A lot of people are quite unfamiliar with the real nature of the woman called Senator Uche Ekwunife.
With the benefit of hindsight, those who know her well would tell her stories of betrayal to political associates and colleagues while she held sway as Branch Manager of the now-defunct Standard Trust Bank in Onitsha.
A little stroll back in the early 2000s in Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra state has the records of her involvement in female cultism as the woman who introduced what was known as Black Bra Confraternity.
Uche Ekwunife’s political sojourn dates back to the tenure of Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju as the then-governor of Anambra state. Whilst Uche Ekwunife used her amoral relationship with the then-governor to corner Anambra state accounts, she also made sure that she used her influence via the same relationship to maltreat workers of the state civil service by withholding their salaries through the Governor.
During the period of Dr. Mbadinuju’s reign, he used Senator Ekwunife as a conduit to siphon state funds and purchase properties within and outside the state. The only puzzle in these purchases was that instead of Dr. Mbadinuju’s name as the owner, Uche Ekwunife made the purchases in her name. It was only after the disastrous 4 years tenure of Dr. Mbadinuju as the executive governor of the state, that the true story came to public limelight as Dr. Mbadinuju wanted to possess properties he had believed he had purchased through his trusted ally and lover Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, only to find that none of the properties was purchased in his name.
A series of meetings and talks ensued but all came to no avail. His last move was to report to the Igwe-in-council in Agukwu Nri. Senator Ekwunife was invited to the meeting but she instead sent her husband, who publicly replied to Dr. Mbadinuju “do you collect what was given to a lover?”. It is no secret that the husband also reminds anyone who cares to listen that he and his wife are in an open marriage where neither of them is allowed to have lovers outside their marriage. As the saying goes, birds of a feather always flock together.
With that retort, Dr. Mbadinuju in shame let the entire matter rest lest the story goes beyond what can be managed. It is often believed that this discovery and loss of acquired properties via a proxy was what led to Dr. Mbadinuju’s Transient Ischemic Attack that nearly took his life back then.
With that fortified financial war chest, Uche Ekwunife was ready to dive into the world of politics.
Her journey of political harlotry started as she moved from PDP to APGA and with the help of another governor Mr. Peter Obi she clinched the ticket of the party to run as a House of Representative member. But Uche Ekwunife didn’t stop there, her thirst for power and control was insatiable. After she was ousted by the courts, Uche switched political parties yet again and joined PDP yet again and teamed up with a notorious politician in the state known as Christian Uba (Eselu an Uga), and together they began to dismember the party in the state from inside.
But that is not the high point of Uche Ekwunife’s betrayal nature. She played it out again when she dumped the PDP and joined the now APC to contest for the party’s ticket to represent Anambra Central at the Senate. A bid in which she found herself battling with Chief Victor Umeh of APGA. Of course, she eventually got her to win via the courts and she decamped yet again back to the PDP.
Senator Ekwunife’s notoriety is limitless. While she was on the campaign council of the state party’s election in 2021 after losing to Mr. Valentine Ozigbo who emerged as flagbearer of the party, Uche Ekwunife worked with Mr. Chidozie Nwankwo and collected over N60,000,000 (Sixty Million Naira) from him with promises of handing over her structure to him to enable him to win the election.
The then governor of the state, Chief Willie M Obiano also allegedly gave her N800,000,000 (Eight Hundred Million Naira) with a promise that should she work for the success of the candidate of the APGA Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, after his tenure, she would be the successor of his seat. An agreement appealed to Mrs. Ekwunife and she scuttled the chances of the candidate of her party (PDP) in that election.
Mrs. Uche Ekwunife popularly called Iyom by her praise singers has shown her nature in many ways that cannot be counted. From the workplace environment in the banking sector to the political scene.
It is no secret that she with her cohort Mr. Christian Uba are the unseen hands with the current impasse being faced by the PDP in Anambra State where they have tried to impose on the party Mr. Ndubuisi Nwobu, solely because Mr. Nwobu also known as Ogbuka promised them a return in investment via the state party’s financial purse.
In a lot of quarters, her announcement on the campaign train of the PDP’s flagbearer for the 2023 election Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has raised concerns in different quarters owing to her antecedents and history of always betraying those who she works with. Mrs. Ekwunife can be best described as that rat that will be chewing your toes and still be blowing soothing air to make you comfortable and relaxed. One would expect that her wealth of her via her cutthroat nature would be enough to satisfy Mrs. Uche Ekwunife but not a woman like her as she bared her greedy fangs yet again at a visit by the Presidential flagbearer of the party in Enugu state where she and Mr. Ndubuisi Nwobu cornered monies meant for the logistics of the party’s supporters who were to attend the South East Zonal Summit in Enugu. Whereas Mrs. Ekwunife claimed that she mobilized people from about 7 Local Government Areas of her senatorial district, she cared not for their welfare or logistics but instead was more interested in how shewpulf use their visit to dip her hands into the monies made available for their welfare turning into almost N5,000,000 (Five Million Naira).
A simple cautionary measure to anyone having any dealings with Mrs. Ekwunife would be as they say – when eating with the devil, always use a long spoon lest you become the meal.
Uche Ekwunife is like the proverbial witch that eats even it’s very own to quench her thirst for blood.
Many of her constituents and political allies are alive to tell the tales of her betrayal.
Uche Ekwunife poses publicly as a woman who has the interest of the public at heart but her only aim is her interests and nothing more.
A word is enough for the wise
Chidozie Okeke writes from Abuja
