Michael Udah
Sen. Andy Uba may have been perceived by some people only through the negative prism. For instance, he was falsely accused of selling Ikenga Hotels, a hospitality outfit owned by Anambra State. But the panel, which probed that hoax, exonerated him.
It is only natural for some people to ridicule others out of the sense of jealousy. Uba is not a lone ranger in this type of victimisation. Nelson Mandela, that world-class figure, who was celebrated internationally by Blacks, Caucasians and Hispanics alike, was once publicly castigated by no less a person than his own very former spouse – Winnie.
Take a read of her obnoxious remarks about him: “How can the world celebrate a man, who has abandoned his wife and children? The world worships Nelson so much; he is only a man!”
How about John F. Kennedy, the quintessential United States revered president? Did his wife not pour water on him while he was addressing the public?
Wait a minute, this is not a spousal affair or an analysis of how spouses disrespect each other; nor is it a study in the emotional outbursts/ vituperations of wives (women) against their husbands (men). There had been scenarios of how husbands had also embarrassed and harassed their wives, too.
The point of the foregoing is that no one person – man or woman, husband or wife, young or old had been the apple of everyone’s eyes or, as the age-old cliché would state, “the cynosure of all eyes”.
So, Andy Uba’s “hatred” by some people is not so. Andy Uba’s “hatred” by some people is not an exceptional, one-off case. Rather, it is a tradition – a natural human tendency. It is the norm, as it were. But hate him or love him, the salient and silent contributions of the Uga, Anambra State-born Senator (once a senator always a senator), Andy Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, MFR, to Nigeria, and more particularly to Anambra State (where he is currently the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 6 poll are as unassailable as they are undeniable!
O’ yes, the above claim is true, and as my secondary school History teacher, the late Mr. Sylvester Nweke (God bless his erudite soul), would say in the 1970s, “you will agree with me” even as the Dr. Farooq Kperiogis of this world would want to argue to the contrary.
A little digression; writing under the caption: “Andy Uba and epidemic of fakery in Nigeria”, the cerebral Kperogi had literally stopped short of designating the former domestic affairs aide of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, as devil incarnate. I defer to him because of his knack for scholarship, but beg to differ from him even as I concede to him the right to hold his opinion. That pathfinder of modern Nigeria, military as well civilian Head of State of our esteemed country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, could not have allowed a “dullard” or a “fraud” to have been in his government for eight clear, consecutive years and in the company of such star-studded technocrats (also appointed to different offices by the same Obasanjo), as Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (now Director-General of World Trade Organisation (after being two-time Finance Minister of Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance); Dr. Oby Ezekwesili (former World Bank Vice-President and former Obansajo’s Minister of Education); Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo, who was appointed by Obansanjo as Governor of Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), etc. Is it not interesting that Soludo is also the standard-bearer of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the Anambra November 6, 2021 gubernatorial race just a month and a few weeks away?
Now, can we see Andy Uba in his true and naked perspective? Can we now truly unveil this quiet, easy-going, unassuming, highly development-oriented, quintessential gentleman so that the world can balance, nay, separate the wheat from the chaff?
Let’s offer a tip of the iceberg to avoid “boring” an otherwise text-phobic, digitally savvy contemporary public. Andy Uba brought about the rehabilitation of a classroom block at Ibolo Primary School, Oraifite, a skill acquisition centre at Igboukwu (under the 2013 MDG’s Special Federal Government’s Project; constructed a skill acquisition centre at Uga, and renovated a four-classroom block at Community Secondary School, Ichi in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State.
As if the foregoing were not enough, this veritable senator and lover of Anambra State initiated innumerable constituency projects – installed functioning boreholes, with overhead tanks at Isseke Central School, Mgbachi Market Square at the late Igwe Agbasiere Road, Eziama, Uli; transformer at Umuobinwa/Egwelogbu, Umuagbuchi, Eziama Uli.
Other democracy dividends brought about by Sen. Andy Uba are: Provision of solar devices to St. Andrews’ Anglican Church Road, Ndi-Egungwu, Uli; St. Mary’s Church Road, Orsumoghu and Obom Market Road, Azia. He also provided transformers and renovated classrooms at Ekeagbagba Market Square, Uli; Abott Boys Secondary School, Ihiala; Union Secondary School, Okija; Mbosi Central School, Mbosi; St. Michael’s Primary School, Ihite. The list is endless.
As an esteemed member of the 8th Senate, Andy Uba sponsored 15 bills and moved three motions. The bills include a Bill for an Act to amend the Companies Income Tax Act, CAP C21, laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2010, and for other connected purposes, 2015; a Bill for an Act to provide for Delegated Legislation (Monitoring and Control) Bill 2015; a Bill for an Act to enact the Criminal Injuries Compensation Bill, 2015; a Bill for an Act to Repeal the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, CAP N129, LFN 2010 and to enact the Nigerian Railway Bill 2015; a Bill for an Act to amend the Public Holidays Act, CAP P40, LFN 2010 and for other matters connected therewith, 2015, etc.
The construction of the Second Niger Bridge at Onitsha/Asaba and the work on Okigwe Road were also facilitated by Sen. Uba.
• Udah, a public affairs analyst wrote from Awka.
