A popular mandate always comes with expectations. The forthcoming March 11 2023 gubernatorial election of Dr. Peter Mbah as the next governor of Enugu state has elicited overwhelming support and hope from all sections of the state.
From peasants to potentates, the belief is that the right man is at last on the race to govern the state, and the anointed one has magic in his pouch to solve all the problems. It is as though Mbah is superhuman, with qualities beyond the ken of humankind, even as he simply carries on without airs as the boy next door.
Expectations need to be matched with the hard realities on the ground. The economy of the state seek for a man with an in-depth economic solution to manage, and needs to be urgently addressed before high marks can be attained. The joy though is that Mbah has a can-do spirit that somewhat reassures that all the issues can be redressed. The Enugu next governor by May 29, 2023 has been painstaking in making his preferred choice programmes, crucially with the disruptive mindset that is believed, would help a great deal in ensuring a smooth take off from where the current administration sign off in three months time.
Dr. Mbah's pioneer activities of going to the remote communities within the circle of the 68 development centres in Enugu to directly interface with the real owners of the state's resources, showcases a prepared gubernatorial candidate who wants to see and do things by himself. He of course knows that the problems are legion that needs his painstaking attention. The roads need comprehensive approach. Tha waterworks do require much and quick attention to ease the sufferings of the poor and ordinary citizens. Insecurity is all the rage. There is the crying need to increase food productivity.
In addressing the multiform problems, Mbah is armed with his manifesto, the report of the communities within the 68 development centres in the state, and the document of the Enugu community request. The balm is that Mbah is not pleading lack of preparation for the fire jobs at hand.
As he said in his much committed speeches during his tours the 68 development centres "I know the lean financial base of the state. I know the limitations imposed upon a subnational state such as Enugu by the peculiar structure of our federation. But here is my promise: I will give it my all. I will work very hard every day, with you to make Enugu proud. Every kobo of your tax money will be deployed to provide you maximum value."
At the visionary level, Mbah banks on "the plans, values, passion, and accomplishments of some of Africa's liberation-cum-independence leaders such as Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, etc." There is no hiding the fact that Mbah is poised to transcend the feats of Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara in the old Eastern Region. Mbah's template on agriculture, for instance, is groundbreaking. In education, he leads by example, having set up a school which he funded before even considering an option to contest for the office of the governor of Enugu state. He has already put ill-assorted touts and illicit tax collectors the run into dungeons when taking into account his programmes in his manifesto.
The man in the Enugu gubernatorial election is courageously putting himself upfront to liberate the masses from rentier politics and politicians. Mbah is quite uncomfortable that politics has been reduced to the so called- "stomach infrastructure" and coming to eat the dividends of democracy, citing the above induces in the country. He is obviously against today's slogan that goes thus: if all else fails, try politics.
As a leader who sees politics as service instead of a job, he holds aloft the light of productive work instead of putting up the bizarre bazaar of eating off the palms of thieving politicians. It is said that when a malfeasance last for so long, it becomes a tradition. For Mbah, the task of ending the evil tradition of looting the public purse in the name of political freebies is on the front burner.
Mbah preaches the gospel of the old school that sees honesty as best policy. He remains unafraid to jump into terrains where angels fear to tread. It is fresh in the memory how he dared all dangers as an innovative disruptor in the Nigeria downstream oil and gas industry where his company Pinnacle oil and gas limited leads, as the Nigeria petroleum industry reveals: "At a personal level, undertaking the oil revolution in Nigeria came with so many written threats to me and my associates, including physical attacks."
The challenge of driving change in Enugu state will of course come with its own dangers. Ndi-Enugu cannot forget in a hurry that few of her indigenes were kidnapped, occasionally due to the high level of insecurity in the country. It takes deep commitment to cause to put oneself forward to confront these dangers. The dangerous political godfathers never sleep while this lasted. These are the challenges staring at his face as he mounts the saddle of leadership in few months time, but assuredly he has the capacity, tenacity of purpose and the forthrightness to correct them as Ndi-Enugu cues in their numbers to elect him their governor in March 11, 2023.
In his insightful programmes contained in his manifesto titled "the statement of purpose" and in addition, the price of disruptive change, Mbah highlights the clear and present dangers thusly: disrupting the existing social order are powerful enough to organize and fight back to protect their privileges. On the contrary, the masses who are the ultimate beneficiaries ar not organized enough to act as a bulwark against the special interests.
As things stand currently, we are between a rock and a hard place. With the objective to retain power within the context of short electoral cycles, some politicians are afraid to undertake the necessary disruptive changes to guarantee long term safety and prosperity for all. On the other hand, the existing trends are totally unsustainable and the system is living on borrowed times. Everyone is sleepwalking to the hard place, and praying that somehow a miracle will happen along the way."
For me, Mbah happens to be that leader "who is ready to put his head on the line to lead such productive but dangerous disruptions." It is indeed pleasing that the kind of disruptive change Mbah wants to bring to bear on Enugu state is akin to that wrought in Singapore, as Mister Disruptor read Lee Kuan Yew's book from Third World to First, and can't stop being inspired. The combination of competence and driven by a higher purpose produced such a transformational leadership that orchestrated a miracle in development. In one of his last speeches before his death, Lee Kuan Yew observed that he and his colleagues were prepared that even if they died trying to make Singapore great, they would have been happy to die for a worthy cause."
The Peter Mbah's solution is anchored on disruptive innovation and the need for a quantum leap in Enugu. For him, everything must meet the best "leadership standard" which is "excellence", with him serving as the "Chief Executive Officer in the state, the development revolution will take a disruptive approach.
The global brand that Ndi-Enugu electorate overwhelming chose Mbah to govern them is admirably conquering the challenges of change.
Indeed, Tomorrow is here.
Vote PDP for a developmental quantum leap, vote Peter Ndubuisi Mbah as governor of Enugu state come March 11, 2023.
