[b]Ambush that rattled Ekweremadu
By Chris Oji Published 16/12/2009 News Extra Rating: Unrated
THEY took him and his energetic security team completely unawares. The big shot had flown in to inspect some projects in his senatorial zone, Enugu West, in Enugu State. And he got off to a good start trying hard to keep to his schedules and itinerary. At some point he felt he needed a brief rest, perhaps no more than 20 minutes, before resuming his tour. So he headed for his impressive country home at Mpu in Aninri Local Government Area. But before he got there, an ambush in the form of thousands of children was already waiting for him. They wanted a slice of the “national cake” they believed he came with. What was thought would be a 20-minute timeout was stretched to over two hours, as the big shot had to hand out a cut of the “cake” as required of him. That was the plight of Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu last week.
As soon as the long convoy of vehicles arrived at Mpu, a serene rural setting, with farming being their mainstay, children, women and youths of the community trooped out in their thousands and lay "ambush" for Ekweremadu and his entourage. News had spread round the community that their son and benefactor was touring his projects and would likely pop in to see his mother. Not only did the news spread within Mpu, neighbouring communities such as Okpanku and Uduma got the news and found their way to the Deputy Senate President’s country home.

After Ekweremadu and his entourage drove into the expansive compound, the gate was closed by security personnel, apparently to prevent the large crowd of women and children from entering. Each time the Deputy Senate President is around, they would troop in to receive their share of the "national cake."

Ekweremadu prevailed on the security to open the gate for them. And as soon as this was done, like bees, the children, women and youths trooped in. They were arranged in queues and the distribution of the "cake" started in earnest to the admiration of all around.

Newsextra

observed, though, that despite the fact that these children reside in the rural setting, they looked healthy and well-fed. The only evidence of rural life on them was the effect of the biting harmattan which left their skins dry and rough.

It was unclear who organised the army of youngsters, just as how much the well-heeled son of the soil doled out to those who besieged his home remains unknown.

Ekweremadu during the tour, inspected water boreholes and overhead tanks at Amoli, an ultra modern library at St. Vincent De Paul Seminary, Agbogugu, water and road projects at Ugbo where he told the traditional ruler, Igwe G. E. Udeonu that they want to use Ugbo community as a model among the communities in Enugu west senatorial zone.

Ekweremadu also inspected a computer pool project at the Community Secondary School, Okpanku and also a water project with a reticulation target of two kilometer radius. Also at Okpanku, he inspected a newly installed giant generator with installed capacity of 42.5 KVA. There were also church projects which were inspected.

Ekweremadu later told reporters that the idea of the projects being cited in the rural areas was to arrest the rural to urban drift among the youths of the area. In his words: "Our target is to ensure that there are roads, water, electricity and educational facilities in the communities. We aim to halt the movement of people from the rural to urban areas and as you can see with the installation of computers, the people and the communities will be opened to the world. We want to ensure that they are not left behind in this millennium age. We want them to enjoy the facilities enjoyed in other parts of the world right here in the rural setting.

"We also want the children to have sound education so that they can compare with their counterparts in other parts of the world."

According to the Deputy Senate President, the projects tour would also take him to other local governments in his constituency as those inspected were those of two local governments of Awgu and Aninri. The other projects are cited at Oji-River, Ezeagu and Udi local government areas. [/b]

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It serves him right.