The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Aduba makes bid for city’s top seat
Pastor wants to help further education, support
TORRINGTON » The Rev. Peter Aduba has spent his life stepping outside of the familiar, beyond his comfort zone, and he is urging the city to do the same as he mounts an independent campaign for mayor.
The decision to run, he said, became clear to him as the Board of Education considered closing Southwest School. He saw two little girls crying in the audience at the high school’s Little Theater, exhorting the board to keep their school open, and it struck a chord, he said.
“It triggered something in me. I saw myself in them, as a little
boy in Africa, walking to school with no food. And I said, ‘Come on, these guys are here, you have plenty of things here, you want to close a school ... in Africa, we struggle,” said Aduba. “I just said, ‘God, I am going to run for mayor. And ever since then, it has been in my heart.”
Education has been a major factor in Aduba’s life. He holds three master’s degrees and a doctorate and was educated in the seminary as a Roman Catholic priest. His father, while not educated himself, made sure that each of his 14 children attended college, Aduba said.
“We pride ourselves (on) education, to get ahead,” said Aduba. “When you read well, when you are educated — ideas make the world . ... It’s not about a political party. It’s ideas — when you spread ideas, you can get into anywhere you want to get into.”
Aduba said he worked as an assistant principal while living in Nigeria and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1979 after seven years in the seminary, following in the footsteps of someone who provided him kindness in a time of need. Civil war in Nigeria drove his family from their home, and they became refugees, he said. During that period, they met a nun, who gave them food — and the example of that woman stayed in his heart.
“I said, I want to be like that nun,” said Aduba. “And when you say anything in the name of God, it sticks.”
He built a church in Nigeria in nine months, by traveling around and urging people to help fund the construction. After that he was sent to the Vatican, then came to America and was sent to St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn in 1987 to preach. There, he met his future wife, Clara.
He officially left Nigeria in 1997, and came to Toledo, Ohio, where he lived until 2004.
A dispute with a bishop ended his time as a Catholic priest, and he found himself in Connecticut, where he took up a residency as a chaplain at Hartford Hospital, then settled in Torrington in 2005 and became a citizen of the United States in 2009.
He has been involved in the Torrington community, holding a rally in support for city police in 2015, and attempting to hold a rally in support of Southwest School in 2016.
“What a wonderful town this is. It’s a very good town, beautiful town,” said Aduba. “The people are very warm. Yesterday, I was going doorto-door to gather signatures — people were so welcoming.”
In addition to working as a paraprofessional at Torrington Middle School, he is a pastor with St. Joseph’s Old Catholic Church — he became a pastor of a dual-ministry in 2012, he said, in the Baptist church, and also serves as a supply minister, in charge of donating food to Torrington emergency personnel each week. He also helps out at the Friendly Hands Food Bank.
If elected, Aduba said, he hopes to shock the city into a more optimistic mindset by working hard to attract businesses.
“I believe that Torrington is in a state of hopelessness,” said Aduba. “Morale is very, very low in Torrington. So I believe I can do a better job than our present mayor, because I am a go-getter. I’m a salesman-in-chief.”
Aduba said he has written to 60 companies with the aim of attracting them to the city. If elected, he plans to travel as part of his job, showing up on the doorstep of businesses to urge them to come to Torrington and provide jobs for residents in need. It won’t be easy, but he wants to try, he said.
“To be able to succeed, you need to be able to leave your comfort zone... the mayor cannot sit here in Torrington,” said Aduba. “You cannot create jobs living here in Torrington. You need to go out, knock at the door — leave the comfort zone. And that’s what I intend to do.”
The mayor is tasked, according to the City Charter, with “(devoting) full time to the duties of his or her office,” and presiding at all City Council meetings, which would likely limit the amount of time Aduba could spend elsewhere.
He said he had no planned to abdicate the duties of the office in his traveling.
Mayor Elinor Carbone said Monday that she and Economic Director Erin Wilson had sought to attract businesses from outside of the city, and pointed to the addition of Bicron Electronics, as well as trips to meet with developers in Amherst, Mass. and Rhode Island. In this pursuit, she said, you often need to go to the business interest, instead of having them come to you, by writing a letter or cold-calling someone.
Carbone, who announced plans to run for another term in office in April, praised Aduba for stepping forward as a candidate Monday.
“I give credit to anybody who has a strong desire to serve their city,” said Carbone.
Carbone also noted the level of understanding required for the position in dealing with contracts, budgeting, and the like, which could present a challenge for a new mayor.
“I would say a significant learning curve can slow down progress in any new administration,” said Carbone.
If elected, Aduba said, he would also increase funding for Torrington police and firefighters. The city has one of the highest tax rates in the state, he said, and thus should be able to expect better public safety services. As he has collected signatures to run for office, residents have urged him to improve public safety and add jobs in the city. He also praised the Torrington Police Department for its restraint, compared to other departments and incidents around the country.
Aduba also plans to increase funding for the city’s schools. He has taken a leave of absence from his job as a paraprofessional, without pay, he said, until November’s elections, so he can speak his mind regarding the condition and future of the schools.
“These layoffs have been very devastating in the school system,” Aduba said, referring to a series of recent education cuts.
“Forget about what you hear, it’s a complete charade. Teaching is difficult in schools; morale is very low,” said Aduba. “If one lays off teachers, like the board of ed now is doing, how (do) our students — how does the young Torrington boy and Torrington girl — compete in the modern world? That is difficult.”
He said if he is election he will go to school administrators in Litchfield for advice on how to aid the city schools.
“I think there is something structurally wrong,” Aduba said. “I’m not going to blame the mayor for all this, but I think the mayor as the head of the city, as the chief executive of (the) city, she has not done a very good job in education.”
However, Aduba said he likes the current mayor because “she is a good woman.”
“The mayor is a good listener — I like her,” Aduba said. “I’ve written on her Facebook page. But there is something that is not working well in this town.”
Carbone said the provision of educational funding by the Board of Finance is a “delicate balance.”
“It’s incredibly difficult, painful even, to see educational services reduced,” said Carbone.
She noted that the school board could have pursued other avenues in dealing with the demands of funding, such as closing a school, instead of laying off staff.
The school board is responsible for how school funding is spent. It receives an annual allocation from the Board of Finance, which is headed, as chairman ex officio, by the mayor.
Aduba said he wants to change the state of the schools and better life in the city and for its children.
“I want to change it, and I mean every word. I am going to change it,” said Aduba. “I told some of my friends — this is going to be a political slugfest. I don’t want people to take me for granted, because ‘he’s a minister, and he should be in the church.’ Yes, but I can do a better job, because I am going to improve ... this town. I am going to do that.”