OPEN LETTER TO MYOPIC, TRIBALISTIC AND MISCHIEVOUS REV. FR. DENNIS CHUKWUBUZOR ATTAH OF CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF NSUKKA ON GOVERNOR UGWUANYI GOVERNMENT'S PERFORMANCE IN ENUGU NORTH SENATORIAL ZONE BY CHARLY ONAH




OPEN LETTER TO MYOPIC, TRIBALISTIC AND MISCHIEVOUS REV. FR. DENNIS CHUKWUBUZOR ATTAH OF CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF NSUKKA  ON GOVERNOR UGWUANYI GOVERNMENT'S PERFORMANCE IN ENUGU NORTH SENATORIAL ZONE BY CHARLY ONAH 


When on November 1, 2020 Rev. Fr. Dennis Attah of Catholic Diocese of Nsukka, descended so low to pen and release an open letter titled "Give Us Our Daily Bread" fraught with lies, parochialism, irrendentism, mypoism, missing links, malice, divisiveness and mischief to Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi urging him to concentrate his government's efforts and attentions on infrastructural projects and human empowerment in Enugu North Senatorial zone, I was disappointed and surprised. 

   My disappointment and surprise was that such letter is unbiblical and unexpected of an ordained priest.

   As Catholic and Christian, I know that biblically and faithfully I am expected to pray and support those in positions of authority. I was shocked and dismayed to see a Catholic priest that ought  to be a model in Christiendom toeing this path of divisiveness and parochialism in his letter to the Governor Ugwuanyi. 

  Rev.Fr. Attah's November 1, 2020 letter to Governor Ugwuanyi was released on the day Governor Ugwuanyi paid a private visit to Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial zone, Senator Chuka Utazi in his home in Nkologu with some prominent leaders in the state. The timing of the letter raised more questions than answers. 

    Since then and after receiving bashings and condemnations over the needless open letter, nothing was heard of Rev.Fr Attah again. 

     Not much is known or heard about him, not even in the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka, where he is presently.



  Appeared to have failed woefully in his chosen career of priesthood, Rev.Fr. Attah is at again with his unsolicited, myopic, parochial, mischievous and malicious open letter to Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. 

    In the recent letter, just like the previous one, but  titled "Give Us Our Daily Bread Vol.2 Farewell to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi dated May 29, 2022,  Rev. Fr. Attah showed his usual true character again, which is that of a parochial and selfish person. He continued on his call on Governor Ugwuanyi to concentrate his infrastructural projects in Enugu North Senatorial zone. 

  With this, it is obvious that Rev. Fr. Attah is not only unrepentant and unapologetic about his Nsukka irredentism, he is agent of falsehoods, belligerence and prebendalism. 

   I am not and will never be opposed to criticism against Gov. Ugwuanyi's administration, I am opposed to doing so with sense of entitlement, malice, distortions and parochialism as displayed by Rev. Fr. Attah in his compromised and biased letters to the Governor. 

   I am not Governor Ugwuanyi's spokesman or media goon, but having followed his government's challenges, programmes and achievements in Enugu state, especially in Enugu North Senatorial zone since coming into office in 2015, I am over qualified and in position to discuss the government. I challenge anyone to public debate on Gov. Ugwuanyi's achievements especially in Enugu North Senatorial zone. 

    But before I address issues raised by Rev. Fr. Attah in his recent letter to Governor Ugwuanyi, I will like to advise Rev.Fr. Attah politically and legally. 

  It would be recalled that in Rev.Fr. Attah's first letter, he openly acknowledged that politics is not his field, but said that he is not blindfolded in the political sequences. This  is a case of aprobating and reprobating at the same time, which is not good for a man with integrity, stable and principled character. 

     Reading through Rev. Attah's  postulations in his first and second epistles, one needs no prophet to know that he is blinded in the art of  governance and politics especially in Enugu State. He heavily relied on social media rumours and beer parlour talks to pass judgment or write on Gov. Ugwuanyi's government.

     It is not enough for Rev.Fr. Attah to hide under the cover of Catholic church and Cassock to tribally pontificate on governance and government in Enugu State without substantial facts, evidence and statistics to buttress his claims. 

     It would be recalled that one overseas-based Rev. Fr. Kelvin Odigbo had once toed the same infantile path in the past and got his fingers burnt. Rev.Fr. Attah's case will not be different at the end of the day. 

   Getting directly involved in the politics and governance of the state will be of great advantage to Rev. Fr. Attah. It will help him to speak from the point of deep knowledge and understanding, instead of pontificating and grandstanding through unsolicited and malicious open letters targeted at impugning, ridiculing and maligning the character of Governor Ugwuanyi and his government. 

    Meanwhile, the last time I read the 1999 constitution as amended, nothing precludes or bars an ordained priest of any denomination from joining or playing partisan politics and having experience of it,  governance and its concomitant challenges and benefits.

    After all, we have had the likes of late Rev. Moses Adasu, becoming Governor of Benue State and Rev. Jolly Nyame serving as two-term Governor of Taraba State. 

  In  October, 2020, an Anglican Priest, Reverend Wavel Ramkalawan was elected and sworn-in as President of Seychelles. His victory came after six attempts to become the President of the country, a dream he started pursuing in 1998. 

Before his presidential aspiration, he had joined politics by being a staunch member of Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) while serving as an  ordained priest of Anglican church. He was still in active service when he was elected President and sworn-in. He is now in power and expected to correct those things he has been strongly critical on the pulpit.

    In the recently concluded governorship primaries of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hycianth Aila of Catholic Diocese of Gboko won the party's governorship ticket after defeating others in a keenly contested primaries. He was never demoralized or discouraged by the sack issued to him by Gboko Diocese for engaging in partisan politics. 

    Although, everyone  must or should not be a politician, nothing stops the likes of Rev.Fr Attah and  his cohorts from joining politics and stop engaging in cheap letter writings and talks. It is important and good for them to join the political turf. 

    After all, membership of political parties in Nigeria are open to every  Nigerian irrespective of religion or tribe. One does not need any qualification or certificate to be a member.  That is by the way. 


CONGRATULATIONS 


Glory be to God that Rev.Fr. Attah acknowledged in his letter that Governor Ugwuanyi has done extremely well in the area of achieving peace and security in the state which is a no mean feat, comparing to the state of insecurity across the country. 

   Rev.Fr. Attah is highly ignorant of what it takes to maintain peace and security in Enugu state by Ugwuanyi's administration. That is why he does not see the peacefulness of the state as a great achievement. A visit to nearby Anambra  or Imo state will make him to appreciate Ugwuanyi's administration more in that area. 


HISTORY 


From Rev.Fr. Attah's letter, it is obvious he is not a good student of history. I don't know the parameters Rev. Fr. Attah used to assess Ugwuanyi's government and arrived at the predetermined conclusion that it had performed below expectations, just because it has not achieved Law School in Nsukka as Chimaroke Nnamani attracted to Agbani or School of Agriculture and Federal Road Safety Training School in Nsukka as attracted by ex Governor Sullivan Chime to Udi LGA. 

    If Rev. Fr Attah is sincere and genuine,  why didn't he complained or be worried that unlike when Ugwuanyi's predecessors were in office, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost power at centre in 2015 that Ugwuanyi came into office.

    With the PDP's loss of power at centre, Governor Ugwuanyi and people of Enugu North Senatorial zone lost all the political leverages  and goodwill enjoyed by his predecessors and the people of their senatorial zones for eight years in the area of federal appointments and presence.  

    Why didn't he disclose that when Ugwuanyi came into office in 2015, there was recession and his government took off with the bailout funds provided by Federal Government, following the paucity of fund in state coffers?

   Why didn't Rev. Fr Attah mention or acknowledge the Federal Polytechnic Ohodo attracted by Governor Ugwuanyi despite that his party is not in control of power at the centre? 

   Is Rev.Fr Attah saying or pretending that he is not aware that before Gov. Ugwuanyi assumed office in 2015, Enugu North Senatorial zone had only three permanent Secretaries? But today, the Senatorial zone has not less than 14 permanent Secretaries. 

 Rev. Fr Attah is nothing, but a pretentious hypocrite and tribalist masquerading as a Catholic priest. 


MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT 


It is quite unfortunate that to Rev.Fr. Attah Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is a disappointment to Nsukka people for failure to restore the two campuses of ESUT in Nsukka and Adada that were taken more than a decade before Gov. Ugwuanyi came to office. 

     Is Rev.Fr. Attah saying that until Governor Ugwuanyi relocates ESUT campus from Agbani to Nsukka, the nearing completion and set for approval by National Universities Commission (NUC) State University of Medical And Applied Science (SUMAS) at Igbo Eno, Nsukka which is being executed by Ugwuanyi's government is nothing to cheer or write about? 

   Is he saying  that the 5000 seat capacity Township stadium at Nsukka that was awarded and constructed by Governor Ugwuanyi's administration which is ready for use for grassroot sport development is nothing to celebrate or appreciate? 


REGIME OF BARRENNESS 


While Rev.Fr. Attah and his cohorts have expected Ugwuanyi's government to build heaven on earth across the length and breadth of Nsukka to satisfy them, none of them has taken time to point out or acknowledge the financial constraints and other natural health challenges like COVID-19 pandemic that confronted and characterised Ugwuanyi's  administration in the last seven years. 

  It is so shocking and heartbreaking seeing a man who called himself an ordained Catholic priest disparaging and labeling all government appointees looters and sycophants without any substantial evidence against them. 

   Is Rev. Fr. Attah saying that Governor Ugwuanyi shouldn't have appointed people including Nsukka people into appointive offices because of how Rev.Fr. Attah will feel about it? Are people not appointed and elected into elective and appointive positions in the church that Rev.Fr. Attah is suprintending? 

    Why is Rev.Fr. Attah sadistic and angry about people being appointed into Ugwuanyi's government? What gives Rev. Fr. Attah such gut or temerity to condemn with finality, when he is not God? If Rev.fr. Attah is desirous of government appointment, nothing stops him from indicating interest openly and nothing says he will not be considered if he is qualified. But from the tone of his letter, he is petty, narcissistic, saucy, and vindictive. His type is too dangerous for propagation of gospel and peace in Catholic Church, hence he should be monitored and disciplined closely. 


IDOLISATION OF BIG NAMES 


It is not true as claimed by Rev. Fr Attah that the poor and weak are being treated like wood by Governor Ugwuanyi's government, while every big name is being worshipped. 

      While it is obvious that every big name has earned himself a place in the scheme of things in the society because of his status, Governor Ugwuanyi has made many people who are nobody politically somebody politically today. 

    His government has empowered more poor youths politically and otherwise more than the previous governments in the state. While many have been appointed into strategic positions in government, others have been elected into elective positions. That is why Ugwuanyi's government is tagged youth o' clock and the youth's most friendly government. The people of Enugu North zone have never had it so good as they have in Governor Ugwuanyi's government. The evidence is there and staring at everyone. The claim is verifiable. 


BROTHERHOOD 


Perusing through Rev. Father Attah's letter one will wonder if truly Attah is an ordained priest of Catholic who reads his Bible well and knows Catholic doctrines. 

    Apart from Attah's poor grasp of English, he writes like a pagan and illiterate. While it is unbiblical to speak evil about and against the dead, Rev. Attah took pleasure in speaking evil about late Senator Fide Okoro and belaboured to draw analogy from his life time in public service and  placed it side by side with that of Gov. Ugwuanyi and others. 

   This is sacrilegious and condemnable. It is time for the Catholic Diocese to reexamine this character called Rev.Fr Attah and his real mission in Catholic Church. If Rev. Attah can write like this about people in positions of authority in the name of religious activism or crusade, one wonders what he has and will be preaching to his congregants in the church, apart from sowing the seed of hatred and discord among the people. 


ROTATION OF GOVERNORSHIP SEAT 


While it is true that the essence of rotation of governorship  seat in Enugu is to enable people from three Senatorial zones to access power in order to ensure equity, justice, fairness and  equitable development of the whole state, it is not right for an individual  that was voted into office by the people to serve as governor to concentrate every development and appointment in his zone as being canvassed by Rev. Fr. Attah. That is totally uncalled for, undemocratic, inhumane and divisive. 

   If that was the practice in Enugu since 1999, it is very wrong and should not be encouraged, promoted or used as a reference point for good governance. In short, a visit to the Council areas, communities and villages of the past governors of Enugu State's senatorial zones, since 1999 showed that none of them completed the needed infrastructural projects in their zones, talk more of other zones while their administrations lasted.  This is because of the age-long infrastructural deficits or gaps that required huge financial resources and time to tackle. 

    That is why many communities in their Senatorial zones are still yearning and clamouring  for urgent government intervention in the area of infrastructural projects years after their sons left office as governors. 

   A local government like Nkanu East is one of the least developed local governments in Enugu State today, whereas it shares border and cultural affinity with Nkanu West LGA which is Senator Chimaroke Nnamani's council area. Nnamani apart from leveraging on his party's good will and position in the centre to attract Law School and Airforce School to Agbani and relocated ESUT to Agbani was unable to address all the infrastructural challenges in his Nkanu West LGA talk more of the rest of Enugu State. 

   The problems and challenges of infrastructure that Rev. Fr. Attah complained of  in his letter is not peculiar to Enugu North Senatorial zone. It cut across senatorial zones, local governments, communities, wards, indigenes and residents of Enugu State. 

  That Gov. Ugwuanyi is not following the same path of skewed infrastructural  development in the state like his predecessors does not make him a failed or weak leader. Ugwuanyi is a detribalised and conscientious leader that is very desirous of the people's wellbeing irrespective of tribe or religion. 

   Before being judgmental, passing a verdict or writing on Gov. Ugwuanyi government's performance it behoves on Rev. Fr. Attah to present statistically and financially the state of the economy when Ugwuanyi's predecessors were in office and when Ugwuanyi assumed office till date. How much was crude oil which is the country's  major source of income sold for then and how much was it sold when Ugwuanyi assumed office? How many times was excess crude money shared then and how many times has it been shared since Ugwuanyi assumed office. What is the state wage bill now and when Ugwuanyi's predecessors were in office. What was the debt profile of the state when Ugwuanyi took over and how was the money borrowed by his predecessors in the face of financial fluidity was judiciously utilized. 

   What was the population growth between then and now? Was there any recession and COVID-19 pandemic that crippled the economy when his predecessors were in office? Was Nwa Nsukka jinxed that when it was Governor  Ugwuanyi's  turn to be Governor, everything started turning upside down financially and economically?   

    This is just elementary questions expected of anyone who wants to assess the performance of any government or governor to provide the answers objectively before embarking on the assessment.

    Providing clear and factual answers to these germane questions raised above will help anybody to easily  assess Gov. Ugwuanyi's  performance, not only in Enugu North Senatorial zone which Rev. Fr. Attah has become their spokesman, but the entire state.   

   Eventhough Gov. Ugwuanyi is not the Governor of Enugu North Senatorial zone, Rev.Fr Attah in his letter should  have painted  a vivid and sincere picture of the state of infrastructure and human development in Enugu North Senatorial zone before Gov. Ugwuanyi became governor and now that he has been governor for seven years plus. 

    This will help a layman to assess the performance of Gov. Ugwuanyi administration in Enugu North zone and pass an unbiased verdict.    

     On being remembered for tangible achievements, Ugwuanyi's government will be surely remembered for his signature projects such as the dualised Opi/ Nsukka road, Nsukka Township Stadium, The Teaching hospital at Igbo Eno, the Federal Polytechnic Ohodo and numerous rural roads the administration opened up. 

  

END IN PRAISE 


 The much I know and have followed, Ugwuanyi government's slogan is not It Will End in Praise, but Enugu State Is  In The Hands of God. It Will End In Praise was coined as a campaign slogan of the governor towards his reelection bid. The reelection eventually ended in praise with the governor garnering 94.5 percent votes which is unprecedented in the history of governorship elections in the state since 1999. Then came another slogan: The Goodness of God In Enugu State 

   How else will someone win election legitimately if not by following all the electoral guidelines, rules and regulations. Elections in Enugu in 2019 were the most peaceful in the country. This was attested to by Barrister Mike Okoye of INEC the day INEC presented Ugwuanyi certificate of return for his reelection in Enugu in 2019.  

    People,  including the downtrodden and the elites have been giving testimonies of Ugwuanyi's exceptional performance in office especially in the area of security, infrastructure development, peace and unity of the people. Is Rev. Fr. Attah saying that these testimonies were induced or manufactured or that those giving it are fools. Even the workers and youths have been testifying and sermonising of Ugwuanyi administration's outstanding and giant strides in office. 


APPOINTMENT AND EMPOWERMENT 

 

Saying that people need empowerment not appointments is sounding hypocritical because appointment is synonymous with government. 

   Those appointed apart from working with and for the government, invariably work for the people. Saving or managing their finances judiciously will help them to empower others that are not in government. There is no way everyone will be in government at the same time. 

    There is no way government can empower everyone at once especially now that there is paucity of fund. Government can only provide enabling environment and atmosphere for people to operate and be empowered. That is what Ugwuanyi's administration is doing by providing critical infrastructure like roads and healthcare centres in rural areas of which Enugu North Senatorial zone is a major beneficiary in the state today.

    In the construction sites across the state, artisan and engineers working there are mostly from the communities where the projects are sited. 


ADVISERS


 Describing all the politicians in Southeast as nothing, but mere praise singer is very derogatory and bad of  a Rev. Fr. of  Attah's status. How can a Reverend who is ordained to serve God speak about his people in such an insultive and scathing manner, deviod of respect and decorum. 

    Who made him judge unto his people to condemn people with finality? What a bad way to generalise people. There are good and bad people everywhere and in every profession including the Christendom.

    Good and evil knows no religion, tribe or status. It is innate in all human beings. Ugwuanyi just like any other governor knows his advisers. He made choice of them and takes responsibility for their actions and inactions.

   Mind you that no matter what any leader does in Nigeria, hunger cannot vanish overnight. This is because hunger is part and parcel of human existence. It is even Biblical. After all, it is stated that man shall not live by bread alone. Why is Rev. Fr. Attah talking as if life is all about food and eating food. It goes beyond that.

   It is obvious from Rev. Fr. Attah's tone in the letter that he is a fastidious and arrogant person, who sees his opinion or views as superior and spiritual. If not, how can he describe his personal opinions or views as truth without substantial evidence or subjecting it to scrutiny. That is self-adulation, which is not expected of an ordained priest who has the fear of God.  

   Rev. Fr. Attah is entitled to his view, especially in our society, where talk is too cheap and writing open letter has become a hobby.

    Meanwhile, Ugwuanyi as a grassroots leader does not need his colleagues or advisers alone to get honest feedback from the people. I am quite aware that he reaches out to the less privileged and downtrodden directly.

   He is always handy and accessible and often interface with his people. What feedback is worth more than the massive support his administration has enjoyed and still enjoying with the majority of the people. This the people demonstrated clearly by reelecting him with 95. 45 per cent votes in 2019. His administration has continued to embark on people's oriented policies and programmes  that are directly benefitting the people. 

   Ugwuanyi is not a sycophant and does celebrate or indulge in sycophancy or profligacy. Remember that sycophancy and praise singing are two different things. 

  Ugwuanyi's taciturnity and humility is not a weakness, eventhough some persons wrongly assumed it to be so. He is not a garrulous leader. He is a grounded leader who has his ears on ground and eyes on the ball. 


NRASHI


Nrashi is nothing, but a joking slang used by politicians and people to describe enjoyment. It just became prominent in Ugwuanyi's administration. That does not mean that Ugwuanyi is promoting epicurianism and hedonism.  That Governor Ugwuanyi intermittently assists people with immediate financial needs with monetary gifts does not make him a spendthrift or profligate. 

   That does not mean that he distributes public  money to the people recklessly. This  is very a wrong impression by the Rev. Fr. Attah and his cohorts. Such assistance or interventions which happens from time to time is all about welfarism. It is an open secret that people seek for financial assistance from political leaders from time to time. 

  While others may not be disposed to assist, Ugwuanyi assists because he is naturally generous. 


RUMOURS


For Rev.Fr. Attah to pen down an open letter on the rumours he hears about Gov. Ugwuanyi that he could easily access and interact with without investigations  shows that he has a different agenda and personal grudges against the governor. 

    It is a confirmation that Rev. Fr Attah is a rumourmonger and harbinger of falsehoods in the Christiendom. 

    If a Catholic priest of Attah's personality can swallow lies and rumours hook, line and sinker, what will he be teaching his worshippers and what would they be practising or believing? 

   If not how would Rev. Fr Attah peddle the rumours he read on social media that the First flyover bridge constructed by Ugwuanyi's government has developed problem because of the substandard material and personnel used in doing it, without seeing or investigating it? 

   How can Rev. Fr Attah descend so low to pen down the rumour he read on social media that the pedestrian bridge Gov. Ugwuanyi constructed in Holy Ghost is not in use because of its standard?Why? When the same  bridge is already in use. 

    Rev. Fr. Attah is not different from the social media bandits that were hired by some disgruntled politicians to peddle falsehoods against Governor Ugwuanyi and his government. 

    Just as he won House of Representatives in 2003 and Governor in 2015 without sharing money, Ugwuanyi has overwhelmingly won PDP Senatorial ticket for Enugu North Senatorial zone without sharing money. He will win the  Senatorial election by His grace despite the envy, pettiness and opposition by Rev.fr Attah and his likes in Enugu North Senatorial zone. Power belongs to God not man. 

    On self-assessment, Rev. Fr. Attah needs to reexamine his conscience, before asking Gov. Ugwuanyi to assess himself if he has done well for Nsukka people to be supportive of him to go Senate in 2023.    

   This is where Rev. Fr. Attah exposed his mission, which is political. Is Rev. Attah saying that he is now the political leader of Nsukka people that will decide or dictate, who to be supported or not to be supported in 2023 elections by Nsukka people? Why  is Rev. Fr Attah delving into politics, a terrain he has earlier denied knowledge of?  Why the inconsistency and partisanship in his position and point on governance issue? Did Ugwuanyi discussed his senatorial ambition with Rev. Fr. Attah to justify the needless attack on his person? Even if he has, is this open letter the best Rev. Fr. Attah can offer as a response?  Is Rev.Fr Attah altruistic or executing a hatchet job with the open letter? 

    No doubt and obviously, Rev. Father Dennis Attah has continued to display ignorance about simple rudiments of constitutional democracy. He is not aware that government is a continuum. It is clear that Rev. Fr. Attah is parochial and a tribal irredentist. He has queer sense of entitlement and have continued to live in delusion that so far Gov. Ugwuanyi is from Enugu North Senatorial zone, he should overlook other parts of the state and concentrate attention in Enugu North zone alone. 

   I am highly convinced that what is lacking in Ugwuanyi's government is financial resources, not the desire, time or expertise to get things done. If his government gets enormous resources today, it will do more than it has done with the meagre resources at his disposal. Ugwuanyi has completed some of the projects he inherited from his predecessors. 

 It is expected and traditional for his successor to continue with some of his projects that will not be completed before he leaves office in 2023. That is how government works and should work. 

   I don't know when Rev. Fr. Attah went to Orba last. Works are ongoing at the campus of the relocated Enugu State Polytecthnic Iwollo in Ezimo, Specialist Hospital at Igboano and others. 

   Apart from UNN which was attracted to Nsukka by Zik, what were other industries or federal or state higher institutions that have been attracted and sited in the zone since then until Ugwuanyi became governor? What was the state of Nsukka urban and its environs before Ugwuanyi's emergence as governor? 

   It is good and surprising for Rev. Fr. Attah to acknowledge that there were good works done by Ugwuanyi administration.  

 That nobody will not like to settle where there is hunger does not erase the fact that hunger is part and parcel of human existence. It has come to stay and has continued from generation to generation. Those before Ugwuanyi were unable to stop it, not because they did not try just the way Ugwuanyi's government is doing, but hunger is unstoppable and natural. Poverty is universal and natural. Living or means of livelihood is not equal or balanced anywhere on earth. 


QUALITY OF THE ROADS 


I am sure that Rev. Fr. Attah is not an engineer. It is preposterous and foolhardy of him to delve into writing about the quality of roads being constructed by Ugwuanyi's administration, when he is a novice in engineering field. 

   It is instructive to inform Rev. Fr.Attah  that governor don't singlehandedly award contract to companies. The contracts go through rigorous process including bidding before they are awarded.

    Ugwuanyi's government use certified contractors and companies to do road contracts.That a portion of road develops potholes does not mean that the road has collapsed. Even in developed countries, section of road collapses from time to time and they will be fixed and maintained regularly. 

  How will our indigenous contractors survive and prosper if they are not used to do some roads by government. For the mere fact that Rev.Fr. Attah was not specific about roads constructed by Ugwuanyi's administration that collapsed showed that he was on gossip and vendetta mission. 

  

HOUSING ESTATES 


The basic needs of man according to pyschologist is food, shelter and water. The housing estates being massively developed across the state by Ugwuanyi's administration has created jobs for both professionals and artisans.  

   It had brought rapid development in the areas they are located. With Enugu metropolis being congested and overpopulated, the estates which were mostly located at satelite towns will help decongest Enugu urban and reduce rural urban migration. 


GOVERNMENT PRESENCE 


 It is  axiomatic that government presence in the area of infrastructural development has never been felt in rural areas across the state the way it had been felt under Ugwuanyi's administration. Before now, rural areas are being remembered only during elections. Ugwuanyi  changed the situation by making development of rural areas one of his government's top priorities. His government has so far constructed 275km road which is in the rural areas aside from the roads in the urban and semi-urban areas. 

   In Uzo-Uwani LGA alone, where Rev.Fr. Attah is serving as a priest, Ugwuanyi administration has asphalted the 26.665km Ukpabi-Nimbo-Ugbene Ajima-Eziani road as well as finished doing earthwork on Edem Ani-Urobo Abbi road. 

  Massive work is ongoing on the long-neglected 39km Umulokpa-Adaba-Ukpata-Uvuru-Nkpologu road which links many communities of Uzo-Uwani to their headquarters at Umulokpa. 

   Before the construction, the people of Uzo-Uwani usually crisscross around four local governments namely Igbo-Etiti, Nsukka, Ezeagu and Udi before getting to their council headquarters at Umulokpa. Also being constructed at Nkpologu by Ugwuanyi's administration is one of the seven type 3 healthcare centres in the state. It is on record that Uzo-Uwani LGA is the least developed local government in the state before Ugwuanyi's administration. 

   The local government which is made up of mostly agrigarian communities needs infrastructure, especially roads that will give farmers access to market to sell their produce. That is why Ugwuanyi's administration is working on roads in the area first before any other thing. That Ugwuanyi has not constructed road leading to Rev. Father. Attah's Parish at Nrobo in Uzo-Uwani is not enough reason for him to maliciously castigate and attack his government in open letter that smacks of rascality and exuberance.

  Due to paucity of fund and other challenges, there is no way, any government including that of Ugwuanyi can address all the challenges confronting it.  It is not possible unless we are not sincere to ourselves. 

   Constructive criticism imbued with facts is a tonic for good governance. It is synonymous with democratic governance. But armchair criticism embedded in malice, fallacy and mischief as exhibited by Rev.Fr. Attah in his open letter to Gov Ugwuanyi is the most embarrassing venture an educated and exposed person of Rev. Attah's status can embark on. It has exposed himself to ridicule and put himself on the spot for assessment and attacks. 

    Why hasn't Rev. Fr Attah write such letter to other elected office holders in Enugu North Senatorial zone such as Senator Chuka Utazi who is representing the Enugu North Senatorial zone in National Assembly and hails from Uzo-Uwani LGA. 

   Nothing stops the Senator from complementing the efforts of Gov. Ugwuanyi in his local government and across other local governments in the senatorial zone through execution of quality constituency projects. 

   The responsibility of developing Enugu North Senatorial zone does not only lie on Gov. Ugwuanyi government alone. It requires collective and concerted efforts of all the people of the zone, including Rev. Fr. Attah and his colleagues. Rev.Fr. Attah's watery, emotional and nepotic open letter to Gov. Ugwuanyi will not add any value rather it has just exposed him for whom he is and has potrayed  the Enugu North Senatorial zone people in badlight.

    It is true that politics is a game of personal interest. Governance and government is about carry everyone along and touching lives of the people irrespective of language, zone and religion. Ugwuanyi has so far used his position as governor to unite Enugu people like never before. He has changed the leadership dynamics in the state for good. 


Charly Onah writes from Opi, Nsukka, Enugu State.

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Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief of CKNNEWS || He is a Law graduate and an Alumnus of Lagos State University, Lead City University Ibadan and Nigerian Institute Of Journalism || With over 2 decades practice in Journalism, PR and Advertising, he is a member of several Professional bodies within and outside Nigeria || Member: Institute Of Chartered Arbitrators ( UK ) || Member : Institute of Chartered Mediators And Conciliation || Member : Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations || Member : Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria || Fellow : Institute of Personality Development And Customer Relationship Management || Member and Chairman Board Of Trustees: Guild Of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria

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