Anambra North: Its Sweet Victory For Stella Oduah
Kingsley Chinedu It was sweet victory for Princess Adaeze Stella Oduah in the Saturday, March 28, 2015 Anambra North Senatorial elections.
Congratulations our Adaeze , it could not have been any other way! You are a true daughter of Onitsha, Ogbaruland, in fact a true daughter of the whole of Anambra North area and Anambra State.
Will any right –thinking father or mother leave his or her illustrious ,dependable, hard working and courageous daughter, to go and pick a selfish, greedy and unreliable one? No! By electing Princess Adaeze Stella Oduah as the new Senator representing Anambra North Senatorial district in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our people have spoken and they have spoken well. Our people have given Oduah a landslide victory in the senatorial elections.
Oduah polled 143,178 votes to the 70,906 votes scored by APGA candidate, who came a distant second, while the APC got only 6,891 of the total votes. Therefore, Oduah recorded 62 per cent victory over her closest opponent, Dubem Obaze who she thrashed with 72,272 votes.
A breakdown of the election result by local government area shows that she got 9,782 votes in Ayamelum to APGA 15,292 . In Onitsha, she got 43,237 to APGA’s 6,650. In Onitsha South, she got 25,875 to Obaze’s (APGA) 10,110 votes. In Oyi, she got 12,301 to APGA’s 10,682. In Anambra West, Oduah polled 9,007 votes to Obaze’s 5,863.
In Anambra East , however, she got 8,871 votes, conceding the area to APGA’s who got 12,342 votes. Ogbaruland, Oduah was the clincher where she polled a hefty 34,388 votes to Obaze’s 7,747, therefore, routing the APGA candidate at his homestead.
Oduah is not new to Anambra and national politics. She is the immediate former honourable Minister of Aviation of Nigeria. Her sterling performance in the Aviation Ministry has completely transformed positively Nigeria Aviation Industry. Let us recall that under Oduah, 22 old and dilapidated federal airports were remodeled and rehabilitated in addition to installation of safety and security infrastructure. Five new international state-of-the-art airport terminals, including one at Enugu, are currently being built by the Chinese through the instrumentality of Stella Oduah.
Adaeze never forgot home. She brought the first direct international flight to the South East in 2013 when Ethiopian Airline flight from Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu fly straight to Dubai. This is something the Ndigbos have waited for, since independence over 50 years ago! She built the first and only Pilgrims terminal at Enugu and VIP lounges at Enugu and Owerri. Oduah also appointed many Ndigbo sons and daughters to senior positions including position of Managing directors in the Aviation agencies under her ministry. Very soon, with the construction of cargo terminals at the Enugu and Owerri airport terminals, cashew farmers and others in Igboland can export their produce directly abroad to earn millions in foreign exchange and create more wealthy Ndigbo. Oduah made this possible.
Not only in government has Adaeze performed. In the private sector, she built her oil and gas company, SPG into a conglomerate, providing employment and livelihood to thousands.
She has also shown her love for her people through her NGO, The Princess Stella Oduah Foundation (PSOF), which has done so much to reduce poverty and empower women and the vulnerable poor in Anambra North and Anambra State as a whole. Among its achievements is the financial empowerment of over a 1,000 widows, to have the means to provide for their families after the loss of their husbands. The NGO has also trained over 500 poor Anambrains in various vocations and trade lines, so that they can earn a living. Fishermen, farmers and traders are today the proud beneficiaries of the PSO Foundation. Intending priests and clergy are also enjoying full scholarship. Communities across the state have been enjoying schools, places of worship and boreholes provided by her decades before she joined public service.
Therefore, because of her noble antecedents of performance, service and dedication to the causes of her people, Oduah had got a massive endorsement of the traditional rulers, elders and major communities of Anambra North, even before the elections. At a stakeholders meeting held at the Knights of St Mulumba Retreat Centre in January, The Obi –of-Onitsha-in council, the Agbalanzes, the Odu Women Society, the Ikporo Onitsha and the President General and members of the Onitsha Progressive Union home and abroad unanimously gave their support to Princess Oduah. The story was the same at Omambala axis, where the Omambala Progressive Union also unanimously endorsed her for the Senate, as well as Sir Peter Obi and other prominent political leaders of Igboland.
At Onitsha, a determined Oduah noted: “1 out of every 10 container that arrives in Nigeria ends in Onitsha but yet we travel out of the region to clear the goods. This situation must be reversed for the benefit of our people", she vowed.
Oduah has promised to ensure that the People benefit from the government. When Oduah arrives at the Senate come May 29,2015, she will work hard to help her Anambra people to get an Inland Dry Container port for Onitsha. And also work hard in the Senate to get the state listed as an Oil and gas producing state. She has vowed to ensure that she stands up to fight for her people in the Nigerian Senate, when issues which will affect them are being discussed. She refuses to be a benchwarmer like some people we have sent to the upper legislative chamber before her.
Oduah has pledged to the elders and leaders of our people that they will see a new dynamism in their Senate representation with her election. She will join hands with the other elected PDP senators from Anambra — Uche Egbunife ( Anambra Central) and Andy Uba (Anambra South) to ensure that Anambra is reckoned with in Nigerian politics.
The beauty of Democracy is that different political parties can co-exist at all levels, what is important is service to the people who elect them.
Oduah’s business experience as a very successful businesswoman and her experience in public service as a politician and a Honourable Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for three years are going to be very useful when Oduah steps into the Senate to represent Anambra North Zone.
The Igbo say that ‘the hunger that has hope of getting food cannot kill.’ We are very much expectant now, because there is a flicker of hope in the horizon. Our Adaeze Daalu.