In the last few days I have had the opportunity to interact with a number of electorates, especially those of Enugu North Senatorial Zone. My mission is clear: to find out from the electorates who their favourite gubernatorial candidate is. I was pleasantly surprised to observe that even the rural people now know the difference between Obedient Movement and Labour Party.
The Obedient Movement is not about party, it is about cherry-picking people into leadership positions so that cumulatively we can have a functioning country. If we have Peter Obi as President and Chijioke Edoga as Governor in Enugu State, nothing will change for us.
Our poverty and misery will remain with us. In fact, some analysts believe that the governorship position connects more to the lives of ordinary people because we all belong to sub-units, and what happens at the sub-units have direct and immediate consequences for us.
My interaction with rural dwellers has revealed that people just want Power to change hands from the present crop of leaders to a brand-new set of technocrats. Fair enough!
Sadly, Chijioke Edoga’s hirelings have managed to pour a load of nonsense into people’s head to clean him up and rebrand him as a new guy and as a change agent. Is it not ridiculous? Propaganda is a terrible thing. If actually the problem is that the present crop of politicians have not delivered and should be swept away, then Edoga should be the first causality.
Chijioke Edoga vacated his office as Commissioner for Environment a few months ago. His colleagues are still the ones driving the affairs of the state. In fact, when he lost the ticket to Peter Mbah, some of them suffered prolonged depression. Take it or leave it, the present politicians in the state will be the greatest beneficiary of Edoga Administration. Many of them would retain their offices effortlessly.
Now, let me shock you! Practically, all the PDP candidates in the state for House of Reps and Senate, who lost their bid have found safe haven in the State Labour Party. Don’t take my word for it, find out. Many Obedient Faithfuls have not seen this, but Peter Obi has. That's why he is unwilling to associate with Enugu State Labour Party. He knows the crop of people who constitute the base of the party in the state, and he also knows where the funds are coming from.
There is nobody who is of any substance in Enugu State politics today who is not either a colleague or a bosom friend to Edoga. If he becomes Governor, where is he going to recruit his men from? From space? Am I asking anyone not to vote for him? No! What I owe the well-meaning people of Enugu State is proper information so we are not led into another socio-economic cul de sac.
The new entrants are Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai. They are the technocrats, who have taken time to invest in themselves and have returned to their people to change the game. Peter Mbah left Enugu politics close to two decades now. I don’t know any current commissioner or executive chairman or secretary that can be described as his friend. He is the real breath of fresh air.
A moment ago, I listened to Peter Mbah proffering solutions to the perennial water problem in the State. He was professional to the core. He spoke about upstream, midstream, downstream, substation and reticulation.
Chijioke Edoga was on the State Executive Council for seven years. Does anybody remember him taking up the water issue with his colleagues or his principal? Or siding with teachers during the controversy over minimum wage for public primary school teachers? Or pioneering innovative ways to create jobs in one of the most powerful miniseries in the State? Imagine Peter Ndubuisi Mbah as Commissioner for Environment! International agencies would have been falling over themselves to come to Enugu to fund projects. Leadership is about ideas.
Today, Edoga would want us to make him Governor, and would want to cash in on the Mass Movement pioneered by Peter Obi. Pray, what does he have in common with Peter Obi? If Peter Obi is the yardstick, in terms of competence, capacity, entrepreneurship etc., how does Edoga come in here?
Dr Hyginus Eze
