Court of Appeal.
Chief David Onuoha-Bourdex was the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate for Abia North senatorial district in the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections. In this interview with journalists in Lagos, Onuoha-Bourdex speaks on the nullification of the election and what he expects from the rerun ordered by the Court of Appeal. Anayo Okolie brings the excerpts:
Chief David Onuoha-Bourdex was the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate for Abia North senatorial district in the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections. In this interview with journalists in Lagos, Onuoha-Bourdex speaks on the nullification of the election and what he expects from the rerun ordered by the Court of Appeal. Anayo Okolie brings the excerpts:
How do you feel about the rerun election ordered by Court of Appeal for Abia North senatorial zone?
I feel disappointed because we had a timeline for the things we promised to achieve for our people. On the other hand, I feel the temporary setback would restore credibility to the process and legitimacy to us more than if the court had declared us as the right winners of the March 28, 2015 senatorial election. It might interest you to know that among the candidates for the senate seat, we are the party prepared for election.
I feel disappointed because we had a timeline for the things we promised to achieve for our people. On the other hand, I feel the temporary setback would restore credibility to the process and legitimacy to us more than if the court had declared us as the right winners of the March 28, 2015 senatorial election. It might interest you to know that among the candidates for the senate seat, we are the party prepared for election.
We had a contract with the people and we communicated our manifesto to the people. In my manifesto, which was well documented and given to the voters, we outlined the vision that would drive our senatorial representation. In the document, aptly titled, “the change you deserve is coming,” we promised to mainstream the yearnings and aspirations of the people of Abia North senatorial district in the legislative agenda of the National Assembly. In the course of the electioneering campaigns, I told our people that I had dreamt, envisioned and lived my dream of pioneering innovation, wealth creation and raising the bar of economic development in our society.
You can, therefore, imagine our frustration when political jobbers that had no clear-cut vision or mission for the good of our people, used dubious methods to steal the mandate given to me by the good people of Abia North senatorial district. Of course, I decided to challenge the vote heist satisfactorily to convince my people that we mean business that the change which they yearn for must come to Abia North.
What gave you the confidence that you were the choice of the voters, being a new comer to politics?
That is the point I am making; our people have never been allowed the freedom to choose their representatives. I say this without fear of equivocation. PDP had never won elections in Abia State, even in Nigeria. It has always been rigging, manipulation, inducement and falsification of results. It was those three evils of imposition, intimidation and impunity that became the undoing of PDP in 2015. I saw that the people had become tired and frustrated by these serial abuses of democracy.
What gave you the confidence that you were the choice of the voters, being a new comer to politics?
That is the point I am making; our people have never been allowed the freedom to choose their representatives. I say this without fear of equivocation. PDP had never won elections in Abia State, even in Nigeria. It has always been rigging, manipulation, inducement and falsification of results. It was those three evils of imposition, intimidation and impunity that became the undoing of PDP in 2015. I saw that the people had become tired and frustrated by these serial abuses of democracy.
That was part of the reason why I entitled by vision document with the payoff that the change you deserve is coming. It is written in black and white; so we saw the change that was coming and told our people that clearly. We may be new in politics, as your question suggests, but we have been around as leaders in various ways. That is how we earned the trust and confidence of the people! Those you call the old faces in politics are those that fouled the system; those responsible for the alienation of the masses.
They are those who see politics and public office as opportunity to plunder, kill and maim. On March 28, that past passed away but they wanted to falsify the wishes of the people. But we said no and made our voice strong because we are confident of the support and prayers of the masses of Abians, especially voters of Abia North senatorial district. Now they have seen that, indeed, I possess the vision, the drive and self-actualisation to pioneer that change in Abia North’s political leadership.
Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu has been giving the impression that the election was nullified because of his petition. What is your take on that?
Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu has been giving the impression that the election was nullified because of his petition. What is your take on that?
If you are looking for those that are good at making impressions, I am not interested. I am only interested in how to change the reality of a warped and imposed leadership that had kept our people to the ground. I told you that I set an agenda by which the people evaluated my candidacy for the senatorial seat. And what were the salient points on that agenda? I said it loud that we needed to reposition our people to benefit the polity; that it remains my view that Abia North should be providing the alternative development and industrialised base and cities to Aba in Abia State.
As an innovative entrepreneur, I know that we have huge potentials in Arochukwu, Ohafia, Isuikwuato, Bende and Umunneochi to lead the change in urban city development. So I was able to unfold my vision to the people. How the available resources and potentials in these areas must be tapped through good political leadership with the capacity to interact and collaborate with others in the senate, to harness and ignite these enormous potentials of our people in the areas of entrepreneurship, agriculture and commerce.
So it was not about impression, we did not want to impress anybody but to set out a compass for social action to uplift the people and create wealth and happiness in the zone. Did you read the personal attacks the other candidates are hauling on themselves? Both the PDP and PPA candidates are behaving like the sons of Eli; they are fighting themselves because they have nothing in stock for the good of the people. The rerun election is going to be a referendum on the candidates’ antecedents. The people of Abia North know their sons and daughters. They cannot be deceived by impressions.
But some people say Abia State has been voting PDP since 1999 and that your party is not popular?
When you say some people, you did not say whether they are from the state, or outside the state. Those people must be referring to the old things that I told you earlier that the people rejected. You remember how Jesus Christ said that those who came before were robbers and marauders? I am saying that those who held Abia down since 1999 came through windows and even had to break the roof to grab the mandate. And in 2015, after 16 years of rape and plunder, the people’s eyes were opened and they said enough is enough.
But some people say Abia State has been voting PDP since 1999 and that your party is not popular?
When you say some people, you did not say whether they are from the state, or outside the state. Those people must be referring to the old things that I told you earlier that the people rejected. You remember how Jesus Christ said that those who came before were robbers and marauders? I am saying that those who held Abia down since 1999 came through windows and even had to break the roof to grab the mandate. And in 2015, after 16 years of rape and plunder, the people’s eyes were opened and they said enough is enough.
They rejected the highway men and settled for the new leadership with focus, humanity and vision. It is with that acute vision that we discovered that all the while our constituency suffered from high level of weak industrialisation and commercial growth. We pointed out, too, that while PDP was busy sharing money, our agricultural sector in the senatorial zone was relegated to the background, despite the large arable land at our disposal. Moreover, we were bedevilled by poor educational institutions, low social amenities and near absence of federal infrastructure, especially roads and bridges.
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