48 Hours With Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah By Chukwudi Iwuchukwu

I was restless last Friday morning, not knowing why I was restless until my phone rang.

I checked

It was a call from Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah.

I was stunned for various reasons.

We have never spoken on the phone before.

I don’t even know that he knows that someone like me exists.

I picked up the call.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning, Chukwudi." How are you?

Na his voice ooo.

I told myself, but I had to respect myself to answer back.

I’m fine, sir.

Are you in Abuja, or can you come to Abuja?

I want to see you. He asked.

I had to do a mental calculation in my head to know when I would be free, so I mentioned

I can come on Tuesday, sir!

Tuesday is fine! See you then.

On Tuesday morning, I was at the airport to fly to Abuja to honor the invitation of the Senator representing Anambra South, and I was curious to know why he wanted to see a small boy like me.

Value Jet delayed my flight, but we eventually took off at 3:00 p.m. after a 4-hour delay.

When our flight touched down in Abuja, I called him on WhatsApp to inform him I was in town, and he said, and then sent his home address for me to go and wait for him at home.

Before he dropped the call, he apologized in advance that he was not coming back home soon because of meetings and engagements at his office at the National Assembly, but he would join me soon at his residence.

It was natural that I would arrive at his palatial mansion exhausted after spending several hours at the airport waiting for my flight, and my body condition was made worse by the fact that I had not slept the previous night.

So sleep was inevitable once I was ushered into his visitor's room.

I was in this state till he arrived, and then one of his visitors waiting for him too at the visitors room tapped me to inform me that Oga was back.

I was interrupted from my beautiful dream, where I saw myself getting married to a fine woman, only to be woken up from this beautiful dream.

E pain me

Welcome to Abuja.

Welcome to my house.

The senator from Anambra State welcomed me with a stretched hand.

I was in a drowsy state, but I quickly jumped to my feet, seeing him for the first time. In my life

I grew up with the name Ifeanyi Ubah, already a household name in Onitsha.

Seeing him for the first time in that state was something I did not see coming.

He was with popular footballer Onazi, whom he took to his private office for a personal meeting.

One hour later, his aide came to tell us that he was ready to see us (his visitors).

We were ushered into his private office, where my host told me to sit close to him.

Apparently, I was the youngest in the room and would be the last to be seen and attended to.

The first thing I noticed was the rate at which his phone was ringing.

Even at those odd hours, the two phones were ringing nonstop.

It was 2:00 a.m. before it got to my turn.

The visitors have all left.

It was just myself and the ebullient Senator, but before my turn

I was exhausted, fighting to stay awake while my host, who is indeed still awake and present even though he spent the whole day at the National Assembly,

Politicians are strong,though I don't envy them at all.

Welcome to Abuja.

How was your flight?

The Senator asked.

It was fine, sir, though I was delayed. Thank God I’m here.

Where are you from? My host asked

Ogbunike in Anambra state

Wow!

"I have followed you on Facebook for a long time," he continued.

You are a smart young man who will go far, and I want to be your friend, so feel free to ask me anything you wish to.

Trust me, I went for the jugular by asking two important questions I had in mind.

One was his celebrated case with AMCON.

The other one was his fallout with his kinsman, Coscharis.

What happened, sir?

He smiled and then took his time to explain behind-the-scenes details I had not heard before.

The AMCON issue has been resolved. Chukwudi

We just had our final court settlement with AMCON, and based on this understanding, I will be at the Capital Oil Facility in Apapa on Tuesday for the first time in years.

I hope you will join me when I come.

My issue with Cocharis was overexaggerated and blown out of proportion, but the issue has been settled, and Access Bank paid me the sum of 5 billion naira for damage.

I have the letter from Herbert Wigwe, and I can show it to you if you want to see it.

We discussed the politics of Anambra State, his fears, and his expectations.

We delved into the security architecture that he came up with for his people in Nnewi.

A master stroke that got many people in awe of his ingenuity and native intelligence.

It is working! Chukwudi, he said

My people are happy with me.

The kidnapping cases in my town have been reduced to the barest minimum.

As I speak to you, other communities in Anambra State are calling me back to back on the phone to come and replicate the same security model in their communities.

They are begging.

We will see how that goes.

We also discussed his re-election and how he managed to survive the Peter Obi tsunami, a volcano that swept away two PDP senators in Anambra State.

How did you survive it?

He laughed

"I’m a grassroots man."

I’m on the ground.

My people love me, and I love them too.

I can die for them, and that is why they voted Labour Party for president but Ifeanyi Ubah for senator.

I worked for them for the last 4 years, and I’m energized to do that again.

The time is 3:30 am, and I am barely concentrating.

He noticed that I was knocked out and then called his security team to come and drop me off at my hotel room.

I waved him off and thanked him for his time as I ran to go to sleep.

Since you are leaving on Thursday, Would you be free to come to my National Assembly office tomorrow? My host asked before I took my leave.

I told him I would let him know when I looked at my schedule in the morning.

I arrived at my hotel room, totally knackered but grateful that it had been a productive day.

Day 2

It was his call that woke me up four hours later.

Chukwudi! I’m on my way to the office.

Can you join us?

I was stunned!

Look at me, still sleeping, but my host is awake and on his way to the office.

I replied back that I would get back to him because I was not sure of my availability.

Immediately, our call ended.

My phone rang.

It was Comfort, Visage Media COO, reminding me of the three Zoom meetings scheduled for me that day and why I should not miss them.

Kai!

Is there no way we can postpone these meetings?

No Chukwudi! You have to join the meeting since your presence is important.

So I spent that day on Zoom call, not happy I did not join my host to the National Assembly when my phone rang again by 2:30 pm.

It was him.

My host

Are you still coming to the National Assembly?

I want to go to school.

No sir! I said.

Oh, I will see you at the house when I come back.

That is fine.

My host is an undergraduate at Baze University, where he is studying law.

I arrived at the house in Mataima later that evening.

He was not back from Baze University, but his house is filled with visitors.

Visitors who came for different reasons

He later arrived with his security details and then ushered all of us to his sitting room with the request that I come and sit close to him.

By the way, your friend Maria Ude Nwachi called.

Oh! I told her that you invited me.

That is fine.

I saw for the second time, within 48 hours how Senator Ifeanyi Ubah handles his personal matters, like a judge in charge of his courtroom.

From his kinsmen who needed his help to solve their personal problems to the Chairman of Nnewi Indigenes living in Abuja, who came because of the free land in Abuja and the 200 million cash gift he gave to his kinsmen for the building of a magnificent Nnewi house in Abuja,

In between, his phone was ringing nonstop, just like yesterday.

When he picked up one of the calls, one big oga in FCTA with his siblings was on the line, thanking the senator for saving his job and his senator colleagues calling for different reasons.

The time was 11:00 p.m., and someone called him on the phone to say that he was coming over.

The person later turned out to be Chief Austin Ndigwe,known as Uzu Awka.

30 minutes after his arrival, the senator's aide came to whisper to him that his dinner was ready.

He dragged myself and Uzu Awka to join him at the dining table.

The two hours spent at the dining table were mostly spent discussing politics and Anambra State.

My home governor, Chukwuma Soludo, was coming to Abuja the next day (Friday) for a town hall meeting.

My host turned to me and said,

" Chukwudi! You will join me to receive Soludo tomorrow."

No sir! I’m going back to Lagos on Thursday the next day and I have other engagements waiting for me. I protested.

Ok, that is fine, he said, and he turned to Uzu Awka to continue their conversation.

One hour later, he motioned to his aide to get his convoy ready; he was going out for another private meeting with his guest.

"Chukwudi! Thanks for having dinner with me."

Safe flight tomorrow, and let’s see before you leave.

It seems he knows my mood; I want to go to sleep.

Again, I reminded myself why I couldn’t be a politician.

It is a thankless job that comes with so much stress.

As Senator Ifeanyi's convoy was moving out of the house, I was excited that he excused me from the private meeting.

Man! I need to go and rest.

If anything attempts to disturb my sleep after a long day, Holy Ghost, fire!

It was just a few minutes before 12:30 a.m.

Chukwudi is a lawyer who runs a media, advertising and communications outfit, Visage media.