BY JUSTIN ONAH 

Ordinarily, no one should  have dissipate energy or time responding to the sponsored yeoman job and hogwash written against the former Governor, His Excellency, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi with a pen name, Dr. Nathan Ezugwu shared on social media platforms by one Barrister Kingsley Eluma Asogwa, who happens to be a senior legislative aide to Senator Okey Ezea; and Aniebo Nwamu.

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I would not for the fact that we all know what those behind this vengeful, malicious, fallacious, and misleading article stand for in Enugu North Senatorial in the build-up to the now rested 2023 general elections.  This is not the first time, they are using this pen name to spew bile and write hateful bunkum against  Ugwuanyi and even Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah and will not be the last. It is their stock in trade. But I dare ask, why can't Enugu North Labour Party losers move on to other things? Why  are they so suffused in their abusive attacks on Ugwuanyi even after the outcome of the senatorial election in which people were conspiratorially mesmerised and hypnotised under the frenzy of religion and tribalism. To continue  in this Goebbels-like disinformation on the political vivacity, ebullience, and sagacity of Ugwuanyi smarks of nothing short of rascality, sadism and clear envy. 

My response to this article is just to put the records straight and debunk the false narrative with incontrovertible evidence. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi didn't become Governor of Enugu State with only the votes of the people of Enugu North Senatorial zone. He was voted into office by the people of three senatorial zones, 17 local government areas, and 260 wards in Enugu State. 

Proving his level of acceptance and performance across the state, Governor Ugwuanyi garnered 94.5 per cent of the votes cast in his second term election in 2019. The record remains unprecedented in the history of governorship elections in the state. Ugwuanyi was a governor of all in Enugu State. He never used power to oppress or divide the state. 

He was never a parochial, sectional and tribal leader as Dr. Nathan Ezugwu pen name being used by Nsukka Labour Party social media urchins and their paymasters had always wanted him to be while in office as Governor.

Nobody, not even thousands of Labour Party's social media mountebanks and goons can erase or wipe out Ugwuanyi’s peaceful disposition, rare humanism, landmark achievements and signature projects from the minds and hearts of Enugu people, Nigerians and talk more of his people of Enugu North Senatorial zone, he  provided legacy projects like dualised Opi/ Nsukka road,  State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS ) Igbo Eno, attracted Federal Polytechnic Ohodo, New State Secretariat, Ede Oballa, Nsukka Township Stadium, Ezimo-Ogbodo aba, Ikem road and many others. 

Ugwuanyi's government may have not attended to all the infrastructural needs and challenges of Ndi Enugu because of the backlog of deficits and paucity of funds, that does not mean that his government failed the people of Enugu State particularly the people of Enugu North Senatorial zone as Ezugwu erroneously stated in his criminal and jaundiced article.

The challenge before Ezugwu, his likes and their sponsors in Enugu North Senatorial zone, who are scared and envious of Ugwuanyi’s intimidating political profile, exploits and values should be how to properly utilize, sustain and build upon the glaring developmental projects Ugwuanyi’s administration bequeathed the people of Enugu North zone, and not fabricating and peddling blatant and baseless lies against him on social media platforms for no just cause. 

Ugwuanyi has an identity that he has not lost and will never lose as  far as Nigeria politics, leadership, and governance are concerned. 

For the fact that the jejune article of Ezugwu against Ugwuanyi centred on sectional benefits and development of Enugu North Senatorial zone against the rest of Enugu State speaks volume of the characters behind it and what they would have done with or would do with political power if they have grabbed it. 

Any Enugu State man, particularly Enugu North Senatorial zone who is trying to denigrate or demean Ugwuanyi’s personality on sectional  ground while in office as Governor needs his head to be examined properly.

Ugwuanyi is out of office now and is enjoying his deserved rest. It does not mean that he and his goodness and glaring footprints are out of people's minds. They are not because they are staring at the people, verifiable, and tangible. 

It is factual that In the entire Enugu North Senatorial zone, no leader before and after Ugwuanyi’s emergence on the political scene, not even during the military era, has done or touched the lives of the people like Ugwuanyi.

The reason many susceptible and gullible people in Enugu North Senatorial zone, who were hypotenised by Labour Party's leaders, who wanted to use Enugu North Senatorial zone to actualise the now failed governorship project of Barr. Chijioke Edeoga worked against Ugwuanyi, and PDP in the 2023 elections is because Ugwuanyi stood firmly against Nsukka man succeeding Nsukka man. That is the truth. It has nothing to do with performance, which Ugwuanyi did well. The conspiracy against him was grand, and the betrayals were heartbreaking. But even at that, Ugwuanyi has remained a political force to reckon with not only in Enugu North Senatorial zone, Enugu State, but in Nigeria and beyond.   

Ahead of 2027 general elections, Ugwuanyi is overqualified and has all it takes to contest any elective position and win.  But unfortunately Ugwuanyi has not told anyone that he is contesting 2027 elections, because that is  not his nature. Besides, no one knows who will be alive in 2027. So why won't Nsukka Labour Party social media urchins and serial traitors  allow Ugwuanyi to enjoy his peace and rest outside public office?