Like so many constituents across Nigeria, the people of Abia Central Senatorial District would on February 16th this year march to the polls to elect a senator to represent them at the upper chamber of the national assembly for the next four years.

It will be a tough election considering the pedigree of the aspirants but our people must refuse to be deluded or deceived by those who wish to keep us in perpetual bondage.

The time has come to take our destiny in our own hands, ask questions and confront the reality of our political conditions.

Between 1999 and present, Abia central has sent four different individuals to the senate- three men and a woman. Interestingly, two of those individuals would be angling to return to the senate next May.

We must now settle down and interrogate their contributions to the development of our senatorial district from the platform of the senate chambers. How many bills did they sponsor over the past 20 years? How impactful are those bills to the welfare of our people here?

A senator in Abuja commands a lot of weight in Nigeria’s political space. That weight gives them the leverage to attract infrastructural development projects to their constituencies, jobs in federal agencies for the youths and contracts for our businessmen.

How has our senators applied their huge political weight to attract jobs for our young gradates? How many of our graduates have been placed in major federal agencies by our senators? How many of our business owners have received patronage from federal agencies on the recommendations of the men and women representing us in Abuja?

How many infrastructural projects have been sited in Abia Central Senatorial District through the efforts of our senators? How many kilometres of roads projects do our senators insert in the national budget to make life easier for our people? How about schools, housing and other projects with direct bearing on the welfare of our people?

My fellow constituents, the truth is that there will be more questions than answers if we turn our attention to contributions of our senators in Abuja. Remember, we have said nothing about constituency allowance. Never worry, we shall talk about that in the next few days.

Like millions of people in our constituents, I am convinced that the time has come for us to stop electing senators who go to the Red Chambers for their siestas, who sleep while important legislative agendas are being discussed.

We must mobilise and elect a senator who has shown that he understands the modern legislative process and what a senator can do to improve the welfare of his constituents- a senator who will attract physical projects and not just erect billboards, a senator who would shun sycophancy and give to each man what is due him or her.

My dear people, the time has come to send a brilliant intellectual, a professional of outstanding repute and a man whose word is his bond to the senate. His name is Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu. He is not seeking to go to the senate to spend his retirement. He is also not going on a vendetta mission to avenge a past offense. Mazi Ajegbu is driven by one concern only- the welfare of the people of Abia central.

He wants to go to the senate because he believes that we deserve better than what his closest rival can offer in terms of quality representation for all segments of our society.

Vote Chidi Onyeukwu Ajaegbu, Vote APGA. Vote for a better Abia Central.