By Reuben Onyishi

(Ugoachataberu)

"Who has done better?" was a term that flew the sky on 7th January, 2023 at Nsukka and fanned cold anyone ever opposed to the good Ugwuanyi had wrought in Enugu State in general and Nsukka- Enugu Senatorial Zone- in particular. It was a term that flowed with ease from the lips of the erudite scholar of Law, Prof. Simon Otuanya, the Secretary to the State Government of Enugu State, who took time to recount Governor Ugwuanyi's giant strides for which the people of Nsukka should be grateful and proud of him, and then scorn at those who for no just cause take to the infamous route of mischievious excoriations.

Otuanya had waxed rhetorical, in I-have-a-dream manner, combining the needed emotions with the reasons why Enugu North should be thankful to Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Governor of Enugu State. He decried the mischief of some persons of Nsukka extraction who championed the causeless course of vicious lampooning of the governor who has sacrificed all to the good of his own people; yet so much harangued for no just cause. Prof. Otuanya many times asked those who claimed Governor Ugwuanyi had not done well thus, "Who has done batter?"

It was at the Enugu North Zonal meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party held at Governor Ugwuanyi Campaign Council Office at Nsukka. The campaign council office was also commissioned at the meeting. All appointees of the governor in the state from Nsukka had earlier gathered to articulate the way forward, towards the election of Governor Ugwuanyi as the senator representing Enugu North Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In the process, Dr. Obetta was appointed the Director General of the council. The six local governments that make up Enugu North Senatorial Zone also were assigned directors. The idea is to move to the grassroots and sensitize the people on why Ugwuanyi is the best candidate for the zone, thereby cleansing their minds of any infestation of the prejudice hawked by some daredevils.

In the same speech, Prof. Otuanya specifically mentioned some of the projects Ugwuanyi had executed in Enugu North Zone. He held that no government either in the old Anambra State, old Enugu State and the new Enugu State had done for Enugu North what Ugwuanyi had done for it. Otuanya said that he signed all political appointments in the state and that as at the last count, he had signed over 2800 appointments the Ugwuanyi administration had made to Enugu North Senatorial Zone alone. He said that Nsukka used to have about 4 permanent secretaries, but that under Ugwuanyi's watch, it increased to 16. Otuanya also pointed to some of the legacy projects of the Ugwuanyi administration in the zone namely the 42-kilometer Udenu Ring Road, the Opi-Nsukka dual carriage way, the 26- kilometer road at Uzo Uwani, the new university, Science University of Medical and Applied Sciences( SUMAS), the Federal Polytechnic Ohodo, the Nsukka Stadium and a plethora of projects here and there too numerous to be mention one after the other, executed by the administration of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for the people of Enugu North Senatorial Zone.

Indeed, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has done a lot for the people of Enugu North Senatorial Zone. The few persons who would think otherwise are either deliberately mischievous or victims of entitlement mentality who have forgotten that Ugwuanyi is not the governor of Enugu North but the governor of Enugu State. Even at the odds of a depressed economy, Governor Ugwuanyi has struck a heroic pose, rising above the debilitating effects of economic crunches and the attendant paucity of funds. Ugwuanyi is financially creative and has made the best use of funds available to him. In many ways, he has revved up the income profile of the state, and that accounts for why he is up-to-date in his financial obligations.

In regard to those running for the Senate seat of Enugu North in other political parties, one would find that they are dwarfs before Ugwuanyi. None of them has Ugwuanyi's cosmopolitan reach, expertise and the wealth of the needed experience for the very essence of the spirit of bicameralism that informed the Senate. The fingers do not strive with the knife for meat. The people of Enugu North are not foolish to scald their fingers when they have the rod with which to roast the palmnuts in fire. Ugwuanyi provides the people with perfect representation at the senate. He will likely preside over the Senate when it is constituted in 2023. Why would Nsukka lose this opportunity to the neophytic biddings of inexperienced and politically weak contestants?

Lest blindness suddenly come upon the people, Prof. Otuanya and many of the political appointees of Nsukka extraction like Prof. Malachy Okwueze, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor; Barr. Chidi Aroh, the Honourable Commissioner for Lands, other commissioners, SPAs, heads of parastatals and government agencies, SSAs, SA and every other appointee from Nsukka rose in unison to sensitize the people on why Ugwuanyi provides the best and credible candidacy to the Enugu North Senatorial seat. 

It is quite clear that no government had done better than the Ugwuanyi administration for the people of Enugu North Senatorial Zone. Those nudging the the false propaganda that Ugwuanyi has not done enough for Enugu North should answer to Prof. Otuanya's question: Who has done better?