Being shared, peddled and circulated on social media platforms particularly WhatsApp recently by the Nsukka Labour Party social media bandits is one misleading, fabricated and unimaginative write-up with the headline 9 Reasons Enugu People Are Turning Against Governor Ugwuanyi.
The malicious and libelous write-up is the handiwork of the Internally displaced Nsukka politicians led by a former Minister, a serial governorship contestant, Bar. Okey Ezea and few others, who have been up in arms against Governor Ugwuanyi since their failure to force their political pawn, Bar. Chijioke Edeoga on Ugwuanyi and PDP as governorship candidate.
The timing and direction of the sponsored social media attacks and criticisms against Governor Ugwuanyi is too obvious for people not to know those behind it. So Enugu people need no soothsayer or prophet to know where the attacks and campaign of calumny are coming from. It is just a clear case of the owl crying at night and the child dying in the morning.
The recent write-up is not the first of its kind. It is a continuation of their already lost battle against Governor Ugwuanyi and Mr. Peter Mbah. They have written many of it's kind against Governor Ugwuanyi since the completion of PDP primaries. At a time, just like the recent write-up, they ran out of ideas and started recycling, regurgitating and rehashing what they have written and peddled before.
These bunch of Nsukka political ingrates, who are greatest benefactors of Governor Ugwuanyi's political benevolence and magnanimity, although politically inconsequential are the ones against Governor Ugwuanyi and not Enugu people as falsely written by their social media e-rat.
Their opposition against Governor Ugwuanyi has nothing to do with good governance which they have at different fora attested to. It is all about their selfish political interests and that of their relations.
It has nothing to do with the collective interest of Nsukka people which they usually mouth, champion or use as decoy when it suits them, but never believed in it or worked sincerely to actualise it.
They are jealous and envious of Governor Ugwuanyi's rapid political rise to stardom within a short time, a feat none of them has achieved despite that they have been in politics and government before Governor Ugwuanyi ventured into in 2003.
They are perturbed and afraid that as it is today, Governor Ugwuanyi remains the poster boy of not only Enugu state, but Enugu North Senatorial zone that he hails from. These failed politicians are known enemies within. They are the ones fanning the embers of discord in Nsukka and not the entire Nsukka people. They are the ones inciting some uninformed and pliable people against Governor Ugwuanyi.
They are not happy with Governor Ugwuanyi for throwing up new set of political leaders in Nsukka through various strategic political appointments and elective positions. They want to be and remain the masquerades in the dancing arena. Their antecedents and antics are known.
They are transactional leaders, who cannot point at any kilometer road they did or attracted to their communities or electric poles they erected for them. They have lived and survived all their lives through government and its patronages.
They are not ready to quit the stage, even when they have nothing to offer again. They are afraid of survival, because they know nothing or do nothing except looking for government money and patronages.
They are hedonists and materialists, who are never contented or satisfied with materialism. They have remained vicious cycles in successive governments and see governments as their birthday rights and that of their generations.
Governor Ugwuanyi by his actions and inactions has dislodged them and they are fighting back using Edeoga as their porn in the chessboard. They have failed as usual already. Edeoga is confused and stranded. They will soon abandon him in the lurch and realign with the incoming Governor Peter Mbah.
Mark my words. This will surely happen because they are shameless and lack integrity.
1) GOVERNANCE
Despite being faced with daunting economic cum financial challenges on assumption office in 2015 following the sudden crash in the price of crude oil that led to economic recession and heavy debt burden, Governor Ugwuanyi, a financial expert rejigged the State Internally Generated Revenue, plugged all the loopholes, introduced fiscal discipline and transparency in management of the state's meagre resources.
Since 2015 till date, Governor Ugwuanyi has kept Enugu state afloat financially, despite the fact that the state is not an oil producing state and is not among the first in the monthly Federation allocation radar.
Governor Ugwuanyi has been able to clear the backlog of workers salaries he inherited in 2015 and has continued to recruit many workers and pay them salaries promptly. This is happening at a time some oil producing states are owing their workers six months salaries. His administration has been exceptional in the areas of peace and security which is very paramount. Governor Ugwuanyi has deployed enormous financial resources and others in keeping the state secure and peaceful.
Even at that, Governor Ugwuanyi constructed the first flyover bridge in the history of Enugu state at T- Junction Nike Lake Road. He constructed a brand new University and first of it's kind in Nigeria known as State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) Igbo Eno, Enugu State. The university is due to resume academic programme in February next year.
Ugwuanyi's government has constructed more than 600 asphalted kilometers roads in rural and urban areas. This is apart from the state government and World Bank counterpart funded Rural Access Mobility Project (RAMP) that has opened up so many rural communities across Enugu state.
The list of Ugwuanyi's giant strides in government, especially in Nsukka is numerous and verifiable. It is a fact that Governor Ugwuanyi came into office at a time his type is needed most to rescue and reposition the state in 2015. Governor Ugwuanyi came into office prepared.
That is why he has been able to manage the overwhelming challenges facing the state since he assumed office especially as it concerns finance.
2) SULLIVAN CHIME'S LEGACY
On assumption of office in 2015, Governor Ugwuanyi never engaged in blame game or buckpassing. This is despite the fact that out of 17 local government areas in the state, it was only three that were not owing workers salaries. Some were owing 10 months. Others were owing 8 and 9 months.
Governor Ugwuanyi cleared the backlog without making noise. The state debt profile has risen and being serviced direct from the source.
Governor Ugwuanyi did not only constantly maintain the infrastructure his administration inherited, he built and constructed more, especially in the rural communities that have been abandoned for years without any basic infrastructure.
Governor Ugwuanyi has used political power to unite Enugu people more than dividing them. He has equitably distributed infrastructural projects and key government appointments like never before.
3) STATE RESOURCES
Governor Ugwuanyi is not known for financial profligacy or wastage. He is a good manager of financial and human resources. This is evident in the way and manner he has handled the finances of the state and kept the state afloat financially in the face of daunting economic challenges.
He places premium on immediate human needs, knowing full well that governance is not only about building infrastructure alone. There is no fact or evidence that Governor Ugwuanyi is using state resources for his personal aggrandizement and political pursuits. Governor Ugwuanyi is very mindful of the state of the economy hence he is fiscal and transparent with the state resources.
No wonder Enugu state was adjudged the second best state in Nigeria in term of accountability in 2020 by the revered Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN ).
4) NRASHI AND ASUA SLOGAN
These are mere political slangs and chats usually use by the Governor and political associates to crack jokes and ease stress.
It is not Governor Ugwuanyi's political philosophy or ideology. It has nothing to do with governance of the state.
5) UGWUANYI AND HIS PEOPLE
Governor Ugwuanyi loves and his people love him. He has done to Nsukka people what nobody or no government has done to them since the creation of Enugu state.
Governor Ugwuanyi has never treated or spoken to Nsukka people with disdain. He has always held Nsukka people at high esteem.
For the mere fact that some people from Nsukka contested and lost PDP primaries does not mean that Governor Ugwuanyi betrayed Nsukka people.
How? Are they not Nsukka people that won the PDP tickets as well? Who and what says that every aspirant that contested primaries must win. In every electoral contest, there must be winners and losers. Governor Ugwuanyi didn't ask people to go and contest. People came and informed Governor Ugwuanyi that they want to contest and Governor Ugwuanyi as a democrat gave them his blessings.
Blackmailing, fighting and blaming Governor Ugwuanyi after losing party primaries is the height of hypocrisy and desperation.
After all, it is not only in Nsukka that aspirants lost primaries. Why the hullabaloo about Nsukka people losing primaries? People have been winning and losing primaries in the party even before Governor Ugwuanyi came into office.
Why should any discerning Nsukka man or woman feel betrayed when Governor Ugwuanyi made many Nsukka sons and daughters permanent Secretaries, Heads of almost all government parastatals, Commissions and agencies? Why should they feel betrayed when Governor Ugwuanyi built a brand new specialised University for them at Igbo Eno, constructed the ever dilapidated and impassable Opi/Nsukka dual carriage way, tarred almost all the internal roads in Nsukka town, constructed brand new State Secretariat Annex, befitting International Conference, world class stadium, constructed many schools, healthcentres and rural roads and others for them.
Constitutionally and legally, Chijioke Edeoga is from Enugu East Senatorial zone not Enugu North Senatorial zone. Why are these few failed politicians from Nsukka crying more than the people of Isi Uzo LGA and Enugu East Senatorial zone that Edeoga hails from? Why?
What is their interest? Why is Edeoga seen more in Enugu North Senatorial zone than his Senatorial zone, Enugu East? Why? Does it mean that his own charity does not begin at home? We need to know why if that is the case.
Governor Ugwuanyi is not given to transactional engagement or dubiouity, even before venturing into politics. Since he assumed office as Governor, there is no case of financial fraud or scam in his government. This is verifiable.
6) KNOWN LASTING LEGACIES
There are lasting legacies for which Governor Ugwuanyi will be remembered and need not delay us here. Most significant is the legacy of peace security despite the daunting security landscape in the country. Every right thinking person in Enugu can attest to the total eradication of politically motivated attacks and killings as a result of political differences under Governor Ugwuanyi. Governor Ugwuanyi made the most profound intervention on stabilising salary payments and pensions in public service with the result that all public servants are at least guaranteed of salaries at the end of every month.
Still talking of legacies,
Governor Ugwuanyi built from the scratch a brand new specialised University of Medical and Applied Sciences. Included in this University is a teaching hospital which will serve as a Centre of Excellence in tertiary medical services. This had been done without closing down the existing ESUT Teaching Hospital at Parklane Enugu. Again, speaking of legacies, he constructed the first flyover bridge in Enugu. He constructed the Opi/ Nsukka which is one of the best road networks in Nigeria with good erosion control, streetlights and traffic lights.
Governor Ugwuanyi established the best active Enugu State Scholarship Board that has benefited more than 2000 students home and abroad with Nsukka having the lion share.
The people of Enugu are highly appreciative and supportive of Governor Ugwuanyi's government and PDP's choice of Mr. Peter Mbah as its governorship candidate and Ugwuanyi's successor.
It is even known to these few failed Nsukka politicians and their social media bandits that have been concocting and peddling unfounded allegations and lies against Governor Ugwuanyi and Peter Mbah on social media platforms that they are not capable of stopping Governor Ugwuanyi, Mr. Peter Mbah and other PDP candidates' victory at the polls.
They know this deep down, but their angers and egos will not allow them to stoop and be reasonable. They are upset, confused, and restless.
The way they are going, some of them will run amok and develop high blood pressure after Governor Ugwuanyi and other PDP candidates emerged victorious at the polls next year. Those of them that will survive the shock of the defeat will later come to shamelessly ask for forgiveness and accomodation in the PDP and Mba's new government.