The time for the people of Nsukka cultural zone to play smart in the political scheme of things in Enugu State is now. Nsukka has got to think outside the box and align itself properly to the right perspective that the cyclone forming in the horizon may not sweep it into political hibernation that would engender a situation of utter regret in time to come. The time for Nsukka to reinvent itself and retrace its steps from the murky waters into which it is about to be plunged is come. Nsukka should not allow itself to be misled by a few individuals on the infamous route to the headless crab of vindictively virulent vendetta. The people have got to adopt a progressive mindset and liberate themselves from the present attempt to use them to fight personal and selfish political war.
After the PDP governorship primaries, Nsukka has ostensibly been nursing purportedly the nonexistent wounds of another, for there is no wound anywhere. And it should not be so. Nsukka cannot mourn more than the owner of the corpse, carrying on its head the bier of a dead political ambition.While we might have had our predilections and had wished a favourable outcome to that effect, the rule of the game in all the world is that after primaries, the party members reunite to deliver the candidates of the party, the understanding being that it is the party’s ideology that is in place and the manifesto would be implemented in line with the ideological leaning of the party. It is not an individual affair and so whoever the party chooses becomes the candidate of all its members. It is unimaginable and far-fetched that any member of the party who fails at the primaries would faithlessly migrate to another party to fight the same ideology to which they had professed. It smacks of selfish ambition and it-must-be-me mentality. Ideology rules in sane climes. Here, it is a different orientation. Are we insane here!
In the spirit of zoning and power rotation, for the sake of equity, justice and fairplay, the governorship seat of Enugu State was zoned to Enugu East Senatorial Zone. When Distinguished Senator Ike Ekweremadu rose against zoning, the people objected to it and clinged to zoning. All the aspirants from Enugu East Senatorial Zone agreed to abide by the outcome of the primaries and signed a memorandum of understanding to that effect. And Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah from Nkanu East Local Government of Enugu East Senatorial Zone emerged the candidate of the party. The PDP by implication made a wise choice of the young entrepreneur who has brought to bear on the downstream oil and gas sector of Nigerian economy astronomical disruptive transformation. He and his young running mate, Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai, acclaimed for his uncommon bravura and panache, are youths with the 21st Century cutting-edge leadership orientation building out from private sector pragmatic referent points. They have got much value proposition to the people of Enugu State. Whoever discovered these talents, it must be Governor Ugwuanyi, deserves many thanks from the people of Enugu State.
Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai are not given to the clannish politics primitively being hawked along our political corridors. Mbah and Ossai know neither Nkanu nor Nsukka irredentist and clannish politics divisively being bandied about by some Enugu turncoat politicians. Mbah and Ossai have an eye on the ball. The transformation of the people and economy of the state is their preoccupation.They want to grow the state’s GDP from &4 billon to &30 billion. It is a heavy task but achievable, given Peter Mbah’s exploits in the downstream oil and gas sector where from little beginning, Mbah muscled Pinnacle Oil through to the forefront, controlling the largest chunk of the market share. Such a candidate as Mbah is an asset to Enugu State and the people are warming up to this brand promise.
Enugu State is PDP and PDP is Enugu State. It would be like passing an elephant through the eye of a middle for any other party to upstage PDP in the state, moreso now that a crack team of highly cerebral young men is being paraded by the party. The frog is the incumbent amphibian at the stream. Any other animal will meet it there already. So, Nsukka must not allow itself to be derailed by a few disgruntled and selfish folks who think that they must be in power at all time or heaven will fall; a few who manipulate the emotions of the people and unnecessarily create divisive lines among the people of the state, giving an impression that Nsukka was shortchanged at the primaries, even when no one from Nsukka, or if you like Enugu North Senatorial Zone, contested at the governorship primaries.
The way to play smart now is to slough off the erroneous impression that Nsukka people will not vote for Peter Mbah. The fact is that Nsukka people will vote for Peter Mbah and the PDP. That is what the masses of Enugu North Senatorial Zone will do. So, let the few using social media space to create wrong impressions not box Nsukka to a corner where it would be said that Nsukka people shunned the bride for the monkey.
Luckily enough, the Chief Engr. Vita Abba-led Odinma Nsukka has provided for Nsukka the true leadership it needs to liberate its people from the leftist selfish dissidents nudging its people to the edge of regret in time to come. Let Nsukka people listen to the message of Odinma Nsukka which points the people to the magnificent candor Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai epitomize.
I am like the owl. The owl never kills but its hooting is a forewarning of death. May Nsukka not die the political death staring it in the face. No thanks to the selfish few who purport to be leading Nsukka; leading Nsukka to where? To political doom, to waste? To political ruination? Why would Nsukka allow itself to serve the selfish interest of a few and become an arrow in the hands of the few on malicious intent?
Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the governor of Enugu State, is a leader sent us from above. His coming from Nsukka is in itself a blessing. Ugwuanyi has done very well despite the debilitating economic circumstances that beset the country. He has effectively managed the lean resources of the state optimally in the best interest of the people and he has bequeathed us a legacy of infrastructural and developmental strides on all fours. He has done for Nsukka what nobody had ever done for the zone. Ugwuanyi deserves to be commended by all, much more his own people. It is unfortunate that the few self-serving politicians from the zone have taken it upon themselves to sponsor demeaning campaigns against the governor simply because they and their cronies did not succeed at the PDP primaries. The good news however is that the people of Nsukka are strongly behind Governor Ugwuanyi as the masses from Nsukka have on many occasions poured out torrentially into Enugu Government House to pledge unalloyed support and solidarity to this illustrious son of ours, Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. His going to the Senate is not negotiable as he is poised to offer Nsukka the best representation at the red chambers of the national assembly.
The chief priest of my community deity once told the deity to change its ways, for its people had changed. Should a deity decide to ply its trade on conservative plane unprofitable to its people, the people may cease to offer it the libation and sacrifices it enjoys.Did the people of Abeme not reject their god, as we read in Things Fall Apart? They did not only reject it, they set its totems and paraphernalia ablaze. Didn’t Ulu reject its Chief priest, Ezeulu of Achebe’s Arrow of God when he spitefully made himself an arrow in the hands of Ulu? Did the arrow not rebound as Prof. Emeka Nwabueze would dramatically reenact? Nsukka must be careful not to fight a war of blame.The time to be prudent and wise has come. Let us listen to our leaders of Odinma Nsukka stock. A word is enough for the wise. Aa to m.
Dr Onyishi, a public affairs analyst, writes from Enugu
