Hon. Amanabo Yusuf Egbunu is a politician and businessman. He was a candidate for the House of Representatives of the National Assembly in 2019.
He is well respected, particularly in his immediate constituency (Idah) and Kogi State in general; where he has through philanthropic and humanistic gestures provided jobs and socio-economic empowerment to many young people. In this interview, he shares his experience in politics, on Kogi Politics and comments on burning national issues.
My motive for contesting under the Accord party is hinged on two crucial factors. Firstly, my appearance in active partisan politics was borne out of great displeasure with the status quo; especially with the socio-economic realities of my people. Even though I had in my own capacity as an individual empowered many, I realized that to make a meaningful impact I needed the platform of political office. So when I decided, I approached the stakeholders of APC and PDP to declare my intention for the House of Representatives; but they insisted I had to exercise patience as they were already candidates favoured already for the position.
Waiting was not an option for me; as that French writer, Victor Hugo said: no force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come; I was sure it was time to champion a new era of representation for my constituency. Given the set back with the two parties mentioned earlier, I took time to understudy the other political parties and after going through the Manifesto of the Accord Party I was very impressed with the document because it laid out clearly a progressive and visionary approach to achieving the kind of Nigeria I wanted; by far compare to many political parties, the practicality of the road map the Accord Party outlined resonated greatly with me especially being one who all through my life have passionately yearned for solutions to the plethora of challenges we face as a country.
You see by the mercies of Almighty Allah I have lived for some decades in this world, and I have learnt many things and gained real-life experiences; but there is one important lesson that has helped me both in my daily activities and especially in business: I have learned over time that there is always a lesson behind every situation; whether successes or failures. When you try a thing the first time and you miss it, you already have a superpower called experience; it is this power that you retain when you try again and win. Talking about my greatest achievement in my last political outing, I will say simply: experience. As a result of the campaigns, and awareness created during the last election, we have significantly impressed on our people who we are and the values we represent. Today if you go anywhere across the Idah Federal Constituency, there is no one who has not heard about Amanabo. In the course of our campaign, we touched all the Forty One Wards of my constituency; and because people knew our antecedents it was easy to understand the sincerity of our campaign promises. Although we did not emerge as winners eventually, we have retained with us this experience and the trust of our people.
Well, there have been several calls from the members of my constituency, allies, supporters, stakeholders of some political parties and associates to declare for the National Legislative position in view of the 2023 general elections. The truth is that consultations are ongoing; if after deliberations and I am satisfied with the options available then we shall take the leap again. You must realize that political strategy is key; you don’t make a move when you have not ascertained clearly the possible outcome of such a decision.
