The Chairman Sea Horse Lubricant Ltd, Chief Ebuka Onunkwo recently declared his interest to contest for Anambra South Senatorial District seat. He shares his plans and more for the zone in this interview with OKEY MADUFORO

You recently offered to represent your Senatorial District ahead of the coming general elections. What informed that?

I have gone round the seven local government areas of Anambra South and I realized that we are lacking effective representation.

Therefore, I deem it fit to present myself and give them standard and quality representation. I am not going there to warm the seat because I am going there to bring down and facilitate the dividends of democracy to Anambra South and make sure that it gets to the grassroots and ensure that they are and utilized to the benefit of my Senatorial District.

But coming from the private sector, do you think that you can withstand the challenges?

Yes, I am not a normal or regular politician. There are things that I do that are quite different from what the normal politician does.

There is a place that I visited and it is a church with a small number of congregants and I donated much to them, not because of the size of the congregation but because of the size of the needs of the church. Your regular politician would go where there are a lot of people so that he will get a lot of votes.

My brand of politics is public need driven and I am looking at the need for the people and that is what drives my generosity. With what you have seen here today and the crowd of supporters I am optimistic that I will get the nomination of the party though everything is in the hands of God.

Anambra South is about the most politically astute district with all the heavyweights. Do you stand a chance?

First of all, you know that I have been in politics for more than 10 years now, though not active in terms of contesting elections. I have worked to ensure the victory of my party the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and my contributions have produced Governors, Senators, Federal House of Representatives and the members of the State Assembly so I am on ground and not new to the political terrain.

Interestingly APGA has been able to turn around the socioeconomic status of Anambra State because successive administrations in the state have been APGA, and currently the humongous infrastructural development we are witnessing under the government of Governor Charles Soludo is indeed a great advantage to me and my ambition and Mr. Governor needs people like us to complement what he is doing in the state and that is part of the reason why I am in the race.

People see you as more of a philanthropist and one wonders why you chose to go for an elective position?

This is not a case of philanthropy but a matter of urgent attention for the people of Anambra South Senatorial District. If I can achieve these as a private citizen, you can now project what would happen when I get to the Red Chambers.

I am an employer of labour and an industrialist, and when I get to the Red Chambers the sky would be my limit because I will tackle unemployment headlong.

I have no fears or apprehension about the so-called challenges, because what I have done so far would speak for me and I wonder which of the political parties that can defeat APGA in the general elections.

In your declaration, you expressed disappointment over the state of affairs in Anambra South. Can you throw more light on that?

Anambra South is an industrial hub and also a commercial area and there are a lot to do in jumpstarting the process of tapping those rich potentials of the area.

In Nnewi North Local Government Area, you would discover that our business Community needs assistance as well as our industrialists and we need Federal Government assistance to expand the coast and ease of doing business in that area.

The Federal Government has policies that are far reaching in terms of helping commerce and industry and with me at the Senate, we shall bring to bear the need for us to exploit those opportunities for our socioeconomic growth.

Other local government areas also have potentials that one can exploit and with the joint efforts of our Governor, the business Community our Senatorial District would surely prosper.

Good thing, Mr. Governor has been deliberate about road Infrastructure and that provides ease of doing business. I would always interface with them for us to have optimal development and that also means creating jobs for our youths and ultimately putting them out of crime.

Your Senatorial District has been the hotbed of crimes and criminality. How can you handle that?

Well, that was in the past because Mr. Governor through the Homeland Security architecture has been able to dislodge the miscreants and come to think of it most of those people are not from Anambra state. Before now about eight local government areas have been under the siege of gunmen but the narrative has changed.

To add to what the state government has done, I shall create the necessary enablers to improve on what Mr. Governor has done and that is through empowering the local security architecture and also work with the conventional security and service Commands in the area and also create more jobs.

But you know that you cannot have a perfect situation in terms of crime fighting, but to a large extent we shall reduce crime to its lowest ebb.

You contested last time but couldn’t make it. Why?

I am a loyal party man and I do not dwell in the past. The past is gone and we are facing the future because the future is great and large and has greater potential.

Similarly go and interview the people of Anambra South to find out if one has not been vindicated that I remain the best for the people of Anambra South Senatorial District.

After the primaries, I have moved on and there is nothing that can stop me from uplifting the welfare of my people. We are going into the primaries more prepared than before and by the special grace of God we shall be there.

There is no village, community or local government area that does not know Chief Ebuka Onunkwo, because I am a grassroots man and I know the needs of my people and they also have confidence in me to deliver at all times.

But your duty at the Red Chambers is to make laws, but you talk like one going for an executive position?

The executive arm of government cannot make laws without the enabling laws and proper legal framework. Those laws that we make at the National Assembly are laws made for the good governance of Nigeria and Anambra South is part of Nigeria.

We also carry out oversight functions which are a check on the executive arm of government and those oversights are aimed at ensuring the right thing is done and that has great multiplayer effects on the grassroots. So, you see it is all about the people and not about me.