#INTERVIEW

Prince Lawrence Ezeh, the Prince of Mburubu, a backward community in Nkanu East LGA of Enugu State is an outstanding philanthropist that has touched the lives of his people.

For over 10 years the young prince has built asphalt roads and bridges for his rural community.

He has over the years maintained rural roads to enable his kinsmen who are predominantly farmers have access to their neighbours especially during the rainy season.

He has lite a candle in the lives of his people and also granted scholarships to grant indigent students access to education.

Fast forward to 2019, and this outstanding prince decided to run for Senate.

Lots of intrigues, political manipulations and he found himself in APC where he became the party’s senatorial flag bearer for Enugu East zone.

That Prince Ezeh lost that election to the former governor and leader of the ebeano group, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, is no longer news.

But his next line of action wasn’t only strange, it was unprecedented and worthy of a place in the annals of history and philanthropy.

Ordinarily, a Nigerian who lost election would disappear from the scene at least for some time.

Not for Prince Lawrence Ezeh. He rather returned to his philanthropic works and started attending to roads, assisting with other infrastructure ahead of the 2019 Christmas celebrations.

Everyday News went in search of this man. Yes we found him.

Hear what he told our reporters.

Philanthropy:

I try as much as possible to separate these two things. In the first place I wasn’t engaging in philanthropic gestures because I want to run for an office or because it has any form of political undertone. My philanthropic gestures are borne out of the fact that it’s a calling that I have as a person. It’s a commitment that has been given to me, so it basically has nothing to do with politics.

I have been in politics since 1999 and as a matter of fact I had not started engaging in philanthropic work because I didn’t have the where withal to do that then. When God started blessing me I had to look back where I come from to see what and what could be done to alleviate the sufferings of my people.

My ward is just one out of the 77 wards in East East Senatorial Zone. So my ward alone cannot at any point give one electoral victory.

So what I am doing is basically to touch the lives of my people to measure up with others.

Going back to my philanthropic work is something I have passion for. If I am not engaged in philanthropic work it’s because the fund is not available at that moment.

The funds we use are not from any donor agency m, it’s what we generate from the works of our hands and it doesn’t come every now and then. And if we put in everything into philanthropic work you will no longer have the financial base to be able to generate more.

So what we do is, we generate resources, we give back to society, make the people feel a lot better. We get back again, work and generate resources and reinvest in the society. That’s what we have been doing in the past 10 years. And I just contested election in 2019 but I have been in this philanthropic work for more than 10 years.

Last December we were able to get back to work revamping some of the dilapidated structures we have on our roads and a few other things.

We have to do that because at the moment we don’t have to wait for the government to do everything for us.

From what we are doing, some communities are now talking to their sons who have the where withal to pull resources and see how to make their roads motorable and all that.

Why he returned to PDP

Returning to the PDP is like asking a child who strayed, why he returned back home. My return to PDP is like one returning home. It’s a home we all jointly built. It’s a home I have invested a lot into and one that I have been a bonafide son and a member. For me it’s just like returning back home.

Any regrets leaving the party APC?

The great relationship I enjoyed over the years with my friends and party members. Relationships are not built in a day. Though I made some good friends in APC within the short period but you cannot quantify it with relationships built over years.

What next in your political career?

In politics everybody gears towards having a better political piece of the cake. That’s the mindset of every politician no matter how small your cadet is in politics; everybody strives to get a good slice of the cake and for me that’s the much I can tell you. I am equally positioning my mind to have a better slice and a reasonable chunk of the cake in future.