Stepping Down Does Not, At All, Arise In Orji Uzor Kalu’s Senatorial Engagement.
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Monday(Eke)10-02-2025.
In a Constitutional Democracy, the role of the Legislature is critical. It is the Legislature, under normal democratic circumstances, that does, not only guarantee stability through Separation of Powers which enhances checks and balances, but equally serves as a facilitating vehicle for realization of dividends of democracy.
Of the three Arms of Government; the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, it is the Legislature that makes Laws, and also allocates funds, by way of appropriation, to Government.
Legislators are known as Representatives of the Citizens. Their presence in any Government is a stamp of that essential reality that there is democracy in action. This justifies the fact that while military regimes allow both the Executive and Judicial Arms to exist, the Legislature is unconditionally dissolved and abrogated. The absence of the Legislature in any Government gives a perfect interpretation of tyranny and dictatorship.
It, therefore, follows that constituents in any Constituency that mean well for themselves, must be meticulous and, of course, dispassionate in choosing who their Representative should be.
With the powers and privileges a Legislature wields or should wield, be it at the State or National level, it will be unthinkable that a Legislator elected by his People could stay for four uninterrupted years without any manifest evidence of attraction of dividends of democracy to his Constituents.
Any Legislator that has the collective interest of his People at heart, can not deny the fact that he or she has a multiple window of opportunities to advance the development of his or her People. At the planning stage, for example, the Legislator could approach Officials in the Budget Department to include one or two projects for him or her in his or her Constituency. Where that fails, the Legislator, through internal legislative cooperation, has an opportunity to include a project for his or her people in the budget when the Executive presents it to the House for the required appropriation Law. This can only be impossible where the Legislature is a mere rubber-stamp.
In Abia State, for instance, there are Legislators who are in their fourth tenure, of four years each, as Representatives of a Constituency, without any substantial evidence of passion for the People. In effect, no dividend of democracy for the People! The Electorate are, rather, taken for granted. Such a Legislator derides the People for their ‘imbecility’. Of course, the Legislator should not be blamed for whatever impression he or she has about the People. Why must the People continue to re-elect someone who is so selfish and avaricious that the only thing that matters to one is the stupendous wealth one has been accumulating for close to twenty consecutive years, without any consideration for the Electorate? Of course, such a Legislator is justified regarding the Electorate as fools.
A particular Federal Legislator in Abia State has been using the alibi of not belonging to a ruling Political Party to justify his abysmal performance but he wrongly assumes that the Electorate have forgotten that he spent his first two tenures when his Party called the shots in Nigeria. Yet, the Legislator had nothing to show, except the Billions of Naira he was busy pilling up.
The interesting and assuring exception to the above nasty experience in Abia State is the altruism, patriotism, innovation, legislative ingenuity and integrity that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has brought to play in his representation of Abia North Senatorial District since 2019.
Apart from his constitutional responsibility of making laws for good governance of Nigeria, Senator Kalu has been unrelenting in his pursuit of dividends of democracy for his good and assiduous constituents of Abia North Senatorial District.
In no department of governance has Senator Kalu not distinguished himself, in his vivid determination to rewrite the trajectory and fortunes of his People of Abia North.
In such sectors as Health, Education, Road Infrastructure, and Youth Empowerment, Senator Kalu stands exceptionally distinguished.
Above all, Senator Kalu has visibly displayed dexterity in establishing and sustaining cordiality in relationship with the Powers that be in Nigeria’s contemporary Power play. The familiarity that exists between Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who he supports his Administration with vigour, is so strategically important that Abia North, nay the Igbo, should leverage on that relationship. With his unfettered proximity to the President, it is expected that, before long, some Abians and Ndi Igbo would be getting appointments from Mr President, courtesy of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
On this note, it would be an act of avoidable disconnect and embarrassment for any person, including Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, himself, to ever contemplate having Senator Kalu step down from Abia North Senatorial Seat in 2027. The truth of the matter is that Abia Noth needs Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Abia State needs him, Ndi Igbo need him, and, no doubt, Nigeria needs him.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State and writes from his native Asa land beautifully situated between Aba in Abia State and Port-Harcourt in Rivers State.
