ENUGU 2023: JUDGE ME BY MY ANTECEDNTS, SAYS PETER NDUBUISI MBAH. 'Don’t vote for me because I am telling you to vote for me, vote for me because of my antecedents. I have not always been a politician. I played in the private sector, where I was a late entrant, but through disruptive innovation took over the leadership of the industry’ – Peter Mbah, Enugu Sports Club, January 15, 2023.

The excerpt above can be rephrased in another way: examples are better than precepts. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah is barely 50 years old, yet his campaign is based on solid examples of past accomplishments. If he says he will grow the economy of the State seven-fold, he follows up with a clear-cut explanation of how he will achieve it through what he refers to as ‘constructive investment’. And his presentations are credible because of his personal entrepreneurial breakthroughs and innovative business acumen.

He was indeed a late entrant in Oils and Gas Industry. By 2008 when he floated PINNACLE, Mobil was already sitting like a colossus in Nigeria Oil industry, having commenced operations in 1955. What is more, by 1963 Texaco had also begun operations in Nigeria as American Overseas Petroleum Ltd. 

So, both Mobil and Texaco had become Oil giants in Nigeria a decade or two before Peter Ndubuisi Mbah was born. Interesting! Isn’t it? In 2008, just fifteen years ago, Pinnacle arrived on the scene, looking almost insignificant. Fourteen years later, it has become the Generalissimo of the Oils and Gas Industry in Nigeria with Oil Tank Farms that are considered the largest in Africa.

As Nsukka people would say, ‘if you say that something is sweet, tell us what it tastes like’. Before you tell us what you will do for us in future, first of all, tell us what you have been able to achieve in the past. 

Most of the opposition candidates in Enugu State, especially those gunning for governorship are clocking sixty years and above, yet few of them can lay claim to any remarkable achievements in the past either in the public or private sector.

Chijioke Edeoga, for example, has a mis-reputation for non-performance in public office. The Ministry of Environment that he superintended for seven years was as dead as Dodo. Just imagine for one minute deploying Peter Mbah as the Commissioner for Environment with all the lavish opportunities for international funding for that Ministry! Haba! 

Edeoga’s stint with the private sector was even more disappointing. His adventure as a journalist was marked by lethargy and inertia, and was by all means unremarkable. Any wonder that his manifesto is empty of ideas, his campaign is tired, unenthusiastic and without vim, and operates in fits and starts like a car with an aged engine.

There is no opposition candidate that can challenge Peter Ndubuisi Mbah on ideas and visions for the State. None at all! Indeed they have been out-classed and out-competed. Understandably, falsehoods, misrepresentations, and arm-chair allegations have become their stock-in-trade.

We couldn’t care less. Once bitten twice shy. APC came with evil broom in 2015, and voodooed us with all manner of allegations and false statistics, and then swept us all into abject poverty, leaving 133 million Nigerians scavenging for bread. 

Edeoga’s fixation with Nsukka Cultural is a total squander of energy. Our minds are made up and our resolve is cast in marble. Our PVCs are for the man with a record of performance.

For Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, it is no longer about whether he will win Enugu State Gubernatorial Election on March 11, 2023, it is now about the margin of victory. And it is victory well deserved. Let whom the cap fit wear it.

Long live Enugu State!

God bless and prosper Mbah/Ossai 2023 Project!

Dr Hyginus Eze
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