other to execute them. But this has not happened, and will
not happen no matter how much longer he stays in that office.
In fact, I
have it on high authority, that some Federal projects earmarked for Zone C,
such as the Makurdi - Naka - Adoka - Ankpa Road, which was included in the 2009
draft Federal Budget, was deliberately removed from the final budget document
by the Senate President because he said that Adoka people do not usually vote
for him during elections!
Even the
Otobi dam project which held out significant promise for provision of much-needed
potable water in Otukpo and surrounding communities has become a white elephant
project, with the forced abandonment of the project site by the Chinese
contractors handling the project, due to non fulfillment of the contractual
terms by the Government.
3. Our teeming youths still remain
unemployed and frustrated in spite of their enormous talents and high level of
intellect and education, largely because they have no hope of access to
government appointments, not being favoured siblings of the Senate President,
or his in-laws! It is obvious that we all cannot be favoured siblings or
in-laws of the Senate President, and need not be, to enjoy the benefits of
citizenship of this potentially great nation and reap our inalienable rights to
the dividends of democracy.
A true
leader shows empathy for his people, no matter their circumstances, and expands
the frontiers of opportunity for his people, without undue favoritism or
nepotism. This trend, which is fast becoming the norm among political leaders
in Idoma Land and elsewhere, needs to be consciously discouraged, since not all
of us can have our elder brothers or sisters in high offices, to be able to
enjoy the basic benefits of governance, such as employment for people who are
amply qualified.
Let me
assure you that this campaign will never resort to denigration of the person of
the Senate President, because it is in our collective interest for him to
continue to enjoy the high esteem in which he is held at the national level,
because after all, as the saying goes, “if you do not want your brother to be
king, you will never be the brother or sister of a king”, but we must also not
shy away from telling the truth to constituted authority, especially where such
people hold positions in trust for the people which they have consistently used
sub-optimally, to the collective disadvantage of the people.
That is the
only way to hold our political leaders to account, and make them realize that
they hold the mandate of the people, and must remain their servants and not
their masters, no matter how exalted their positions may be.
In the
course of the following days and weeks, I will outline my vision for the Idoma
nation, in very specific terms, so as to provide documented evidence of what I
am committing to, as I seek the mandate of our people to provide unalloyed
leadership while occupying the position which I currently seek. I assure you
that, in the truest spirit of Okaleya, I will never promise what I know I
cannot deliver, but whatever I commit to, I must deliver on, no matter how
difficult or inconvenient it may be.
I urge you
all to be united, focused and committed to this cause for positive change in
the difficult days and months ahead, for I am confident that a new dawn beckons
on us as a people, if we have the vision and courage to see this through.
Let me
assure you that this cause has become the reason for my existence, and I will
not only give it my best, but also my all!
Best wishes
always,
Chief Madaki Omadachi Ameh - LL.B (Hons.), LL.M (Energy Law & Policy),
B.L.”
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