9th Senate: Stakeholders in Ebonyi differ on expectations

Some political stakeholders in Ebonyi, have expressed divergent views on the expectations from ex-governors elected as senators during the 2019 General Elections.

The News Agency reports that no fewer than 15 ex-governors will be in the 9th Senate which will commence sitting in June.

Chief Egwu Chima, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), described the election of the former governors into the Senate as a welcome development.

Chima, former Commissioner for Information and State Orientation in Ebonyi, told NAN on Tuesday in Abakaliki, that the ex-governors would bring their wealth of experience to bear in the legislative activities in the senate.

Chima said that former governors who served creditably in their respective states deserved a chance to go and show-case their leadership prowess at the senate.

According to him, former governors have acquired enough experience that could be harnessed to advance the nation’s democracy through viable and qualitative representation.

He said: “The best way for any governor that has served for eight years is to go and take a seat in the senate.

”The work load and expectations of the people on you as a governor are completely absent, the person will have full time to carry out his legislative functions.

“If after serving as a governor and you retire to your house, you may decay fast, lose political relevant and may even die early.

“As a lawmaker, the ex-governors will be able to direct their focus to the nation with the experience that they have gathered over the years on how to build strong, united and virile democracy.

“I can tell you categorically that it is pertinent that former governors should go to senate after serving their states where their wealth of political, leadership and administrative experience will be utilised.”

He advised ex-governors who are senators-elect from the different political parties to carry their experiences from their various sections of the country into the larger Nigeria.

Egwu advised them to use the experiences to contribute to the development, unity and oneness of the nation.

Also speaking, Dr Paul Okorie, a former Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transportation in Ebonyi, said that the former governors were driven by the desire to maintain their grip on the political space in their various states.

Okorie said that some of the former governors that served in the previous senate did not show enough political fire work and quality representation, stressing that they were in the senate to feather their political nest.

He decried the development and urged ex-governors who were elected as senators to place the interest of the country and their constituencies above personal considerations.

“They should put the interest of the nation first, think more of their constituents and to remember first and foremost that their constituents are the people that elected them into the senate.

“They should bring their experiences as former governors to bear in the legislative process and thereby advance our democracy,’’ Okorie said.

Former governors elected to serve in the  9th Senate include two ex-governors of Abia, Chief Orji Kalu and his successor, Theodore Orji, incumbent governor of Borno, Kashim Shettima, Dr Sam Egwu of Ebonyi, among others.