Damian Ugwutikiri Opata
On 27th January, 2023, the PDP in Enugu state flagged off its state campaign at Okpara Square. Perhaps, it could be argued that it witnessed one of the largest gatherings ever seen in that arena. The protagonist of the event was no other than Barr. Dr. Peter Ndubisi Mbah, the PDP flagbearer in the state. The mammoth gathering from all nooks and crannies in Enugu State had gathered to witness the handing over of the PDP flag to him, a way of formally and publicly demonstrating that he is the elected gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in the state. As expected, he was ceremonially ushered into the arena along with his Deputy, Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai.
Rt. Honourable Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Executive Governor of Enugu State, was there with four other members of the G-5 Governors who have for several months continued to say the same thing about not voting for their presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The group is championed by the Governor of Rivers state whose ‘dollar weight’ is alleged to have been one of the reasons that drove Peter Obi out of the PDP. It was expected that the zoning arrangement of the PDP would favour the Southeast, not the South- South that produced President Jonathan not too long ago. The denial of the Southeast this opportunity has now been narrativized as the North having both Chairman and presidential candidate. The narrative has been never seen as a denial of the Southeast the presidency. No problems. We move.
Barr. Dr. Peter Ndubisi Mbah, as pointed above, has now been formally handed the state PDP flag to fly. He had, before that day, carved a niche for himself as the only candidate championing disruptive technology and innovation and their application to political governance and administration. In the flag-off he spoke without first taking notes from the audience. Before the 27th, Peter Mbah had made a mark as a speaker who meticulously took notes in his Townhall meetings at the Development Centres in the state that he visited. Some people may call his action that of keeping a journal. Whether it is note taking or keeping a journal, the fact is that he has been consistent in taking notes or keeping a journal.
What does this habit tell us about Peter Mbah as a person desirous of governing Enugu State? First, it signals that he is prepared and willing to listen to the people, his constituents. Second, it provides an opportunity for his constituents to know that he is a person attentive to their views, that he is a listening person. Third, what is also new and phenomenal is that Barr. Peter Mbah reviews the notes he has taken with the audience, and reacts to the views expressed by them. When it concerns infrastructure that they say they need, he carefully weaves such into the manifesto, and goes ahead to outline the strategy through which such infrastructure would be actualized.
Note-taking / the habit of keeping journals is a very important step taken by those who want to learn and remember / recall what they have learnt. It is also a long-tested habit that has helped students and listeners at various speech events in which a response is needed. It is also a sign of the habit of listening. People many a time mentally take notes and are able to recall such notes when responding to issues raised in a discourse situation. Barr. Peter Mbah has been very painstaking in the notes he takes during his Townhall meetings, along with his Deputy- Governor candidate prodigy, Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai. At every such meeting, very huge number of constituents attend and are given ample opportunities to frankly air the views before Peter Mbah. Peter Mbah listens attentively and patiently, takes time to understand the presentations made by the community visited, identifies what he considers their critical demands, crosschecks these critical ones with the community, responds to them, and notes future actions to be taken on them when, by their votes and support, he becomes the Governor of Enugu State.
The benefits of Peter Mbah’s habit of listening and taking notes have already been outlined above. His easy disposition to listen to the people really wants to understand the peoples’ predicaments and expectations. And it shows that he is very willing to work with the notes he has taken, thereby satisfying the critical needs of the people. As Rahel Naomi Remen has it, “To listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really knowing what we will hear or what that will mean”. Another writer, Karl Menninger, says that “Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move forward. When they are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand”. Menninger’s perception of listening as a “magnetic” and “create force” can be taken as conceptually equivalent to the Igbo: Ndu si na nti”, literally, life comes from the ear”, but meaning that the art of living is connected to the art of listening.
Furthermore, a good listening habit / keeping a journal is a very important characteristic of leaders. Listening also goes with humility. To all intents and purposes, Peter Mbah appears very humble. A haughty leader will not normally bother about crosschecking with the people whether the notes he has taken agrees with what the people have said. More insightful is that when he has established a correspondence between his notes and what the people have said, he would then go on to address the people. In the process, he would then carefully and tactically weave the peoples’ presentation one by one into his programmes, thereby showing the people how their needs and aspirations have already been captured in his manifesto. This further depicts how thoughtful, how comprehensive, and how apt his manifesto is.
Yes, some people may argue that the phenomenon of candidates taking notes / keeping journals as well as responding adequately to them during campaigns is no guarantee for subsequent good governance by such candidates. It is also true that there is no art in finding a man’s construction in the face. But it is difficult not to identify a man of vision, a man with loft dreams, and a man willing to let his visions and dreams actualized for the benefit of humanity; in this case, for the benefit of Enugu state. This is why and how Peter Mbah’s case be different. His visions and dreams shine forth on the face of his humble mien.
His manifesto is profoundly different from many manifestos we have witnessed in the past. His desire to act out this manifesto is driven by a type of immense revolutionary fervour. One can easily almost perceive that he has a burning desire to apply the doctrine of disruptive innovation, even if on a modified scale and ideation, in the governance of Enugu state. He has applied it successfully in his Pinnacle Oil and Gas, and he is confident that he can do a similar thing with governance in Enugu state. All he needs is for the people and residents of Enugu state to give him a chance.
