By Daily Post Staff “There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a cheerful temperament.” -Henry Van Dyke “Charis...
“There is no personal charm so great as the charm of a
cheerful temperament.”
-Henry Van Dyke
“Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can’t buy. It’s
an invisible energy with visible effects.”
Marianne Williamson
In African cosmology certain natural events when they do
occur and coincide with some other human events that closely relate to these
natural phenomena, they are actually given concise interpretations as
symbolisms of the texture, colour and success story or otherwise of a future
event. Africans and by extension Nigerians are people rich in spirituality and
symbolisms.
For instance, if rain suddenly falls in the dry season
whilst a foundation for a building project is being laid, it can be interpreted
to mean that the building will come with lots of divine blessings and every
good things that symbolises harmony and peace for the home owner.
The above can be said to be exactly what transpired just few
months ago before the ruling political party in Enugu State- the Peoples
Democratic Party elected by popular votes around July 2022, the flagbearer of
the party in the coming governorship election in Enugu State which will take
place in the first quarter of next year.
The party’s primary coincided with the discovery of huge gas
deposits in Enugu State under the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
Other political parties of significance conducted theirs soon thereafter.
But first, why does Enugu matters to the over 60 million
Igbo speaking citizens of Nigeria? Enugu matters a lot to the Igbos because of
its political status right from the earliest political epochs in the early 60s
soon after the Country gained flag independence from Britain.
Enugu was the capital of the defunct Eastern region of the
then political era just before States were created much more widely to knock
off the regional composition of Nigeria.
Enugu still matters to Eastern people and especially to
Ndigbo because it is generally known to be hospitable, peaceful, relatively
crime free and well urbanised. Most Igbo people enjoy bragging right that they
own a retirement home in Enugu State. Enugu is also naturally beautiful given
its unique topography. Enugu is rich in mineral deposits such as Coal and Enugu
has the only International Airport East of the Niger named after Chief Akannu
Ibiam who was the regional governor General of Eastern region in the 60s and
who forfeited his British Knighthood to the late Queen Elizabeth II for the
ignominious role the British played in the unresolved genocides that happened
during the civil war in the mid sixties.
And so the political health of Enugu State does not just
bother natives of the geographical area known today as Enugu but to millions of
Igbo speaking natives wherever they are found globally. Enugu bu nke anyi-
Enugu is ours.
The discovery of the gas deposits which are still being
assessed scientifically to determine the viability or otherwise in terms of the
commercial value, got millions of Igbo people fascinated with this piece of news
just as they are following up on the developments around the electioneering
campaigns happening in Enugu beginning with the primaries of the political
parties.
More significantly, this analyst is thrilled that the
discovery of the gas deposit in Enugu happened in June just few weeks before
political parties began their primary election and the result of one of the
party primary elections manifested a cosmological coincidence which we will
discuss as we flow along and then we conclude by looking at what is good for
Enugu as long as the governorship of that state is concerned and we will do
that by selecting what we consider to be the most important statements of
intents by the candidates and our attention will focus exclusively on who we
regard as the best of the bunch amongst those canvassing for votes to govern
the most significant Igbo State in Nigeria of the 21st century.
And so few weeks after gas deposits sparked a fire at the
Caritas University in Enugu, the Federal Government and stakeholders met to
seek leeway to environmental issues and possibilities of hydrocarbons in the
state.
The discovery of these mineral resources was totally
unexpected just as the emergence of the quiet, calm and calculated Mr. Peter
Mbah as the governorship candidate even as this gentleman is a big player in
the Oil and gas industry in Nigeria.
What other sign can be much more symbolic than this that the
candidate of the best performing political party who is in the Oil and Gas
industry came about the same time that Gas deposits were found in Enugu State?
The media reported that in an attempt to drill for water,
contractors at the university had encountered gas deposits leading to a fire
outbreak that lasted for days.
While the university, the state government, the Nigerian
Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and other stakeholders battled
to halt the fire and close the well, the stakeholders said that a series of
investigations, including activities that might result in hydrocarbon
prospectivity might commence in the area.
Enugu State has been seeking to be recognised as an
oil-producing state. While Kogi State, which bordered the Coal City state was
recently named an oil-producing state, Representative of Enugu North Senatorial
District, Chukwuma Utazi, raised the over the exclusion of his state from the
oil-producing states.
He was reacting to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and
Fiscal Commission’s (RMAFC) recent declaration of Kogi and Anambra states as
oil-producing states, insisting that OPL 915 and 916 in the Anambra Basin
belonged to Enugu State.
Coming at a time when the Federal Government already
reserved 30 per cent of the oil profit that comes from Nigerian National
Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) production sharing contracts, risk and service
contracts and the likes to explore oil, NUPRC said in Enugu yesterday that the
Federal Government was already collecting necessary data at the site.
NUPRC Chief Executive noted that although there are
possibilities that the gas deposit is only on a surface level because the fire
at the university had gone off by itself, investigation and data collection are
being expedited to enable the commission to reach a meaningful conclusion.
Represented by Owerri Zonal Coordinator of NUPRC, Enorense
Amadasu, he said a series of data collection, analysis and production processes
would be required, making it impossible for the commission to reach a quick
conclusion at the site.
He disclosed that the incident at the site did not occur as
a result of a gas pipeline leak, adding that no pipeline passes through the
area.
The governor of the State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, noted necessary
steps had been taken to ensure that the environment where the gas fire erupted
was safe.
Represented by the Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure,
Greg Nnaji, the governor said the roles played by the stakeholders, especially
the school and the NUPRC, must be commended.
Speaking at the press conference, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor
of the school, Prof. Micheal Orji noted that the cost of shutting the well and
cleaning up the university is yet to be quantified.
He revealed that the fire had gone off by itself while
stakeholders were still meeting to find a lasting solution, a development, which
he described as a miracle.
Orji said while the school is still going ahead to explore
for water, the development meant that serious work would be done to avert the
reoccurrence of such a situation.
“We are going to do a lot of seismic studies to be able to
get clearer pictures. When that is done, a lot of information will be generated
as to the technical environment which then perhaps will provide a direction,”
Orji said.
He noted that the school is now working collaboratively with
NUPRC to determine whether the deposit of hydrocarbons in the area is viable.
Around July this year soon after the primary, whilst
addressing party members and supporters, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo, who is a former
National Chairman of the PDP, expressed confidence that the candidacy of Mbah
and his vision for the state, Enugu would make tremendous progress in
technology, infrastructure, development and beyond.
Describing Mbah “as Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) compliant and an enabler of fourth and fifth industrial revolutions,”
Nwodo promised to rally the people to vote for the party’s gubernatorial
standard-bearer.
He further stressed that the local council would queue
behind Mbah by giving him maximum support in the election.
“We all know the position of our great party, PDP, in Enugu.
Since we formed the party in 1998, we all know that from council to the house
of assembly elections, national assembly, governorship and presidential
elections, Enugu has been emerging victorious with 100 per cent in all elective
positions.
“We are praying to God that the victories will be replicated
in the forthcoming 2023 elections. PDP has solved our problems and it will
continue to solve our challenges in the near future. We thank God for these our
children, Mbah and Ossai, who has been elected as the PDP governorship and
deputy governorship candidates, respectively,” Nwodo added.
This analyst has gone through the statements made to the
media by the candidates of the Labour Party Mr.Chijioke Edeoga, All
Progressives Congress Chief Uche Nnaji, All Progressives Grand Alliance which
has Frank Nweke as candidate.
So much of their public statements so far have revolved
around seeking to explain why they are better than the party that rules Enugu
State. The only exception is the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
Peter Mbah who has not spent any time in the media running down the other
co-contestants but has focused exclusively on what he has to give to Enugu
State to ensure good governance.
So we will pay more attention to what he has to say and then
we reflect on what he has said so far to why Enugu matters to all Igbo people
Worldwide.
The gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic
Party, PDP, for the 2023 general elections, Barr. Peter Mbah, has said that he
emerged as the candidate of the party on the principle of justice, equity and
fairness.
Mbah, who spoke when the members of Enugu North Traditional
Rulers Council endorsed him on Tuesday, at Adada House, Nsukka Local Government
Area of Enugu State, said that his leadership would be guided by those
principles when he emerge the governor of the state in 2023.
He pledged to partner with the traditional rulers in his
administration’s development plans, adding that the blueprint for the
development programmes was centered around the people.
“What you have demonstrated today by endorsing and praying
for me is that you are a just and fair-minded traditional rulers. Posterity
would not forget this day. I want to assure you that this decision would
translate to a monumental development across all parts of the state.
“We would make Enugu North Senatorial District the preferred
destination for tourism in the entire Africa. The reason is that with the kind
of topography in this District, there is no way anyone from this continent
would go to any other place other than Enugu North for tourism. We hope to
attract over 3,000,000 visitors to this District on tourism. For this to
happen, we must have the key infrastructure; we must construct roads, provide
water and electricity,” he said.
He equally pledged to provide job opportunities through
agriculture to tackle the issue of insecurity in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the traditional rulers council, HRH,
Igwe Simeon Itodo, the grand patron of the council, said the
traditional staff given to Mbah was a mark of victory in the forthcoming
gubernatorial election in the state.
He said the council gave Senator Chimaroke Nnamani the staff
and he became governor of Enugu State in 1999 and equally gave Chief Sullivan
Chime and he emerged governor of the state in 2007.
“The council also gave the staff to Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
and he was elected governor in 2015,” the royal father also said.
He also said “As royal fathers, we screen and screen
candidates in our own method before presenting this staff of office to a guber
candidate in the state.
“All the guber candidates we gave this staff in Enugu State
in the past were victorious, you will also be victorious in 2023 as we have
blessed you and given you this staff,” he said.
In an interview with newsmen, Vita Abba, PDP candidate for
Nsukka/Igbo-Eze-South Federal Constituency in 2023 said that traditional rulers
endorsement for the guber candidate would result in his victory.
“We are happy that traditional rulers in Enugu North
District gave Mbah staff as mark of support and victory for his governorship
ambition in 2023.
“This means a lot to us as members of PDP in Enugu North
Senatorial District as well as in Enugu State,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd and
Enugu State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Dr. Peter
Ndubuisi Mbah has said that the only way Nigeria could navigate out of its
current multifaceted ordeals was through the right leadership in all the strata
of the society.
Mbah, who disclosed this at the weekend, while delivering a
lecture as guest speaker at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, bemoaned
the state of the nation as discouraging to the youths.
He stressed that security challenge, high crime rate and the
ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian University
were products of bad leadership in the country.
Speaking on the theme of the annual lecture series:
“Leadership in Modern Times: Youths Bridging the Gap,” organised by the Medical
Research and Humanitarian Society (MEDRHUS), University of Nigeria, Mbah
expressed confidence that only the right leadership would put Nigeria back to
track by harnessing the huge potentials of the nation’s youths to build a
country of their dream.
“Good leadership should not only be about leadership traits,
or visionary nature, but also about the ability of the leader to convey his
vision and most of all, about his ability to carry his team through the motion
of moving from their current state, to achieving their envisioned state.
“The test of leadership is the management of the journey and
the dynamics of carrying the team along to the final objective,” he noted.
According to Mbah, Africa was still battling with the kind
of leadership model its colonial masters bequeathed on it which he described as
– heroic leadership complex – where leaders wanted to be worshipped as heroes
rather than seeing themselves as servants of the people they’re representing.
This, he said, had led to the collapse of leadership in
Nigeria where youths are now at the receiving end.
“The collapse of leadership in Africa has had a
reverberating effect on youths of the continent. Nigeria for example reflects
this collapse in the different malaises suffered by the youths.
“For instance, the level of nepotism that is currently in
the country, the collapse of security, the menace of students staying at home
for upwards of seven months simply due to the inability of government and the
lecturers’ union to come to an accord on issues of funding of universities have
a linkage to this collapse.
“More significantly is the fear that the Nigerian economy
can go bankrupt if no urgent steps are taken to halt the decline,” he observed.
While looking at the dire implication of the leadership
failure on the country, the 2023 governorship hopeful said youths, the most
valuable resources are leaving Nigeria in droves in search of greener pasture
abroad which he said is termed as ‘japa’ often had such desperate youths
journeying through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and ending in
disappointments and calamities.
Well, public campaigns have just started on September 28th
2022 and it is the expectation of Igbo people that the rest of the governorship
candidates of the other political parties should begin to tell Enugu voters
what they have as workable blueprints to advance their economic wellbeing and
maintain stability and peace for greater economic growth. They need to do quick
catch-up with the phase of the governorship candidate of the PDP Peter Mbah.
These other candidates need to learn from the Enugu State
Candidate of the PDP Peter Mbah and engage in constructive debates on plan of
actions for Enugu State because Enugu matters so much to all Igbo speaking
people and must get the best to take over from the current governor of Enugu
State Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who has won many national and international accolades as
a leader who cherishes Peace and stability of Enugu State and the only serving
governor who wears his State as a badge of honour in his immaculate white cap
with the inscription of the word ENUGU creatively written in Green colour.
Enugu voters need to elect a charismatic leader to succeed their genuinely
charismatic governor in the person of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO is head of the HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and one time National commissioner of the
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.
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