Our attention was recently drawn to a write-up by Dr. Tony Nwaka, a former chairman of Aniocha South Local Government Council, in which he attempted to vilify Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, our distinguished representative and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, with wicked and misleading lies, malicious misinformation, and outright mischief.
As a responsible group whose mandate is to promote, protect, pursue, and secure the collective interest of the people of Aniocha/oshimili Federal Constituency, it behoves us to educate Dr. Tony Nwaka on some of the sterling achievements of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu to set the records straight in case some other misguided quisling would be emboldened by Tony Nwaka’s puerile hogwash to attempt a similar futile adventure.
For starters, constitutional democracy provides the platform for people to make their choices of representation in government at all levels, be it Federal, State or Local Government. The choices are always based on trust, pedigree, capacity, and ability to deliver.
That was the case of the people of Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency, Delta State, when in 2007, they collectively searched for a man that will represent their overall aspirations in the Nigeria project. They particularly looked out for a man that would be their voice and representative in the House of Representatives; ensuring that their hopes, desires and aspiration as stakeholders, are adequately presented and addressed at the national round table.
Eventually, they succeeded in picking a man of integrity with great passion for the people, coming highly recommended with uncommon pedigree and high level of intellectual capacity. That person was Ndudi Godwin Elumelu, a Masters degree holder with exceptional experience in global insurance, marketing, and banking.
He was to be the third person after Hon. Ned Nwoko (1999-2003) and Hon Pascal Adigwe (2003-2007) were elected by the people of Aniocha/ Oshimili Federal Constituency into the National Assembly.
Hon. Elumelu, in his first coming between, 2007 and 2011, did excellently well that he was given another opportunity between 2011 and 2015 where he exceeded his established performance record in his first term, so much so that he was urged to take a shot at the Governorship position in Delta State which he consented to when the conventionally endorsed power rotational lot, conceived and grounded on the principles of equity, justice and fairness, fell on his Senatorial district, the Delta North Senatorial zone.
Hon. Elumelu however missed the Governorship ticket of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP in his typical and admirable Spirit of sportsmanship, he was the first to congratulate the winner of the primary, His Excellency, Senator, Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, who also went ahead to win the governorship election.
Four years, between 2015 and 2019, the people of Aniocha/Oshimili, again impressed on Elumelu, to go back to the Green chamber, at the expiration of the tenure of a renowned daughter of the Federal Constituency, Hon. Joan Onyemaechi (aka Ada Anioma).
Elumelu heeded to the call and eventually was overwhelmingly elected into the 9th National Assembly, where his colleagues, in recognition of his excellent leadership qualities, elected him as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives
He doggedly attracted and added immense value to infrastructure and human and capital development in Aniocha/Oshimili Federal constituency and multiplied what he had done in his first and second comings, becoming a national force and a powerful, resonating voice of the voiceless through his nationalist impactful bills and motions.
He wowed and marveled the whole nation with his unique style of opposition leadership, with the holistic interest of the Nigerian masses as his motivation and centre of his robust legislative advocacy to the admiration of all well-meaning Nigerians.
Nigerians and especially the people of Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency, Delta State were therefore appalled by the unwarranted disparagement of Hon Elumelu by Dr. Tony Nwaka in the name of Politics. Such action has made Nigerians to believe that our brother, Tony Nwaka may be suffering from that terrible illness that seasonally affects the body and soul and rational faculties
Indeed, Hon Elumelu, who was recently honoured with the prestigious National Honours Award of the Office of the Order of the Niger (OON) by President Muhammadu Buhari and the people of Nigeria, stands tall in his attainments as a legislator.
Nigerians celebrate Hon Elumelu for his courage in fighting for and ensuring the passage of the Electoral Bill, 2022 is written. He led the opposition federal lawmakers and even spearheaded a popular walkout against the ruling Party’s deliberate shenanigans to stall electronic voting.
Hon. Elumelu insisted on the inclusion of the game-changing Bimodal Voter Accreditation system (BVAS) and other electronic voting devices, into the Electoral Law, which has already started yielding practical results and will soon become the bedrock of the much-needed and desired electoral reforms for the forthcoming general election in the country.
Elumelu, without mincing words, remains competent enough and more experienced now as a federal lawmaker, that we cannot afford to miss his unique brand of representation. He is a competent and clean hand that Aniocha/Oshimili people will continue to trust with our cherished mandate to continue with his upbeat and sincere representation of us in the House of Representatives.
A great man of strong and impeccable character, Elumelu’s attitude and continued demonstration of passion and commitment to the welfare of the people in this regard, is a pointer to underscore the belief and acceptance that he is good enough for the people.
Elumelu is a stable, steadfast and trustworthy leader loved by the people unlike the Tony Nwaka, who is reputed as an unstable politician who jumps from one party to the other in the lust for power for personal aggrandizement
This is indeed a terrible Political sickness and affliction and in the case of Tony Nwaka, we will take the liberty to coin a phrase from his literary community as a writer and describe this condition as: “Tonywaka Stomach Political Deficiency (TWSPD)”; a coinage he will find useful when writing his next book.
TWSPD could be defined as a condition that makes one lose focus, sense of reasoning and lie at will; distort facts, deceive gullible people and at the end, make oneself a laughing stock. It affects one immediately with the ‘Pull Him Down’ syndrome (PHD) even when the victims is a PhD holder. TWSPD makes one live under false assumptions.
Apart from the golden fact that Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu is a senior ranking member of the House of Representatives and will remain so by the grace of God, for the great value he has brought to us, Aniocha/Oshimili People and Nigeria as a whole, we will at this point, restate the more, that he remains competent enough to continue to represent us at the National Assembly.
It is appalling that in his diatribe, Tony Nwaka, the former Chairman of Aniocha South Local Government and three time commissioner in the Government of Delta, could not boast of any concrete impactful project executed for his Ogwashi-Uku people, and chose rather to turn a blind eye to the remarkable projects executed by Hon. Elumelu across all the communities of the Federal Constituency
It is clear that Tony Nwaka does not understand what Federal Presence so we need to educate him that Federal Presence means the location of Federal Government projects in a particular region, zone, state, local government area and community, either directly by the Federal Government or through a representative at the National Assembly.
It is instructive to state that there is no community in Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency that does not have federal presence, attracted by Hon. Elumelu, for the benefit of the people.
Those who aspire to lead the people must be humble, proactive, sincere and be persons of character, but we have observed over time that Dr. Nwaka is so proud and pompous, that he will see it as beneath his PhD status, to construct a community town hall, Information and Communication Technology Centre with about three hundred internet configured computers civic center, solar street lights to illuminate our communities, link roads, as well as community palaces for our revered traditional institutions. He will rather prefer to be waiting for a big, white elephant Federal Presence. Sycophants in politics!
Tony Nwaka, who cannot win even his ward 5 in Ogwashi-Uku in the forthcoming general election, mentioned the Ogwashi-Uku Dam in that laughable article of his, which indeed was initiated by Hon. Chief Pascal Adigwe, an illustrious son of Aniocha Oshimili.
Yes, the Dam is a Federal Government project which Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, through his office, attracted over N700 million towards the completion, even though the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has delayed its activation. Tony Nwaka did not include that in his rush to rubbish the hard working people’s representative, Hon Elumelu.
It is also imperative to indicate in this article that Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu through his office, attracted massive rehabilitation and maintenance in one way or the other of various Federal Government agencies in Delta State including the SSS, the Police, the Appeal Court and even the Immigration Services. These are Agencies of the Federal Government in Asaba and other Local Government Areas in our Federal Constituency that are adding value to the people.
Also in the poorly written article tried in futility to rub mud on Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, who is credited with over 70 bills and motions that have broad-based benefits, not only to the People of Aniocha/Oshimili, but to Deltans and Nigerians.
Such bills and motions include the bill for an Act to establish Federal University of Technology, Asaba, Delta State for the purpose of providing quality technical education while providing job opportunities to our people. The bill has been passed and awaiting presidential approval.
Also worthy of note is his bill on the creation of Anioma State also passed concurrently with the Senate and waiting for the President to sign it into law. We are sure Tony Nwaka did not hear or has not read about it.
Hon. Elumelu is reputed as one of the most prolific sponsors of people-oriented bills and motions in the House of Representatives. There is no week in session that he does not present a motion or bill that has a direct impact on the wellbeing and development of the people of Aniocha/Oshimili in particular and Nigerian at large. This is apart from bills and motions co-sponsored with other members. Dr. Tony Nwaka cannot pretend not to know all these.
Tony Nwaka failed as a Local Government Chairman. Even when he was given the opportunity to serve as the Commissioner of Special Duties, he failed. He has failed to provide answers to the allegation that he enriched himself with funds meant for relief items for flood victims.
Ndudi Elumelu, on the other hand, and despite his very busy schedule, had to leave Abuja for the various IDP Camps in our Federal Constituency, gave them hope and succour, and presented relief materials to them. What did our PhD. holder Tony Nwaka do as a lover of his people in the recent flood crisis? Absolutely nothing!
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when our people were in dire need of help, what did Tony Nwaka contribute? He remains a proud man who does not have value for genuine and sincere efforts.
Tony Nwaka was in Nigeria when, on several occasions, the activities of Rt. Hon. Ndudi Elumelu empowerment programmes were made public. Even His Excellency, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, Executive Governor of our dear State, attended three of such programmes and the National Chairman of PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu attended once, where over 7000 of our people in Aniocha/Oshimili, became direct beneficiaries and were presented with over One billion Naira worth of empowerment items. For want of space, we would have listed them here.
Elumelu with great passion for the people of Aniocha/Oshimili, demonstrated just that in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he provided palliatives worth over N45million to cushion the effects of the pandemic on us all across the four Local Government Areas in Aniocha/ Oshimili. What did Tony do at that time? Nothing.
In Dr. Tony Nwaka’s years as chairman of our local government, three time commissioner, including his years as Special Assistant, what form of empowerment could he be remembered for?
Without mincing words, we make bold to say again, that the Rt. Honourable Ndudi Godwin Elumelu remains competent enough that the Aniocha/Oshimili People will continue to elect him into the House of Representative to continue his good work for our people.
Aniocha/Oshimili Peoples Mandate
