It is quite unfortunate that at a time the people of Enugu State and indeed Nigerians are appreciating the enduring peace and good governance entrenched in the State by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whose unique personality is charming, decent and exceptional, one insatiable politician from the State has been making desperate efforts in a failed attempt to undermine this peace the people are enjoying with his blind and selfish governorship ambition.
Having lost out woefully in the power play ahead of the forthcoming governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the recent resolution of the PDP South East zone, directing States and constituencies of the zone to adhere strictly to the existing zoning patterns, this ungrateful element has gone berserk with his smear campaign laced with falsehood, mischief and malicious allegations against the State government.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the proclamation by the revered Traditional Rulers reaffirming the existing rotational zoning arrangement in Enugu State, which favours Enugu East Senatorial District to produce the next governor of Enugu State and urging all politicians in the State to respect and adhere to the established zoning arrangement.
Ever since virtually all the stakeholders from the three Senatorial Districts of Enugu State and beyond, including the former Governors, Council of Traditional Rulers, the Forum of LG Chairmen from Enugu West Senatorial District (where the desperado comes from), Coalition of PDP Council Chairmen from the same Enugu West Senatorial District and the PDP South East zone endorsed that the existing zoning arrangement in Enugu State, which favours Enugu East Senatorial District to produce the next governor of the state, should be strictly adhered to, this unfavoured governorship aspirant and his camp have renewed their ungodly smear campaign, leveling all sorts of spurious, unfounded and mischievously allegations, believing blindly that such acts of mischief, falsehood and character assassination would work for them as they did to former Governor Sullivan Chime, during the battle for Enugu West Senatorial District ticket in 2015.
In 2015, this self-centered and insatiable politician mischievously deployed the same mischievous approach of campaign of calumny against Chime for not supporting his gubernatorial ambition, and for daring to replace him in the Senate.
This selfish politician forgot to acknowledge the fact that he succeeded in stopping Chime from going to the Senate not because of the media attacks he unleashed on him, but because the then governor showed little interest in politics and did not exercise his political powers as the leader of the PDP in Enugu State, to checkmate the excesses of the ungrateful element who today has grown wings of disloyalty and disrespect to leadership, thinking that it is still business as usual.
Chime in an interview he granted to the Sun Newspaper published on 23rd November 2018 said: ”… In 2015, Incidentally, I didn’t know my senator (Ekweremadu) was actually warming up to be governor and when he heard that pronouncement (that the governorship ticket had been zoned to Enugu North Senatorial District), everywhere; every paper was full of attacks from him, attacking me, saying when did they reach such decision? Of course, I ignored him.”
I recall that a renowned South East-based social media influencer, Mr. Victor Chigozie Eneh raised the alarm in the national dailies and other media platforms, some months ago, over the crass desperation of this political element to scuttle the existing rotational zoning arrangement in Enugu State and his unwarranted campaign of calumny against the present administration in a failed attempt to cajole the governor to yield to his selfish, wicked and inordinate governorship ambition.
Eneh disclosed that this politician and his cohorts, at the end of every administration in Enugu State, resort to blackmail, lies, brazen falsehood and all sorts of smear campaign against the government in power through sponsorship of unfounded and mischievous opinion articles in the national dailies and social media platforms.
He added that “these political elements have been approaching me and my colleagues with mischievous and fictitious trumped-up articles, requesting us to deploy our social media platforms to cast aspersions on the government”, revealing that “I am aware that they have also enlisted the services of some media consultants and executives in Lagos and equally induced them with huge resources to execute their evil plot, as they did during the end of the past administration of Sullivan Chime, ahead of the 2015 general elections”.
According to him, “This alarm has become necessary in view of the pressure being mounted on us by these desperate politicians to accede to their selfish request, which we have rejected based on our conviction that their plot is immoral, ungodly, and mischievous, as the allegations raised against the government were untrue and a clear case of political vendetta”.
Only yesterday, outspoken Nigerian politician, essayist, poet, lawyer and former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Femi Fani-Kayode rose in condemnation of the antics of this overzealous governorship aspirant in Enugu State over the recent wild and baseless allegations peddled against the governor on social media, stressing that they are “fake, false and totally unbecoming of the identifiable individual that is sponsoring them”.
Fani-Kayode, who vouched for the governor’s integrity and decency, said: “I was mortified and disgusted by these cruel and vile allegations about a profoundly good man and I am constrained to stand up and speak out for my brother. That is what friends are for!.”
He stressed that “when you see a lie you have a duty before man and God to expose it for what it is and shoot it down”, adding that “premeditated venal and vicious lies coupled with a heavy dosage of libel and slander against our fellow human beings, particularly when they are our compatriots, diminish us all”.
Advising the federal lawmaker behind the smear campaign, the former Minister stated: “Simply because you want to be the next Governor of Enugu state does not mean that you must defame and slander a good man. This is all the more so when you are in the same political party as he is.
“We should eschew the politics of hate, bitterness and division and renounce those that seek to destroy the names and hard-earned reputations of others simply because they see them as an obstacle to achieving their political aspirations.
“I pray that those behind this vicious and callous smear campaign against the Governor come to terms with the fact that it does not serve them well to attempt to disgrace or destroy one of the brightest stars in the East and indeed Nigeria. I really do wonder how they sleep at night”.
From the foregoing, the onus is on the people of Enugu State and the general public, who cherish the existing peace and good governance in the State, to be wary of the antics of this desperado and rise up to condemn his selfish governorship ambition, which he pursues desperately at variance with the established rotational zoning agreement reached at a PDP State Caucus meeting of July 7, 2013, which he duly participated in.
David Chukwu wrote from Emene, Enugu.
