For the records, eighteen persons contested for the PDP guber ticket for the 2023 election in Enugu State. In the end Peter Ndubuisi Mbah clinched the ticket. As characteristic of Enugu PDP all the seventeen guber aspirants declared their support for Peter Mbah, including Edeoga. In fact, Edeoga took a small club of his supporters to Ndubuisi Mbah’s place and not only re-pledged his loyalty to PDP, but also vowed to work for Peter Mbah’s victory.
The mistake, however, was that Edeoga made this bold move without, first of all, clearing with his political god-father, in-law and manipulator-in-chief, Chief Nnia Nwodo. As it turned out later Chijioke Edeoga was roundly scolded for toeing the path of honour and subsequently stampeded to pick up Labour Party ticket.
But what a terrible mistake! Of course, Chief Nnia Nwodo has a mis-reputation for swimming against the will of the masses, a character trait that accounted for his premature political oblivion, but why he decided to lead Edeoga to political self-annihilation is best known to himself. In fact, until Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi re-invented him by committing everything to see him become Ohaneze Ndi Igbo President-General, Nnia Nwodo had already retired into political abeyance with several Belts to his waist, a sad reminder of a number of aborted political Kung fu.
Chijioke Edeoga has not shown any readiness for the office of governor. His campaign has been lacklustre, tired, colourless and unenthusiastic. We all know that Edeoga is difficult to market to Enugu people. He is mean-faced, unsmiling and uninspiring and without record of any achievement either in public or private life. His attempt at journalism fell flat. He has occupied a litany of political offices, yet even in Isi-Uzo, his LGA, he is not known to have empowered anybody.
Is this why Chief Nnia Nwodo decided to wrestle the campaign from Edeoga and lead the charge? May be so. But that also has failed. Nnia Nwodo’s first outing at Onyohor in Igbo Etiti, just a stone’s throw from his country home, was a disaster. He simply misread the pulse of Nsukka people and sallied forth to rub salt into the wound by recalling to Nsukka people the details of how our first generation politicians failed us. And who were the Nsukka first generation politicians? Of course, the Nwodos!
Nnia Nwodo’s speech can be summed up as a futile effort to ward off blame from themselves. And it is in two-fold: first, he railed against Chief Jim Nwodo and Silas Ilo for exercising Isi-Uzo out of Nsukka Cultural Zone, and second, for splitting Enugu Zone into two Senatorial Zones, while Nsukka with a larger population and voting strength has only one Senatorial Zone.
Why did Nnia Nwodo not simply accept that they failed Nsukka people? From the first Republic to the Fourth the Nwodos have colonised the politics of Nsukka Cultural Zone. Who did they expect to defend and represent Nsukka interest at the point that Jim Nwobodo and co. were reducing Nsukka to political underdog? At the age of 27, Nnia Nwodo had moved from the position of SA to Shehu Shagari to full-blow Minister of Aviation, and was highly influential in Shagari’s Cabinet. Did he ever put up a fight to give Nsukka people political advantage?
Under General Abdulsalam Abubakar, Nnia Nwodo was Minister for Information and Culture, and was described as a ‘phenomenal’ Cabinet Member. At that point, the supposed political diminution of Nsukka people had been orchestrated. Pray, what steps did he take to remedy the situation? Why is he now locking the stable door after the horses have bolted?
And while Nnia Nwodo was chastising everyone but himself, Chief Jim Nwodo was ensconced in glory among his people at Okpara Square, a worthy Statesman, and a proud son of Enugu East. He has paid his dues, not only to his Zone, but also to the entire old Anambra. Thankfully, God has kept him to enjoy the fruit of his labour.
The only semblance of sense that came out of Nnia Nwodo’s campaign at Onyohor is that, at least he gave us a hint of Edeoga’s manifesto – Edeoga himself has never been able to do that. We now know that Edeoga wants to give Nsukka people scholarships to go to school. Isn’t that amazing! But can someone let him know that, that is old beaten track? At the moment, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has the most vibrant Scholarship Programme in the South-East. So, let them tell us something new.
We are following Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai because they telling us something new, something innovative and unprecedented. Our future and our destinies are more assured with them. Now that our salvation is close at hand, we won’t tolerate distractions and fairy tales from those who do not mean well for us.
God bless Enugu State!
Dr Hyginus Eze
