By David Nwatu 

The unveiling of the APC manifesto by the governorship candidate of the party, Chief Uchenna Nnaji at the ECCIMA House Enugu on Saturday, the 11th of February 2023, was a charade. Apart from the fact that the presentation was shrouded in secrecy, the content was hollow and shallow.

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It's indeed a truism that one cannot give what one does not have. By every dint of measurement, Uche Nnaji is not a governorship material. But like the former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rightly pointed out, "To be conscious that you're ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge." How can a political party make known her working documents few weeks to the general election? It's a clear evidence of bankruptcy of ideas on governance architecture, an afterthought, and gross ineptitude by the Nnaji Campaign Council.

At the ECCIMA House, Nnaji stated, "I have visited 260 Wards, over 400 communities, spent countless hours speaking with community leaders, religious leaders and experts to ensure that this manifesto accurately reflect the needs and desires of our people." In other words, Uche Nnaji did not know the needs of Ndi Enugu before now. And from his unstable posture at the presentation venue, it's obvious that the draft was crafted by those he called experts without his input. The question becomes, how will he implement what he does know about?

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Interesting enough, the Akpugo born politician listed the following as his working tools; Employment reduction, industrialization, electricity generation, agricultural development, road infrastructure, information technology and broadband penetration amongst others. In all that were mentioned, there was no concrete framework on how to get them done.

Uche Nnaji had raised a red light at the St Luke Methodist Church Ugwuaji, where he told the congregation that as a sincere man raised from a good Christian home, he will never steal from the government coffers because he is a honest man from birth. Unfortunately, no journalist was on hand to ask Chief Nnaji about the snake that swallowed the 1.3 billion naira meant for the Presidential primary election in Enugu State. The pressman would have also enquired from Ugochukwu Agballa who was in attendance at the church award ceremony why he was beaten to stupor by some rented crowd at the famous Okpara Square over 300 million naira, the day Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited. I have also maintained that what we have today as APC leaders in our State is a gang of conmen. The founding fathers of the party in the State have all been pushed out of the scheme of things.

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While explaining at the St Luke’s Methodist Church part of his blueprint, Nnaji goofed again. Our plan for education is a total overhaul of the obsolete curriculum and a possibility of handing over our public schools to the Church, because the educational system in Enugu has completely collapsed. A man who wants to be governor is unaware that for the past three years, Enugu State has been emerging the best in national examinations like JAMB, WAEC, NECO and that most of the students performing this feat are from the public high school.

In what way will the APC governorship candidate generate 500,000 jobs as promised? Chief Nnaji commenced the building of one industry at a land under dispute along Akpugo-Amagunze road for the past three years which he eventually abandoned. Is that how he will bequeath to Ndi Enugu white elephant projects or generate thousands of jobs for the youth?

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It's important that our electorate should be wary of people close to the Imo State governor. They are notorious for seeking a short cut to reach their destination. For instance, instead of reaching out to the people to seek for their vote, a Deputy Governorship candidate of the party, Barr George Ogara was seen at the court recently on a matter that was filed by another party with the aim to disqualify candidates of PDP. That's decietfulness, that is the kind of shady characters we have in APC, a party that wants to rule by technicality not by the electoral mandate of the people. They should have known better, no Court will disqualify anyone in Enugu State on frivolous ground, and no Court will declare anyone a governor without winning at the polls.

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Ugochukwu Agballah and his cohorts will not rule Enugu State through their usual shameful hatchet job, mudslinging, blackmailing and invidious attacts on innocent people. Already, the Federal High Court has thrown away one Mr Idoko’s petition for lack of merit and that is how other baseless allegations against Peter Mbah will end up.

The law of karma is real, the APC in Enugu State like the fatally impaired Titanic is headed for the iceberg. Time and tide will tell.