Nigeria Content Online

Those who think
former information and communications minister, Dora Akunyili, only
joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to achieve her
senatorial ambition, and would return to the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) afterwards are wrong, Mrs Akunyili said yesterday in Awka.

After a meeting
with traditional rulers to mark the end of her tour of her
constituency, the former minister described APGA as a party of the
future and one through which her people will realise their potentials.

Because of this,
she said, there was no need for her to think of dumping the party
especially when one of her purposes of joining it and running for
senate was to help the state governor, Peter Obi in the good work he is
doing.

“I came into APGA
to help the governor. I’ve not discussed with any PDP member about
switching over to the party after I’m elected as a senator,” Akunyili
said.

She however said
that since politics was dynamic, no one could foretell the future. “If
anyone had told members of the defunct NRC and SDP then that the
parties would not be in existence today, they would not have believed
him, but today where are the parties?” she said.

She said what was
paramount is for leaders to serve the people and that any action she
would take in her political journey must be in consultation with the
governor, the traditional rulers and her constituents.

Answering a
traditional ruler who asked why she was contesting for the Senate when
she is from the same town as the incumbent governor, the aspirant
expressed her disappointment with such sentiments.

Why is mine different?

She said that when
Chris Ngige was governor, Mike Ajaegbo (a senator) also came from the
same zone as Ngige and nobody talked. After him she said the incumbent
senator, Annie Okonkwo also emerged from the same zone as the governor.

“Why then should my
own be different?” she said. “I cannot be influenced by such sentiments
but will concentrate on delivering service to my people. That is what
matters,” she said.

Mrs Akunyili
expressed satisfaction with the response she got from her constituents
during her maiden tour, which she described as unprecedented. “All the
local government people are endorsing me. It’s very encouraging. They
showered me with a lot of love and support. It’s actually unprecedented
in this part of Nigeria,” she said.

During the two-day
tour of her constituency, crowds of enthusiastic party supporters had
cheered her at every turn, with the various local government executives
pledging their support for her.

Support from chairmen

Indeed, any doubts
as to where the loyalty of the party executives lay were set aside when
she visited Njikoka local government chapter of the party. There the
chairman, Paul Anaekwe, told her plainly that the party was committed
to no other candidate but her.

“We in Njikoka
believe in the best and you are the best and we shall support you. We
are not committed to any other candidate but you.

We are making it categorically clear that it is you we support,” Mr Anaekwe said.

Similar assurances
were given in Dunukofia, Anaocha, and Awka North and South, and Idemili
North and South local government chapters of the party where she
visited.

But Mrs Akunyili
told party supporters that her ambition to represent them at the Senate
was not a do or die affair. “I’m not aiming to win at all costs. This
is why I have come to you to ask your support for me to represent you
in the senate,” she said.

“As soon as I get
into the Senate I will hit the ground running. I’m touched by the poor
quality of life in the villages where I have also lived,” she said.

She said she had always been given appointments, but now wanted her people to send her to serve them.

“I will not go to
the Senate unless you agree. I’m not going there for myself. I will
make sure you get the type of representation you have never had before
and at every turn I will tell the world that you sent me.” She also
promised to hold regular town hall meetings to acquaint the people with
developments in the Senate.

She said the people
can ask for her resignation if within one year in the Senate she fails
to bring clear changes. “Don’t recall me because that is a long
process; just ask me to resign,” Akunyili told her constituents.