* Nwabuisi


Hon. Stanley Nwabuisi,  member representing Ikwuano State Constituency
in Abia State House of Assembly, may be a first timer in the House, but definitely
not to politics and legislative business. He was Senior Legislative Aide to Hon Sam Onuigbo, representing Ikwuano/Umuahia South and North in the House
of Representatives from 2015 to 2019.  In this interview with theledgerng.com,
he spoke about his mission as a lawmaker and his experiences so far.

By Louisa Johnson, Umuahia

Q:
Hon, how have you been able to properly aclimatize and position yourself to
give Ikwuano people quality representation?

A:
It's been quite interesting and also intriguing you know the
business of legislating comes with a lot of challenges. But so far
so good. It's really a learning process for me. It's also been quite
interesting. I thank God for everything.

I would say, am moving in the right direction. While campaigning, we
 made  lots of campaign promises. So far, we have  set
the ball rolling to be able to deliver what we promised.

I have sponsored motions and bills, co-sponsored  bills and motions
which of course would lead to better governance in Abia State

Outside the legislative chambers, we have done quite a lot.
We have  been  able to assist a couple of our people to gain
employment in one or two places. We've also been able to carry out a
skilled acquisition program for close to100 of our constituents

 We've also been able to empower a couple of people
with stipends to be precise, we empowered  like 20 people with stipends
of  N100,000/each for them to start up small scale businesses within this period.

Also within this period, we tried to make  the 4 clans
that make up my constituency work more closely with each other.

I have been able to sponsor the first ever unity football tournament within the
4 clans, it was a huge success. That has led to foster unity and harmony
in my constituents

Q:
Tell us, what magic made your electoral victory possible?

A:
There was no magic.  We appealed to the sensibilities of my
constituents. My constituents wanted a better representation. And
they saw in me certain qualities which they believe will make me
represent them well in the House of Assembly. They saw those qualities
that will  add value to this constituency if I am elected to to the House.
So there was no magic. We talked to the people, we appealled to them and
they saw the potentials and they keyed in. That's how we won.
* Nwabuisi


A:
Would you in fairness  say 2019 General Election was  free, fair,
transparent and credible

Q:
Of course we all know what is happening. What happened in 2019
elections? There's no way we can say that it was a free and fair
election. It was mired with a lot of irregularities.
 It's important for us to go back and look into those electoral reforms and
see how we can begin to turn it into law and start to implement it.

I'm happy that the present National Assembly is already looking in that direction in order to pass the  amended Electoral Act into law and hopefully the president
will  assent to it so that we can begin to have a semblance of free, fair
and credible elections.

Well I believe that for us to move forward as a country we need to get our elections right. And for us to get our elections right we need to get the laws that guide the process of the election right.

There were  attempts to get it right in the last National Assembly where
I served as an aide to Hon Sam Onuigbo, That session
of the National Assembly did their best to come up with electoral reforms to amend
the Electoral Act, but unfortunately the President did not assent to it and we could not use them during the last 2019 election.

I'm very hopeful that if we want to move forward and if this government is really sincere that we will move forward, then we need to take another look at that amendment to the Electoral Act and ensure that Nigerians can have the proper guidelines and laws for the next election if we want a free, fair and credible elction. But for now we do not have free and fair or credible elections.

There are so many things that can lead to an inconclusive election. But we've been able to observe the most things it is the unpreparedness of INEC that leads to inconclusive elections. We are hoping and praying that an INEC will increase its capacity to conduct elections and start preparations on time. Political parties should also join hands and other stakeholders in this regard so that elections can be conclusive.

What we have seen happen is that some politicians in connivance with the force of unscrupulous electoral  officials try to subvert the will of the people by declaring elections inconclusive. But I hope that we'll be able to solve that situation in the next elections


Q:
What would you be doing differently that will make you stand out
from your predecessors?

A:
Well, the lawmaker  three major responsibilities. One is legislative. Two is
oversight and three is representation. These three important functions are a representation of three things. Those are the three major functions of legislator according to the 1999 Constitution as amend

So to do things differently,  one needs to be on top of his game, in all
three aspects as a legislator.  We need to come up constantly  with laws that would help govern the state. Moving forward, we must  achieve the desired objective or
accompanying promises for oversight. We also need to step up our game
to ensure that all the MDGs and parastatals within states are properly
and thoroughly oversighted or its activities properly checked to ensure it
conforms to relevant legislations,  for me it's one of the most important aspects of my job.

I also need to represent my people qualitatively. So what that means is that I must be on ground to listen to their problems and articulate same to the Executive, and impress on the Executive to be attentive  to the needs of my people. And that will lead to my constituency enjoying the dividends of democracy those are the things I'm going to do differently.

Q: And what is your New Year message to Ikwuano people?

A:
My New Year message is love. Let us all have a love for one another.
Once we can do that than half of our problems are solved