By Reuben Onyishi 

(Ugoachataberu)

I was going to entitle this piece, "Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, Acceptance beyond Boundaries", following recent developments in the political goings-on in Enugu State as it concerns the governorship electioneering process untill the spirit, the inspiration, drew my attention to a more appropriate title which I find most suitable in my dialect. Maa g'n' ek'ri maa! Let me leave you there. I shall be back to the translation.

As the push comes to a shove, or now that the come has come to become, some players in the field have turned spectators. They practically have forgotten they too are players. This is what happened to Ayogu Amoke, the head masquerade of a certain clan to whom a wife dared to answer to his call on her husband. Ayogu suddenly realized women had forgotten he too was a masquerade. While Ayogu carried itself like a masquerade he was, Nwadobara Okenyi entirely forgot he too was a masquerade and took a position at the fringes as would women watching Odobara Esori, a most resplendent masquerade, take dancing steps into the village arena to the ululation, excitement and admiration of the spectators.Adobara Okenyi was lost in the exciting fray, and did not remember he was a masquerade untill one of his followers tapped him and reminded him it was time to go home.

Need I still go back to the translation? Is there anyone who has yet to know the game is over? The owner has taken that which rightly belongs to them. While the governorship election draws closer, Ndi Enugu have taken a conclusive decision to unclad themselves of party cleavages and adopt Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of the PDP as their consensus candidate. No more; no less! Peter's endorsement, his acceptance, spreads like wild fire with no restraint, proliferating endlessly to the consternation of the little masquerades on the scene who have cleared away from the arena into the fringes, watching the ijele. Maa g'n'ek'ri maa!

Peter has taken a step into the dance and the drum rumbles to the delirious high-pitched frenzy beyond the capacity of the neophytes who now dance offbeat. Wherever you go in Enugu State, the name, Peter Mbah, with the mantra, tomorrow is here, echoes wildly into endless staccato of unfading reverberation in uncommon goodwill and utter acceptance. 

Never in the history of Enugu politics had the people come together to unanimously adopt a candidate irrespective of party affiliation, except on the occasion when Governor Ugwuanyi was adopted by all the political parties in the state as their consensus candidate apart from the APC. This time, however, even the APC has caved in. As a matter of fact, Peter Mbah provides for the people a confluence of unity unfazed by party affairs. It was at Okpara Square Enugu two days ago when the people of Awkunanaw and the entire Nkanuland adopted Peter Mbah as their sole candidate for the 2023 governorship election in Enugu State. Senator Ken Nnamani, the former Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a major stakeholder of the APC in Enugu State and Nigeria, announced that they had resolved to divest themselves of party affiliation in order to adopt Peter Mbah as their candidate. They were compelled by the quality of the candidacy of Mbah, a young entrepreneur highly cerebral and resourceful whose unveiled manifesto presents to the people of Enugu State a sure roadmap to astronomical economic growth.

Every other candidate in the state is deserted and stranded. Everything has failed them. FBI, EFCC, Ego Ndi Enugu, all manner of calumnious campaigns, lies, vilification, vile vindictiveness, machinations, all manner of mischief and villainous schemes have woefully failed them. The APC is deserted and the labourers have laboured in vain. They like Nwadobara Okenyi have taken a position with women at the fringes, forgetting they are players. The players have suddenly turned spectators. Maa g'n'ek'ri maa! Eleeooo!