Prince Lawrence Ezeh is the Prince of Mburubu town in Nkanu East Local Government Area and the All Progressive Party’s senatorial candidate for Enugu East Senatorial Zone. He is running to occupy the seat of EnuguEast senatorial zone in the Red Chambers against the former Governor of Enugu State, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani who is the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party. In an exclusive interview with The Choice Flame Team, the Prince of Mburubu shared with us what inspired him to join the race to represent his people in Abuja as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Who is Prince Lawrence Ezeh?
He is just a simple man like you. Born into the family of his Royal Majesty, Igwe and Lolo E.M.O Ezeh(JP),Ozulumba 1 of Mburubu. I had my primary education at Community Primary School Mburubu and my Secondary Education at Boys Secondary school Nara. My first degree in Shipping Engineering I had in Rivers State University of Science and Technology. I also bagged my Master’ degree in Engineering Management at Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT. I own and run my own businesses. I own a conglomerate of businesses which I run, which stands from Oil and Gas until we diversified into construction and today we own a construction company of our own. I am the APC candidate for Enugu East Senatorial zone and we are very hopeful that we are going to win the elections; change the narratives and better the lives of our people.
How did the idea and ambition of becoming a senator come into play, knowing full well that you are practically established and you have already started doing something good for your people?
I will just answer that together in one quote; Lake said that the “punishment of not participating in politics is that you end up being led by your inferiors”. There is no better reason why people like me should go into politics other than that. I have been in politics for over a decade. I have decided to vie for office now because I am quite unsatisfied with those who have been there.
You are contesting against somebody that is considered to be very strong politically, what is that you have that you think could actually displace your opposition?
My mother is Rivers and there, there is this seemingly quote; “I get am before no be property”. When you say someone is strong politically, you begin to look at where this strength begins and ends, how long has this strength been displayed. Strength diminishes as one ages. This was the Governor who has led us for 8 years and been at the floor of the Senate for 4 years. For 8 years we saw how fairly he was able to perform in the office and he performed fairly okay in all honesty but as a senator, he turned out to be the worst that our Senatorial zone had ever received. I said it on air before that Senator Gil Nnaji who appeared to have performed very poorly has performed a hundred times far better than Senator Chimaroke Nnamani. He is an absentee candidate (imaginary). He floats only in the air; he is not on ground and not in touch with the people. But I am in touch with the people. This man was outside this country for over a year, so how come he is a candidate?
I have so much that puts me far above my closest contender which is the PDP candidate. He did so much work as a governor, I have never been one. But I have done so much work than he can ever do in his entire lifetime without power. Without power, I have built roads, bridges; I have dozens of children that are under my scholarship scheme. And recently, we were able to perform ceremonies for the 2018/2019 sessions of the scholarship scheme. We have given our people life without any public office. At my level before he became Governor, he has never had a good handshake with anybody not to talk of impacting lives. It has always been himself and himself alone. He is no match to me at all. The comparison should be based on his worth before he became the Governor. When he was at the floor of the Senate he never for once addressed the Senate, not even for a minute. I am a very free Person, but then he is not. He’s got a whole lot of political baggage that are chasing him and he finds it difficult to set foot here. How can a man who came in here with nothing end up becoming one of the richest men in Enugu state. About 5 of his companies have been convicted for crime. These things are on record. Is this the kind of criminals and criminality that Enugu state wants to celebrate?
There are reports that the division in the state Chapter of APC might affectthe party’s performance in the General Elections. What is your take on that?
These issues are make- believe issues. Some people in PDP especially in the government house are working very hard to make sure that the APC is not strong. All those things you hear about the division in the party were basically the creation and the fragments of the imagination of their opposition in the state which is the PDP. Talking about the platform and the issues with the platform, there could be one or two perceptions about the APC. These things were just some propaganda issues that arose from 2014-2015 elections. People went on air and tried to demonize our presidential candidate who is still the president presently. People are now beginning to wake up because I made them understand that there is a very big difference between a container and the content. The content should be of paramount importance to us. It is not about the platform, but about the man.
What if at the end of the day the result is disappointing?
No, I will win. I had been in the PDP before and I know how difficult it is for them to win when they don’t have a serious competitor in the poll. A lot of their people are quite disenchanted with PDP because they make a lot of promises and keep to none. Initially, there was the PDP-controlled Federal Government and the PDP-controlled State Government. The former was in charge of the INEC and the security and every other electioneering organ that bring about successes or failures during elections. But now, the tide has changed and they no longer control those organs. The people’s votes will count this time, so I am so confident that I will win.
What is your message to the people of Enugu as the election draws near?
When you have an ineptitude Government, vote it out! The only power the Government has given to us as politicians is the PVC.
Comment here