The senatorial candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) for Abia Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Nkechi Nwogu, has described the Nigerian democracy, especially the senate, as a very competitive one where people who want to win only send their champions and not rookies to champion their course.
Speaking during the inauguration of her campaign coordinators for the forthcoming election, Senator Nwogu urged all the coordinators to make the campaign issue-based and avoid any attacks on individuals, stressing that only issue-based campaigns can send the right messages to the people.
On her senatorial ambitions, Senator Nwogu said that she will not vilify those that came after she left the senate in 2015 but stressed that inasmuch as they have done their best, there are huge differences between when she was there and now.
“I must let you understand that the Senate is like a red wine; the older, the better. Senate is not for trainees. It’s not a place one goes to learn the rudiments of federal legislation. Our democracy is very competitive, and only 109 people are elected to go to the Senate out of over 200 million people.
“Therefore, when any people make the mistake of sending a low quality, what they’ll get is low dividends. The more a senator is ranked, the more respect they get and the more they get a lot. Any senatorial district that sends a greenhorn will watch their representative swimming in ignorance there. So, you must go for experience.”
She explained that before she ventured into the Senate, she served in the House of Representatives. And equally added that before she ventured into the House of Representatives, she had already served at the party level and worked in different banks, while improving her educational qualifications up to PhD level.
“That was why I was made the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions because I was already a reputable banker.
“When a senatorial district has the opportunity of presenting quality representation, which is the one Senator Nkechi Nwogu represents, you don’t leave your champion and take your rookie. Which serious nation will go to the World Cup, leaving their first eleven behind and taking the inexperienced?
“People of Abia Central should look at all of us contesting and tell themselves the truth about who can bring better dividends back home. My younger brothers who are contesting should support and learn from me.
“It’s interesting that I’m only interested in serving for four before I retire for them to go showcase what they’ve learnt and begin to build on experience. Abia Central should not send a houseboy senator, and I’m glad that I’m still healthy to serve while the younger ones will take over soon.”
Speaking on the chances of the presidential candidate of the NDC, Mr Peter Obi, Senator Nwogu said that Obi is the answer to Nigeria’s prolonged, chronic, very frustrating life that everyone has been subjected to.
She said that Obi is the main answer Nigerian youths have been seeking but have not gotten in the quest to end unemployment, stressing that he has what it takes to address such matters through his industrialisation blueprints.
Senator Nwogu, however, warned that should Nigerians make the mistake of reelecting the current government in power at the federal level, they could be setting the country up for more hunger and other related issues everyone has been subjected to.
“In this 2027, people are yearning for Obi to come and save this country from economic disaster. If you vote for the current government again, you’re calling for more hunger, more increments in prices of food and food items, more hikes in the prices of petroleum products, more hardship and more pain.”
Senator Nwogu further called on Nigerians to use the 2027 general election to get the succour the country has been seeking for many years now, stressing that the NDC is the answer to all the mess that Nigeria has been thrown into.
She reiterated the call to campaign coordinators in various local governments and ward levels to focus their campaigns on the issue, stressing that issue-based campaigns will expose the conditions of the people to them for them to make a better choice.
