UDENU PEOPLE, DO YOU STILL REMEMBER BARRISTER OSITA NDU?

Barrister Osita Ndu

Barrister Osita Ndu is a New York based legal practitioner who was trained in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. He came into limelight in the year 1999 when, as a very young politician, won Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) ticket to contest Udenu Local Government Area chairmanship election. He defeated other contestants under that great political party to clinch the ticket. He still remains the youngest person to stand chairmanship election in Udenu. According to him, “I guess that opened the gateway to young people joining politics in our place.”

He later had a set-back during the general election. The then Godfather of Udenu politics, Late Chief Benard Eze (Oko-Ugbabe) was the leader of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP) in the local government. Hon. Eugene Odo (SabGene) was the APP chairmanship candidate in the election. If the election was free and fair, Barrister Ndu would have won owing to the fact that he had the support of the masses. The youths wanted him. Oko-Ugbabe, who was known for his expertise in electoral manipulations and all forms of malpractices, fraudulently secured victory for his candidate and political godson, Hon. Eugene Odoh. The rest is now history.

Come to think of this. Some great politicians in Nigeria today contested local government chairmanship election the same year and lost. But that did not deter them from climbing the political ladder. In Enugu State, the current Deputy President of the Senate, Chief Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, contested Aninri Local Government chairmanship election the same time and lost to Prince Tony Nwonye, a son of Late Igwe Nwonye. That did not deter him. He immediately joined Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani’s governorship campaign team and later became the Chief of Staff, Government House, Enugu. Later, he was made the Secretary to State Government. From there, he bame a Senator and now the Deputy Senate President. Presently, he is being considered to be a running mate to a 2019 presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The same year, 1999, Chief Ezenwata Okechukwu Itanyi resigned as a bank manager to contest Igboetiti LGA chairmanship election but lost woefully owing to the influence of Nwodo family. He later became a running mate to Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani and eventually became Enugu State Deputy Governor. Presently, he is an Executive Commissioner, Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC). What about Chief James Ugwu (Igwurube)? The list is endless.

On why Barrister Osita Ndu decided to stay apolitical after 1999, he said, “Just the need to keep a close eye on my kids who are all in America. Nothing more. I have only boys, so I can't give them too much space by themselves.”