Barr. Sylvester Okonkwo, an aspirant, seeking to win the nod of his party delegates to represent Anambra Central at the next senate, has condemned what he called nomadic politics in the state.
Addressing journalists in Abuja weekend, Okonkwo, who is a telecom law expert, said nomadism in politics was responsible for the slow pace of development in Anambra central.
According to him, Anambra Central, which is home to the seat of the State Government, ought to have been better developed had politicians who represented the zone in the past, stood firmly with the political party that brought them to power and work to ensure that democracy dividends reach the people.
He noted that the habit of carpet-crossing, which he said was rampart among politicians in the state, had left Anambra without a stable political ideology that would aid its transformation.
Promising to bring the wealth of his experiences in enterprise development to bear on the zone if given the nod to represent it at the next Senate in 2015, Okonkwo said party loyalty is key to bringing development to the people.
“How do you expect your zone to be developed when those you elect are busy jumping ship and dumping the party that brought them to power?” he asked adding that “every political party comes with a development agenda for the people but you can only enjoy that if you remain loyal to a cause, not to your pocket”.
“Incidentally, Anambra Central is the host of Anambra state government. But you just have to visit to see the state of our roads especially the portion of Onitsha-Enugu expressway that passed Awka. That alone will leave you disappointed. That road is a federal road and you need to have your senator working closely with the federal government, the works minister, the Senate committee on work etc to get things done. But if you go chasing shadows, you and your zone will not be remembered when such contracts are given out”, he added.
Barr. Okonkwo who also reeled out his profile of community service told journalists that he had created jobs and employed people of the zone and state at large adding that empowering him to be at the senate, means empowering him to do for the people.
“Before now, I have created jobs. I have empowered a lot of youths from the zone. I have contributed immensely to community development. I am a grassroots person and I am available to the people on a regular basis. My records of service to communities in my zone speak for themselves. So, going to senate will be in furtherance of my activities and people-oriented lifestyle”, he said.
The aspirant also warned people of the zone to be more conscious of the background of those who seek to represent them in the various elective offices that would be filled in the 2015 general election.
He said “it is time to say no to those who would be empowered by the people in one party only for them to dump the people and their party to join another party. The people must say no to such persons now because if they had done so in the past, they will still do it in the future because they do not see anything wrong with such behavior”.
“That is why the people must be more interested in the character and record of those who seek to represent them. They should stick with loyal party members because that is the best way to attract democracy dividends to the zone”, he said.
Okonkwo, who has background in corporate and international law practice., was pioneer executive director, marketing and corporate affairs of Reltel, an indigenous CDMA Licensed telecomm operators in the country as well as pioneer executive director marketing and sales of Emis Telecommunications, Nigeria’s first licensed private telecomm company that offered fixed wireless access services using the CDMA technology.