(Ugoachataberu)
For the great minds that people the citadel of learning where the dignity of man is restored, the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), it would have tantamounted to what Adiche would call the danger of a single story had Peter Ndubuisi Mbah not engaged the ivory tower in a town hall meeting at PAA Auditorium, University of Nigeria Nsukka on 8th March, 2023.
Peter had gone to reason with the university, a place where the nation's potentials brood in the nest; the Vasity Par Excellence bequeathed us by the Great Zik of Africa, a place where emotions give way to the clarity of reason, arguably the best in Nigeria. The town hall meeting afforded Peter Ndubuisi Mbah the opportunity to explain to the university community his manifesto, what he would term his social charter with the people of Enugu State, which consists in the quality of unexampled value propositions to the people of Enugu State. For close to three hours, Peter spoke extempore, articulating his thoughts on governance and economic transformation as fleshed out in his manifesto. Peter waxed pragmatic in statistical demonstration of his blueprints to his proposed $30 billion size economy, and the financial models, in eight years, a huge departure from the present $4.4 billion-size GDP. Peter spoke the right language with air of mastery and confidence to the admiration of the crowd, a mixed multitude of the academics and the students, the great lions, leading to intermittent outbreak of rounds of applause. Peter demonstrated perspicuously his mastery of main currents in modern leadership,sipping the economy of Enugu State from the nave to the chap with effusive ease. He handled questions from the academics and students with appropriate answers greeted with applause.
The university community had previously been besieged with all manner of insect-like grating in the name of campaigns from some candidates many of whom had not much to offer except the hackneyed everyday promises of politicians, bereft of any clear roadmap. The ivory tower had yearned for engaging campaigns full of issues of governance in clear terms. Those who preceded Peter had come with guttural vain babblings full of noisome echoes serenading the ears, and signifying nothing. The Vasity had yearned for a city of culture and intellectual splendour, and had found none untill the coming of Peter. All heads would nod down the candidature of Peter in utter satisfaction and acceptance.
Feelers from the university have it that the community is enthused with the Mbah candidacy, having encountered the young man highly cerebral, visionary, pragmatic, creative and resourceful. The university is minded to go for excellence instead of pandering to emotions flying the sky. Some professors were heard saying that it was not about party but the individual. They said they had heard other candidates and that Peter Mbah was exceptionally good. They also said that Peter was the direct opposite of what they had previously been made to believe by agents of besmear campaigns. This confirms the fact that no one encounters Peter Ndubuisi Mbah whose doubts are not healed. When Prof. Damian Opata mounted the podium and asked those who would vote Peter Mbah to shout yeah, the audience broke into paroxysmal yeah that reverberated allover the hall and ricocheted off into the outer space of the overflow that stretched to the library and the Faculty of Arts ends adjacent the PAA. It was a shout of acceptance resulting from a taste of the sweet flagon.
The University of Nigeria Nsukka under normal circumstances should feed Nsukka with thoughtful directions that should inform decisions. That ostensibly is one of the advantages of the situation of the university in Nsukka. It is hoped that now that the university has processed the candidates and came up with the quality decision to vote Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of the PDP, this decision should rub off on the entire Nsukka community in the interest of the people of Enugu State, given the prospects the Mbah candidacy offers Ndi Enugu.
On 25th February, 2023 when the presidential and national assembly elections were held, the university community voted Peter Obi en masse. As a matter of fact, many students of the university registered in neighbouring communities, and their votes accounted for the outcome of the elections in Nsukka. It was understood that many of the voters did not know the candidates for whom they cast their votes. They merely voted Labour Party across board for the sake of Peter Obi. The outcome is that persons lacking in qualification, competence and capacity were elected into the national assembly. This is one mistake the university would not allow to repeat itself. Having processed the candidates, the University of Nigeria Nsukka is poised to vote Peter Mbah who is the best candidate for the governorship. So, the entire Nsukka should take a cue from the university; hands off unnecessary emotions that lead to nowhere, and do the needful in our collective interest.
