By Chidiebere Onah

It’s no longer news that some of those people that recently failed miserably in the just concluded Enugu State Peoples Democratic Party’s primary elections are still living in delusion, confusion and frustration due to their disappointing inability to achieve their life-long inordinate ambition of being addressed as, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Enugu State in 2023.

Frustrated, they have sworn to wage war against the peaceful government of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and make the state unlivable for the good people of Enugu State. They are resorting to anything possible to demonize the governor by fabricating imaginary lies against his administration. They go about inveighing the state government, pitching the people against the peace-loving governor, and yet, the people of Enugu, understanding that these people are driven by malicious intent because of their failure, have been treating them to contempt.

The people of Enugu State quite sure of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s character, have insisted that they will continue to vouch for the governor as a man of peace even in the face of brash provocation. Many have even become critical of the governor for being too peaceful with his detractors. Appeals from different quarters that Gov. Ugwuanyi should wield the state’s sledgehammer on these bad losers have often kissed the wall. Instead the governor would be magnanimous enough to invite these dark-minded people and make peace with them. Not many of us can stomach Ugwuanyi’s type of peaceful leadership. “Vawulence” should be reciprocated with “vawulence”. But Gov. Ugwuanyi has proven different. His other name is, peace.

Many now understood why the governor has always sued for peace. He wanted a state where the people could live in harmony. He wanted a state where democracy could thrive. He wanted a state where opposition would have a strong voice. He wanted a state where dissidents would express their opinions, notwithstanding how provocative and idiotic such opinion could be, and still go to their homes without threat. And the governor has been able to achieve such feats. Enugu State is, arguably, the most peaceful state in the country and the state under Ugwuanyi has been friendly, tolerant and accommodating to members of the opposition.

If Nigeria should have more 36 national leaders including the president that have the philosophy of Gov. Ugwuanyi, Nigeria could have been the most peaceful, most developed and most happy country in the world. Unfortunately, Ugwuanyi is standing alone in the midst of an intolerable, cruel nation. I always weep when I see the governor empowering members of the opposition parties, feeding them, enabling a peaceful and secure environment for them and I ask; what manner of man is he?

Sadly, these specialist in failure who keep leapfrogging rudderlessly from one party to the other are now abusing Ugwuanyi’s ecumenical disposition and philosophy of tolerance. Having exhausted their strength in launching vituperative diatribes against the governor, and when they saw the people were unmoved and the governor unperturbed, they devised another means to bring the efforts of the governor into disrepute by staging attacks on themselves and pointing figures at the PDP and the governor.

In their infamy, they went so low by calling out the PDP, the governor and Ebeano political family. However, the people of Enugu state are aware that those whose ambitions were already vanquished due to their incompetence are desperately at work. In a video clip they orchestrated and launched into the media space, the Labour Party in which they have been sterling without hope, was attacked in Awgu by purported unknown gunmen. A careful analysis of the video clip would reveal that the attacks were contemplated by the Labour Party supporters who were not even up to 100 in number in a large local government area as Awgu.

In order to smear the character of the governor, the integrity of the PDP and the winning Ebeano political family and draw sympathy to their already failed cause, these political bandits organised some thugs in the name of unknown gunmen to shoot sporadically and then call them members of the opposition. The police should launch a manhunt for the Labour Party leaders in Enugu State, including the embattled Chijioke Edeoga who is their arrowhead, arrest them, and they’ll certainly confess to committing the crime. It’s time Gov. Ugwuanyi steer clear of the matter, and allow the law to take its cause. This is not the time to keep on tolerating the violence orchestrated by Edeoga and his fellow conspirators in the name of peace.

Let it be known that no political party in Enugu State is a threat to the PDP; a dominant party since 1999 which has been winning with over 70% to 90% votes due to its incredible performances and unmatched improvement in the welfare and standards of living of the people. The 2023 general elections in Enugu State are already a walkover for the PDP. It’s time to get Edeoga and his criminal gangs arrested by the police, the DSS and other law enforcement agencies for sponsoring criminal gangs, attempting to destabilize Enugu State and unlawfully possessing firearms. The people of Enugu State are impatiently waiting to see whether the security agencies will do their work.