A clarion call to Senator Okey Ezea

By Linus Aleke

The immutable wisdom in the Christian sacred literature, “To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48), speaks directly to the Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial Districts, Senator Okey Ezea.

The above ecclesiastical aphorism, which calls out our own Distinguished Sen. Ezea, was further interpreted to mean, “If we have been blessed with talents, wealth, knowledge, time, and the like, it is expected that we benefit others with it”.

The story told in the gospel of Luke, further illuminated the wisdom inherent in the saying, “To whom much is given, much will be required”.

According to the story, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God, (Luke 12:16-21)”.

To be rich towards God means, to extend hands of fellowship to those requiring our assistance. Regrettably, our own respected Senator Okey Ezea, seems to be lacking in this respect.

Empirical evidence of what is happening in other Senatorial Districts in Enugu State validates the propositions that Distinguished Sen. Ezea is extremely poor in extending hand of fellowship to his constituents, even when he is known to be exceedingly rich material-wise.

For instance, the Senator, representing Enugu East, Sen. Kelvin Chukwu, in a statement announced the setting up of a committee in late January, to facilitate the payment of JAMB registration fee to over 300 indigent students in his constituency, who are desirous of pursuing tertiary education within Nigeria.

The statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Johnpaul Anih, said that education is indeed the bedrock of national development and giving youths access to acquire sound education will help them break the shackles of poverty.

The people friendly senator directed that special consideration be given to orphans and indigent applicants as well as the physically challenged.

The 7-man committee headed by an academic, Dr. Ene Nwannaji, has since been inaugurated with the mandate of collating and screening prospective applicants for the exercise.

Sen. Chukwu who promised to monitor the academic progress of the would-be-successful applicants and continue to assist them, mandates the committee to deliver within the time-frame.

In a related development, Senator Chukwu, also announced the appointment of no fewer than 26 persons as his legislative aides.

In a statement signed by his media aide, the Labour Party Senator, disclosed that the new appointees comprises two Special Advisers, three Senior Special Assistants and 22 Special Assistants.

He expressed optimism the new advisers will help actualize his “putting the people first,” agenda, for Enugu East senatorial zone.

This came as the Senior Legislative Aide (NASS), On Projects to the Distinguished Senator Osita Ngwu of Enugu West, Engr Okoro Emmanuel Elder, extolled the benevolence and wisdom of his principal in appointing over 100 Aides from across his Senatorial District as well as holding an induction/capacity building workshop for them.

In a well attended and impactful event organized by the office of the SSA on Human Capital Development to the Senator, Engr Eneiga F.P.I, said, various resource persons couldn’t help but praise the Senator for this noble accomplishment which they noted was the first time a Senator would do such in the entire South East region.

Recall that in the 8th National Assembly,
the Senator that represented Gombe South Senatorial District, Sen. Bulus Amos, appointed no fewer than 118 constituency aides.

These aides, the former law maker said, were picked across the forty wards in Balanga, Billiri, Kaltungo and Shongom LGAs of the senatorial district.

Mr Amos, who spoke through his media aide Abdul Lauya, explained that the 118 appointees comprised two personal assistants drawn from each ward and another 38 special assistants.

He further explained that while the personal assistants are to serve as links between the lawmaker and the grassroots, the special assistants would represent various special interests including women, youth, students, physically challenged and the aged through the constituency office in Bambam.

He concluded that the appointment is a special kind of empowerment, and giving back to his constituents for their continuous support.

Meanwhile, the legal instruments – National Assembly Act, governing such appointments provides that each lawmaker, excluding principal officers, is entitled to five aides, including one senior legislative aide, two legislative aides, a personal assistant and a secretary.

These aides are not part of those who work in the constituency offices of the legislators. The President of the Senate is entitled to 45 aides; his deputy, 30, and 20 each for all principal officers. The Speaker of the House of Representatives is entitled to 35 assistants; Deputy Speaker, 15 and 10 each for the six principal officers of the Green Chamber.

Available data reveals that legislative aides at the National Assembly, get monthly emoluments ranging between N75,000 to N180,000 , a downward review from N150,000 to N250,000. All of these aides are paid from the coffers of the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, our own Senator Ezea has rarely met the official quota, which, will not cost him anything, let alone, emulating the good examples of Sen. Chukwu, Sen. Ngwu and of course Sen. Amos, from the North.

Interestingly, none of the opposition politicians that contested the Senatorial election in Enugu North Senatorial District, filed a petition at the election tribunal to distract our brother who emerged victorious at the poll.

That in my humble view is enough incentive for Senator Okey Ezea to outperform the other two Senators in the state who spent hundreds of million to defend their victory at election tribunal courts. If our distinguished senator, do not see the wisdom in using political appointment to empower our youths who worked for his victory during the elections, as Senator Osita Ngwu of Enugu West, and Kelvin Chukwu of Enugu East had done, he should at least adopt, the other flank of Senator Kelvin Chukwu’s model of empowering the constituents through payment of WAEC/NECO and JAMB registration fee for indigent students in the cultural zone.

A university scholarship in his name that can cater for no fewer than one hundred and fifty students, across the six local government areas, in the Senatorial District, annually, will also not be a bad idea. As the surest way to move people out of the circle of poverty is through education.

It will be in the best interest of Sen. Ezea and that of the cultural zone, if he begins early to address some of these identified gaps in his approach to representation of the people.

It is however, not a bad idea to provide rice palliative for the constituents, during festive periods as he had done, especially now that protests are rocking some major cities in the country over extreme hunger and deprivation, but it becomes insulting to constituents when they are made to share grains of rice instead. To give each household in the 102 wards less than half cup of rice do not only amount to nothing, but invariably translates to insult on the sensibility of the benefiting households.

Sen. Ezea should also learn from his colleagues, Hon. Chidi Obetta, who at least makes move to verify certain appeals that comes to his table by reaching out to the traditional ruler of the locality where the concerned individual hails from. He also takes the pain to call those involved to encourage them and appeals to them to wait for his support.

Sen. Ezea had practically turned deaf ears and blind eyes to cry of help from a constituents, Mr. Nnaemwka Omeje, who is today laying helpless at University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, because he can no longer afford the money for the four seasons of dialysis in a month. These sessions of dyalisis translates to one session per week.

His two kidney has failed and he is hoping on God, good spirited citizens and privileged Nigerians like Okey Ezea to come to his aid, so as to enable him travel abroad for a transplant to enable him live again. The appeal letter he wrote to Sen. Ezea, was practically ignored. The same letter was also addressed to Hon. Chidi Obetta, who had since reached out to the young man, but had not rendered any financial assistance anyway. Senator Ezea, you cannot afford to treat your constituents who need your help and words of encouragement with such disdain. God has empowered you to empower others, therefore, live up to that calling.

This is a clarion call to you to review your human relations, especially towards your constituents and move fast to touch the life of the people with empowerment programmes, such as scholarships, free medical care, employment etc.

In conclusion, I will refer you to another counsel in the bible book of Luke, where Jesus of Nazareth told his audience to be on their guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Beware of of sycophants around you if you are prepared to succeed as a law maker, for a good turn our people say, deserves another. And when a road is good, it is used a second time.

Aleke is an Abuja based journalist and can be reached on 08067366500, gov4live82@gmail.com