MY MISSION TO ANAMBRA HOUSE, BY PASTOR-TURNED POLITICIAN
Some years back when Pastor Ejike Nwachukwu, a lawyer, decided to donate computers to primary schools in his native Umunya in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, he only did so to help the pupils who were lagging behind in the computer age.
But Ejike who was born into the Nwachukwu family where all his siblings are pastors at Rhema Ministries International did not know that his people would want him to do more for them. However, the people are not asking him to provide them with additional school equipment, rather they are urging him to come and represent them in the Anambra State House of Assembly.
As the servant of God accepts to serve his people in Oyi, they have decided to shelve their political leanings to ensure that they stamp his mandate to the Anambra House of Assembly in 2011.In this interview with Daily Sun, the young Nwachukwu revealed why he succumbed to the pressure from his people, saying that he is encouraged by the new political atmosphere Governor Peter Obi has created in the state.
Excerpts:Why I succumbed to call to serve my peopleWhy I decided to go into politics is because I have looked at Anambra State and discovered that the atmosphere is now clear for free and fair election. And really my people have been disturbing me, urging me to come out to represent them. As at the time they were calling on me to come out, politics in Anambra State was dominated by god-fatherism and rigging. But since the coming of the present administration in the state led by Governor Peter Obi, the issue of god-fatherism is dead in Anambra State and elections in the state are now free and fair, the atmosphere is now clear for genuine people to come into politics to contest and people's votes will now count. One thing I am sure of is that people's votes will count in this coming election and that is what gave me the courage to come out.
God as my own GodfatherYes, we have the ultimate Godfather who is in heaven and He is always with me and if He is with me, nobody can be against me. I have a Godfather and my Godfather is God; just like our governor, when he came into politics he had no godfather, nobody to say this is Peter Obi, support him, I want to rig him in; he came by himself, he did it for the first time and we saw that this man has no godfather and that was the reason he was able to succeed in governance because once you have a godfather what you will use to work for the people, you will take to your godfather and at the end of the day you discover that you have nothing to offer to the people as you have given everything to your godfather while the masses, the people are suffering. So, I am happy that god-fatherism is completely dead in Anambra State. The way Governor Peter Obi came out with God being his Godfather that is the way I am coming out.
Why I opted to go to House of AssemblyI want to go to the House of Assembly because I want to change the face of representation in Anambra State. Hitherto, people will go to the House to represent the people only for this to turn out to be an opportunity for them to build up their business empires, all the money meant to work for the people to change their lives they now convert to building masons here and there. But now that people's votes will count, it has given me the courage to throw my hat into the ring. I have prepared my manifesto; our people know those who are good and whom to choose, I am going to the House of Assembly to change the face of representation, I want to show that representation is not going to take care of yourself and your family, it is just to take care of the people who voted you into elective position, you are just their servant.
The thrust of my manifestoThe thrust of my manifesto is to change the face of representation as I said earlier. When I get to the Anambra State House of Assembly I want to see the lives of the people of my constituency changed for the better. I want to see the people of my constituency saying that since Pastor Nwachukwu was elected into the Anambra House of Assembly we have been feeling the impact of governance.
This is what I look up to and I strongly believe that my people also know of this and that is why they are supporting me en masse. And this is also why members of the other political parties in my constituency came out to defect to my party, APGA. My people looked at the qualities in me and said that they don't want parties again, but a candidate they trust can deliver; somebody they can trust and believe in. Just last week PPA members declared for APGA because of me, they said they liked my coming out as I am somebody they can trust, they pledged to work with me, saying that when I get to the House of Assembly I will adequately represent their interest.
They said that they believe I won't go there to take care of myself or to build up a business empire, they said that I am somebody they know have been working for the people, somebody for the first time in our community who equipped the whole primary schools with computers and generating sets to power the computers. Therefore, they said they are very sure that when I get to the House they will see the impact of my representation.
So, my people in all the parties are closing ranks to support me and I also enjoy a very strong backing from my party, APGA; everybody in the party is saying this is the man we want. If you go outside now and call somebody and ask him, who do you want to represent you in the House, he will tell you that we don't want any other person except Nwachukwu. So, the people of Oyi LGA have already decided. This is a grassroots movement, so nobody can challenge or stop it.
Why I equipped our primary schools with computersIt was a burden I had then. One day I was in my brother's house in Lagos and I saw one of his daughters, a little girl then of about nine years operating the computer and I asked her how she learnt the computer and she said she was taught that in school. So, when I returned home I called a girl that was 12 years and asked her if she could operate my phone and she said no and I was touched. I now said that if a little girl in primary four could operate a computer why can't somebody in the secondary school operate a phone and a computer, or is it simply because she is in the village.
Because of this I decided to equip the schools in my community with computers so that from the primary school our pupils will be computer literate. Already, our governor has equipped all the secondary schools in Anambra State with computers; he is the first governor to do so in the state. I covered about eight primary schools in Oyi LGA and I hope to do more in the future.
PDP determination to take over Anambra StateThe truth is that our governor through his good work has killed the dream of the PDP in Anambra State, nobody is again talking about the PDP in Anambra State, and instead those in the PDP are crossing over to APGA because of the achievements of Governor Obi. Being a pastor and politicianThis has helped me tremendously. My being a pastor and servant of God has made me to always stand by the truth because I am light. Again, my being a pastor makes it imperative that I must always do what is right and that which will portray the name of God in good light and also the name of my family. And when I am there our people will say, yes, the righteous is in authority because the Bible said that when the righteous is in authority, the people will rejoice.
I am not going to play politics with bitterness, they said politics is a dirty game, but when the right people are there it won't be a dirty game again, it will be a clean game and that is why I am encouraging Christians to come out for us to make things work in this nation. Let us stop saying that politics is a dirty game and come out to make it what it should be, it is a dirty game because the wrong people are playing the game.