I felt a sense of humiliation seeing Chijioke Edoga huffing, and puffing and shoving to be recognised by the Presidential Candidate of the same party, where he is laying claim to the Guber ticket. No man with the tiniest sense of honour would allow himself to be ridiculed that way. This is worse than petty. When all this is over, where will all these lies leave us?
Till date, Chijioke Edeoga or perhaps Odegene – I really don’t know who the Labour Party candidate in the State is or whether there is even a candidate at all - anyway till date there is no Manifesto anywhere from any of them. Who do these people take Enugu voters for? No Manifesto, no campaign, no ideas and no plan – just lies and lies. Of course, even in developed societies, candidates spar with one another, but it’s basically on issues that matter for the people – taxation, health-care, education, housing, job creation, energy etc.
As far back as October 13, 2022, Ndubuisi Mbah had already put out his pact with Enugu people, a comprehensive document on the developmental trajectory of the State in the next eight years. That document turned out to be a magnum opus of ideas. Not even one person from the Opposition has demonstrated any remarkable ability to respond to Mbah’s Manifesto. All they want is to return us to the politics of rancour, bitterness and personal attacks. Mbah has refused to gratify them and never will.
At the beginning of the campaign some of our youths tinkered with the idea of a debate that will feature the candidates on the same platform to engage Enugu people. Can that still work? I really cannot picture Ndubuisi Mbah, a decent, honest, soft-spoken all-rounder on the same stage with these cantankerous men of mischief.
But sometimes I sympathise with the Opposition. They did not envisage someone like Peter Mbah showing up. From where will they start grappling with him? Mbah’s exposure, the precision of his ideas, the subtleness of his plans, the clarity of his vision place him head and shoulder above his contemporaries. There is just no way the Opposition can cope. It’s understandable, therefore, that Edeoga has resorted to crying like a baby abandoned on a play-ground.
Peter Mbah has left no one in doubt that he is not an appendage to any god-father, yet these rabble-rousers persistently link him to a past Governor. Mbah left politics and began to build a company from the humblest level, beginning in a studio apartment. If Mbah was so rich at the point he was building Pinnacle why would he begin so small? Why would he begin in a studio apartment with a staff strength of three? How many persons who left politics to float a business ever made any headway? At any rate, the person chastising Mbah has never been able to summon the courage to leave the four wall of politics. His daily bread has always come from the tax of the common man.
In 2008 when Pinnacle was just a frail, fledgling company struggling to find footing in Nigeria’s pitilessly competitive Oil and Gas Industry, Sullivan Chime was in power. Of course, we all know his history with Ebeano family – he shut out from the levers of power most people that were connected with Ebeano. Yet, Pinnacle could not be stopped. In 2015 when Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi emerged as Governor, Pinnacle had already blossomed into a major player in Oils and Gas.
Pinnacle gained the massive traction it has today because Peter Mbah demonstrated grit, resilience, and uncommon economic know-how. Chinua Achebe’s character remarked that among the Igbo age is respected, but achievement is revered. The Igbo celebrate their entrepreneurs, they don’t condemn them. As an Enugu man, am I not supposed to be proud and happy that this hen that is laying the golden egg in far away places is from my neighbourhood?
We all know the reason why Peter Mbah had a brush with EFCC. Even the Opposition knows, they all know the truth, but you will have to give a dog a bad name to justify the hanging. Peter Mbah served as Finance Commissioner under Senator Chimaroke Nnamani. Did anybody expect that Chimaroke would be hauled in by EFCC and Mbah would be spared from at least turning up for questioning?
It is the same in the most advanced Democracies with the strongest institutions. The former US President Donald Trump has been facing charges because of some classified documents found in his Maralago home in Florida and also because of January 6 Insurrection at the Capitol. Are his Aides spared? Is Steven Banon, Trump’s Chief Strategist, spared? Is Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York and Trump’s Ally spared? We can go on and on! Are these people corrupt because the Justice System is investigating them alongside their Principal? No American will say so.
By the way! Why are they not broadcasting to us that Peter Mbah was once rated among the Ten Best Commissioners Nationwide? How can a drab, colourless, nondescript politician who ran the Ministry of Environment for scores of years with absolutely nothing to show place himself side by side with someone like Peter Mbah, whose intellectual magnitude is awe-inspiring?
Edoga and his cohorts should stop distracting us with their manufactured videos and fairytales. Our minds are made up - our PVCs belong to Mbah and Ossai.
God bless Enugu State!
May God prosper Mbah/Ossai 2023 Project.
Dr Hyginus Eze
