Enugu state, Nsukka, Ugwuanyi deserve better

BY REGIS ONYISHI

From the green Nsukka and Udi hills, to the award-winning, sustainable city of Enugu, Nkanuland to Awgu, Enugu State is a beauty to behold. Above those, Enugu has many attributes that are skin-deep, beyond what the eyes can see.

As the former capital of the old Eastern Region, the seat of governments headed by the Rt. Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr Michael Okpara, Enugu is the political Mecca, the spiritual and cultural heart of not only Igbos but Ijaws, Efiks, Ibibios, Annangs, Kalabaris and all citizens of former Eastern Region.

Those attributes bestow a heavy, historical burden on the shoulders of any man or woman that occupies the seat of government in Enugu – the Lion Building. In the eyes of millions of citizens, he or she is the custodian of the key that leads to the heart, soul, and bone marrow of the Igboman or woman’s aspiration for the ideal: his or her political, cultural, educational, economic and industrial aspirations.

Without question, the governor of Enugu State should be a serious man or woman. The Enugu State governor should have a clear vision,be a leader of men and women, transparent, selfless, not selfish, a democrat, not a dictator, skilled in building teams and identifying new talents, not power hungry or tearing down his own people. He or she should be dependable, not double-faced or setting Enugu State citizens against one another. He or she should be a uniting figure around that vision and mission of Enugu State.

There is no doubt that the job of governor of Enugu State, in sentimental and historical senses, demands more than the qualification for a governor. Fortunately, all citizens of the region or the state (in different times), who held that seat, had an acute understanding of the importance of their role as governor or premier, seating in Enugu. That was how we perceived Hon. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in the days and months before he became governor of Enugu State.

When Hon. Ugwuanyi emerged as governor of Enugu State on 29 May 2015, millions of citizens thought that another statesman was moving into Lion Building. In the few weeks before he assumed office, several of us, Enugu State citizens, promoted the idea that, in addition to the attributes of his predecessors, Ugwuanyi was also a compassionate and generous man. That judgement was drawn from his pronouncements or newspaper publications, not from my own personal experience.

Efforts were made to remove all obstacles on his way to power, including persuading his rivals not to challenge his election in court.Efforts were made to reconcile Governor Ugwuanyi and Senator AyoguEze, who contested for the position in the PDP and later ran on APC ticket.

Governor Ugwuanyi is failing to live up to the expectations of Enugu State indigenes – and that is putting it mildly and as diplomatic as one can be. Not a few citizens were worried when it took him nearly a year to appoint commissioners. In the absence of a cabinet, he set up sundry committees to create his agenda, a hallmark of a visionless ruler. I deliberately did not use the word “leader” and I will explain why I chose not to use it in this case.

A year and three months into his second term, Ugwuanyi is still running an ad hoc administration in Enugu State – with no well-defined agenda but lots of deafening, chaotic noises in the media. Meanwhile, his half-baked policies appear to be coming from haphazard notes written by one man – on the back of an envelope. Every other government official, from commissioners to local government councillors in Enugu State are reported to be occupying their positions only in name. The governor runs a one-man government with no set agenda, mission or vision.

Daily, Ugwuanyi initiates one project or another that does not fit into any broadly defined agenda. In fact, scores of projects are announced on a regular basis only to be forgotten as soon as they were pronounced. Those announcements are followed by a cacophony of reports in traditional and social media, which are written by the same persons, who work for the same government they are singing the praises of.“Who cares about credibility and believability”must be a common refrain in Lion Building.

In a typical scatterbrain fashion, projects like the Nsukka campus of the Enugu State University have remained pipe dreams after the usual media circus. Road projects have been announced, and started without proper planning, only to be washed away within weeks.Pedestrian bridges have been erected in roads in Enugu where such are not needed, with at least one of them reported to have collapsed shortly after construction.

The absolute control of all levers of government has given room to a vicious, totalitarian government in Enugu State. And as totalitarianism goes, Enugu has its worst form: outwardly pretending to be benevolent while it is anything but benevolent. For example, the state government has been given credit for regularly conducting local government elections. On the surface, the series of elections would appear to be a culture of democracy that goes down to the local government level.

That is far from reality.All the chairmen and councillors are hand-picked to serve the interest and to be at the beck and call of one man.For example, since the change in policy to allocate revenues directly to local government councils, each of the 17 LGAs in the state reportedly return 40 or 30 million naira to Lion Building monthly and in cash, depending on how affluent the LGA is. Aside payment of salaries, each LGA council’s project is personally approved by the governor.

How on earth would the next crop of leaders emerge? The Jim Nwobodos, C.C. Onohs, Okwy Nwodos, Chimaroke Nnamanis, and Sullivan Chimes, who have sat on the same seat before the present governor, made a good job of identifying and grooming new crops of leaders in the state. Under Ugwuanyi’s watch, diminishing, demonizing and bullying of prospective leaders has become a government’s (meaning Ugwuanyi’s) agenda.

He went as far as handpicking and sponsoring candidates in the opposition parties in the state to run against his own party candidates in last general elections, with the aim of undermining emerging and established politicians who could challenge his absolute hold on PDP in Enugu State.Politicians from his own Nsukka area are not spared from his vicious character assassinations. The aim is to have Ugwuanyi as the only one standing after his divide and rule and devious political machinations.

Nsukka, his own senatorial zone, is in a political nightmare. With the unwritten agreement to rotate power between the three senatorial zones in Enugu State, Majority of Nsukka (Enugu North) people are of the opinion that Ugwuanyi is so unfocused and distracted by his political schemes that Nsukka’s turn in the Lion Building is being frittered away without any clear agenda for the zone or the state. Worse still, they watch in horror as their son is facing the risk of an adverse verdict by history – to be remembered as a mediocre governor.

Consequently, most Nsukka people are afraid that Ugwuanyi, by not living up to their expectations as governor, has put future opportunities of Nsukka governorship candidates at risk or, at least, more difficult to attain.

He is also bent on scuttling a political arrangement that has worked well in his own senatorial zone. Many find it shocking that since his assumption of office, Ugwuanyi has been more preoccupied with his scheme to return to the National Assembly as a senator. It could be recalled that he was a member of the House of Representative for 12 straight years before becoming a governor. His performance as a member of the House of Representatives is well-documented. He is reported to have sponsored a total number of zero bills and an equal number of motions in his 12 years in the House.

To further his latest political ambition, Ugwuanyi is sowing seeds of discord in the state and in Nsukka in particular. Nsukka, like Enugu State, has an unwritten agreement to rotate the senate seat among the federal constituencies in the senatorial zone. The current senator, Senator Chukwuka Utazi is from Igbo-Etiti/Uzo-Uwani federal constituency. Utazi’s predecessor was Senator AyoguEze of Igbo-Eze North/Udenu federal constituency (where Governor Ugwuanyi hails from). In compliance with that unwritten agreement, Utazi should be succeeded by a candidate from Igbo-Eze South/Nsukka federal constituency. As a beneficiary of a similar arrangement at the state-level, Ugwuanyi should be expected to – or be compelled to – comply with Nsukka people’s rotation arrangement for senators.

Surely, it is a mark of ingratitude for Ugwuanyi to focus on another political ambition after a questionable performance in the House of Representatives and five years into his eight-year tenure as governor, which is yet to find its bearing. It can only be concluded that the governor seems unable to see any other capable candidate beyond himself. Why does Ugwuanyi view Nsukka sons and daughters with such disdain?

In line with Nsukka people’s sense of humility, the governor should renounce his latest political ambition today, apologise to Enugu State citizens for taking his eyes off the ball, and focus on his job, which includes seeking out prospective leaders to represent Enugu State and Nsukka at all levels. He knows and I know that there are legions of them.

What we have seen in the past five years does not match the expectations we had of the man, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as governor of Enugu State. He has just under three years to redeem himself. He needs to focus on that and that only. That is also the time period left for the governor to live up to the expectations of  Nsukka people and prove to Enugu citizens that they were not fooled into resoundingly electinghim twice to be a leader of well qualified and talented Enugu State sons and daughters in government – not as a divisive, power-hungry, total ruler.

Onyishi is a researcher and analyst in policy and communications.