Senate: Senator Umeh’s many battles for SouthEast

Senator Victor Umeh represents Anambra Central Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He took over from Senator Uche Ekwunife and is the first senator to be produced by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) notwithstanding that the party has ruled Anambra State for more than eight years.

It is pertinent to note that due to the protracted legal tussle that characterized the election of the senatorial district after the 2015 general elections, Anambra Central remained without a representative in the Senate for more than two years.

Eventually, the court passed a judgment ordering for a re-run election which held on Saturday January 13, 2018, in which Umeh defeated 13 other challengers to clinch the senatorial seat. Consequently, he was sworn in by the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on January 18, 2018.

While briefing the Press after his inauguration, Umeh, who is a former National Chairman of APGA, noted that one of his cardinal aims for fighting his way to the Senate was to contribute his quota to advance peace, unity and development in Nigeria, by sponsoring and promoting legislations that will guarantee equity, justice and fairness in the country.

He posited that there would never be any meaningful development in the country, if all forms of injustices in the system were not adequately addressed as according to him, Nigeria could only prosper when all citizens were given equal opportunities and treatment in the affairs of the nation.

Umeh unequivocally pointed out that those opposed to the ongoing agitations across the country for the restructuring of the nation’s defective socio-political and economic structures do not mean well for the nation.
Though in the national parliament as a first timer, and having joined the apex assembly almost three years after the commencement of the 8th Senate, Umeh, however, did not hesitate to work towards actualization of his vision.

From his activities so far, he appears to have majored in fighting against policies and programmes of government that have the tendency of creating injustices as well as provoking agitations from sections of the country, particularly with respect to the South-East zone, which is his primary constituency.

Accordingly, on October 23, 2018, Umeh sponsored a major motion, which sharply divided the Senate along geo-ethnic lines. The motion was on the exclusion of the South-East from the National Defence and the National Security Councils by the Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government.

When he was given the floor to present the motion, Umeh observed that the zone has no representation in the two critical security councils and lamented that the exclusion of the zone was not only tantamount to alienation of the people of the area, but also a breach of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Consequently, he asked the Senate to impress it on President Buhari to reconstitute the membership of the National Defence Council and the National Security Council, to comply with the Federal Character Principle.

He also enjoined Buhari to appoint an officer from the South-East as a service chief for equitable representation of the people of the region in the Council and also as a means of giving the marginalized zone a sense of belonging in Nigeria. He warned that the exclusion, if not addressed will continue to cause a feeling of alienation and agitation among the people of the region.

Contributing to the motion, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South), who wondered why Buhari excluded the region from the Council, alleged misinterpretation of the Constitution by the President while carrying out the appointment.

Abaribe, who said he had, in the past, led the South-East Caucus in the National Assembly to the President on the matter, alleged that it was a deliberate attempt not to include the region as part of the security architecture of this country.

However, the Deputy Leader of the Senate, Senator Bala Ibn Na’Allah (APC Kebbi South), accused Umeh of “gross misunderstanding of the provisions of the Constitution on the matter” and warned against politicizing security issues in the country.