By Charly Onah

It appeared that November 1, 2020 ushered in a new dawn of so long a letter and open letter writing to Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi by some persons of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo stock from his senatorial zone, Enugu North.

First was from one Rev.Fr. Dennis John Chukwubuzor Attah of Catholic Diocese Nsukka and another from one Celestine Okanya also from Igbo-Eze South Council Area in Enugu North zone, who has been mischievously and fallaciously critical of Ugwuanyi's administration.

The two epistles which were of the same tone and agenda, but fraught with malice, mischief, lies, inconsistencies, missing links, nepotism and unfounded allegations were timely made public on the day Governor Ugwuanyi went on a private visit to senator representing Enugu North Senatorial zone, Senator Chuka Utazi in his home at Nkpologu, Uzo-Uwani Council Area alongside some prominent leaders of Enugu North Senatorial zone. Was this coincidental or conspiratorial? Time will tell,because there is no smoke without fire.

In his narration cum lamentations, Rev.Fr. Attah reminded Gov. Ugwuanyi that from November 1, he has only 2 years, 7 months and 28 days to handover in 2023. By implication, he strongly reminded the governor that what he could not achieve within the remaining 31.7% of his time will remain an illusion to him or anybody.

The Reverend acknowledged that as a matter of fact politics is not his field, but he is not blindfolded in the political sequence. This is a case of aprobating and reprobating at the same time, which is not good for a stable and principled character.

From Rev. Attah's postulations, he is both blinded in the art of governance and politics especially in Enugu State. It is not enough to hide under cassock to tribally pontificate on governance and government in Enugu State without substantial facts and statistics. One Rev. Fr. Kelvin Odigbo had once toed the same infantile path in the past and got his fingers burnt.

Getting directly involved in the politics and governance of the state will be of great advantage to Rev. Fr. Attah and will help him to speak from the point of deep knowledge, instead of pontification and grandstanding through unsolicited and malicious open letter targeted at impugning the character of the governor 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 and 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.

Just last month, 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.

Although all of us must or should not be politicians, nothing stops the likes of Rev.Fr Attah and his colleagues from joining politics. It is important and good for them to join. 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.

While it is true that the essence of power rotation in Enugu is to enable people from different parts of the governed area to access power inorder to ensure equitable development of the whole area, it is not presumed or true that an individual who was voted into office by the people to serve as governor should concentrate every development in his area as being espoused by Rev. Fr. Attah. That is totally uncalled for and divisive.

If that has been 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 shows that none of them completed the needed infrastructural developments in their zones, talk more of other zones. This is because of the age-long infrastructural deficits or gaps that required huge financial resources and time to tackle. Many communities in these zones are still yearning for urgent government intervention in the area of infrastructural development, while many people are still languishing in abject penury and starvation.

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. The problems and challenges Rev. Fr. Attah emphasised 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 developments in the state does not make him a failed or weak leader. It should have been nice if Rev. Fr. Attah had factored in or presented statistically the state of the economy now and when Ugwuanyi's predecessors were in office. How much was crude oil which is the country's major source of income sold for then and when Ugwuanyi assumed office? What is the state wage bill now and then? What is the political atmosphere, alignment and realignment then and now?

What was the population growth between then and now? Was there any recession and COVID-19 pandemic then? This is just elementary knowledge expected of anyone who wants to analyse the performance of any government or governor. 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.

It is very uncharitable and hypocritical of Rev. Fr. Attah to say that people are yet to see Gov. Ugwuanyi's food yielding trees, because none has manifested and at the same time acknowledged that beautiful secretariat, good road network, housing estates and others done by Gov. Ugwuanyi's administration in Enugu North zone are all good for the people.

If I will not be mistaken, it seems that to Rev. Fr. Attah the only food yielding trees expected of Ugwuanyi is to build or attract or relocate some higher institutions to his zones like his predecessors. This is even when it is obvious that none is available to be attracted from Federal Government now. That is why Ugwuanyi is gradually developing those ones that his administration has relocated to Enugu North Senatorial zone.


Eventhough Gov. Ugwuanyi is not the governor of Enugu North Senatorial zone, Rev.Fr Attah in his letter should have painted a vivid 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 five 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, it will be unfair for any reasonable person from Enugu North Senatorial zone to accuse Ugwuanyi of not doing much for people of Enugu State and Enugu North Senatorial zone in particular in the face of daunting challenges his administration faced from inception in 2015 till date.

Ugwuanyi's numerous and solid achievements litter the nooks and cranny of Enugu North Senatorial zone. Everybody including visitors know the deplorable state of infrastructure in Enugu North Senatorial zone before Gov. Ugwuanyi assumed office as governor. If Ugwuanyi's offence is that he has not built higher institutions or industries in Enugu North Senatorial zone, I cannot remember any of his predecessors that established industries, even with the financial solvency and liquidity they enjoyed while their administrations lasted.

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.

On Late Nnamdi Azikiwe's establishment of UNN in Nsukka and the reason Nsukka should not forget him Zik did it then because the opportunity called for it and he has the platform and reach to attract it to his state.

On Governor Chimaroke Nnamani taking UNTH to Ituku Ozalla, it was not Nnamani that took UNTH to Ituku Ozalla. It was not Nnamani that did that. UNTH has been relocated to Ituku Ozalla before Nnamani assumed office as governor. I could remember vividly that Dr. Chris Ngige who is the current minister of Labour as a deputy director in the Ministry of Health was among those that facilitated the relocation before joining politics in 1998. Ngige is still alive today and inquiry could be made.

Nnamani attracted Law School to Agbani because of his close relationship with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo who was in the same party with him.

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Charly Onah writes from Opi, Nsukka, Enugu State.