Political seasons reveal much of a politician’s character. A candidate can hide behind posters and press statements, behind her inner circle and what have you, but a community tour offers no such cover. It is conducted door to door, palace to palace, town hall to town hall, before audiences who remember promises and keep receipts. Senator Uche Ekwunife's tours of Anambra Central, now as the APC candidate for the district in the 2027 general election, offer several lessons for us.
The first lesson is that her support is rooted in the communities rather than imposed on them. Reports from the tours describe a familiar choreography: a courtesy call on the traditional ruler, then a reception by the people. In a number of these towns, they rolled out the drums to honour her before she received royal blessings, before declaring support for her political journey.
Now while endorsements are only symbols, in Igbo political culture the order of events matters. We seek the blessing of elders before we seek the favour of crowds. A politician such as Senator Ekwunife, who is received by both, has usually spent years doing her political arithmetic ( Apologies to Senator Chuba Okadigbo), not just weeks.
Her tours also invite a comparison of records, which is what the electorate should want. Her stint in both chambers of the National Assembly has resulted in constituency projects worth billions of naira for Anambra Central as well as quality bills and motions. During her earlier campaigns, she pointed to her motion on the erosion menace ravaging Anambra Central communities. Reports also credit her with a health facility donated to Neni and a science laboratory at Awka-Etiti. The list is endless, Classrooms, homes for widows, roads constructed and rehabilitated, transformers, boreholes, streetlights,educational materials, farming implements, medical outreach programmes meeting the primary healthcare needs of her constituents , grants and the facilitating of jobs for her constituents.
These are verifiable claims and even her political opponents have acknowledged such. Herein lies the point of the tour: it makes a scorecard something a community can inspect and a record that survives that inspection is worth more than any slogan.
There is also a quieter lesson. Ekwunife’s career has since made her one of the most visible women in Igbo politics, her aspiration coupled with her performance should encourage women all over the country to aspire to heights beyond the glass ceiling created by male chauvinism and envy and as Ndi Igbo like to say that the girl child is not a lesser child. The numbers in our legislatures say we do not always act on it. Returning a woman with a proven scorecard and a seasoned reputation to the Red Chamber is a statement on inclusion and also a sound investment in competence.
The tours also help answer the realism question of the 2027 elections. This is the part sentiment would rather avoid. The opposition is in visible disarray, and the ruling party holds the commanding heights. It is plausible, even likely, that President Tinubu will seek and secure another term. Prudence requires us to plan for that outcome rather than hope it away because where power sits, resources flow. Committee chairmanships, federal projects, appointments and access are distributed by the majority, and they majorly favour those inside the tent. Ndi Igbo have learned this lesson before, often painfully.
Ndi Igbo have long placed most of their political eggs in a single basket, and we should ask honestly what the harvest has been. Loyalty to a party that cannot deliver is not principle; it is a luxury paid for by our roads, our industries and our youth.
A prudent family does not bet everything on one outcome. It diversifies and keeps a voice at every table. Being represented in both the ruling party and the opposition is not disloyalty; it is risk management for a region that cannot afford another term at the margins.
Every football captain knows that big matches are seldomly won from the bench and when that pitch is the Senate and the stakes are federal presence, Ndi Igbo should field their first eleven, and they should field them where the ball is. Where that team belongs to the governing party, the case is stronger still.
Is it wise to send an opposition member, no matter how long his cap is to the chamber to shout down a majority that will only be amused, while the juicy committee positions and projects sit within reach of those the majority recognises? Opposition has its place and its honour, but in a legislature where numbers decide, the loudest voice is not always the most effective one. Influence is built in committee rooms and corridors, not in walkouts.
The tours of Senator Ekwunife teach four things: grassroots acceptance that is earned in the communities, a record open to scrutiny, a commitment to gender inclusion that goes beyond rhetoric, and a sober reading of the political weather. Taken together, they pose a question the district must answer for itself: whether to be heard or to be heeded.
Elections are not won by nostalgia, and regions are not built on grievance alone. Anambra Central has the talent, the capital and the global reach to shape the Nigeria of tomorrow. What we have sometimes lacked is a seat close enough to the table to turn that strength into outcomes.
As the community tours continue, the people of Anambra Central must weigh the evidence. Let them inspect the scorecard, honour the elders' blessings, and ask where their voice will count most. If they conclude that it is with an experienced hand inside the chamber where decisions are made, then they will have chosen not just Senator Uche Ekwunife but a long term strategy, one that bodes well for the district, her future and Ndi Anambra.
Dr. Igboeli Arinze Napoleon rcsi, writes from Abagana.
