by By Dominic Kidzu
The Peoples Democratic Party Governorship running mate, Lady Emana Duke Ambrose Amawhe says she accepted her nomination for the deputy governorship of the state because she wants to be in a position to assist her fellow women to grow, both politically and economically. Lady Emana who spoke with me this morning, added that there are very many women out there who are breaking the glass ceiling in various fields but who are not helping other women to grow.
“I want to add colour and vibrancy to the ticket. I have been actively involved in causes that support the emancipation and growth of women and my experience teaches me that one must first get involved rather than just to sit back and speculate. I want to ensure that there is an army of women coming behind us. But first, they have to get an education, register at the ward level, get involved. Be ready to serve and to give back. After that all you need to do is to knock on the door, and if you knock long and hard enough, it will open for you and the reward will come”
It was 9am in the morning, and I had been waiting for about an hour, because her appointments for the day began at 7am, and a few groups had been scheduled ahead of my goodself. Lady Emana told me that ” the title of Deputy Governor is a big one, but I am not big on titles, I came to my state to run for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives because I believed that I had something to offer. The result was not what I expected, but I was not disappointed. Infact, I told the media people who spoke to me on that day that I felt like a champion, because I came up as the closest rival and that gave me hope. I had put in my best effort, without knowing that someone was watching “.
I wanted to know how the South – South – Agenda panned out with her, understanding how tricky this issue could be, especially because she is an Efik princess, but she was unruffled and cool – headed about it. This is what she said to me…”I was a strong advocate of the Back to South agenda. We the people of the South betrayed ourselves. We couldn’t reach an agreement. A house cannot be divided against itself and succeed. I’m a party woman and I believe in the promise of the PDP. APC has failed everyone on all fronts, at the federal level and most painfully, at the state level, the party has been too crass, too insensitive and too irresponsible, and I cannot be convinced to look at APC as an alternative. Cross River State is PDP and we should join hands and change the failure. Ayade has not done well and thankfully he took his failure to where it fits, the APC. The state is in a mess and APC cannot rescue Cross River State from APC. I believe we will win, because the voters are not ignorant anymore, ethnic sentiment is not the answer”.
She told me that she has been actively interested in areas of trade and investment including designing creative ways of attracting Foreign Direct Investment. ” The business environment has to be put aright. The economy of the state going forward, is a core interest area for me, to drive the numbers up. I am also keenly interested in making basic education practically free because that is the main bedrock of development. Other areas of interest to me are primary health care, rural electrification, cottage industries and low cost housing. We need to focus on the small programs and projects that impact most on the people, not MOUs and small factories that make us more confused and make some people richer at our expense “.
