By Prince Ejeh Josh

The Enugu State All Progressives Congress, APC, is on its hatchet job again. The party has brazenly and impertinently sent itself on a jobless voyage of discovery where it was not sent.

In their irresponsible and misguided journey to castigate the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, its performing government and the newly appointed Director General of the party’s campaign organization, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, the APC minions have abdicated their primary duty of marketing their candidates in the state for their holier-than-thou search on how the PDP is decorously going about its organization and strategy.

The needless and deplorable lies cooked up by the APC renegade who goes by one faceless Luke Abugu, a fake name and impersonator, disguising as a self-styled PDP “card carrying member” has exposed the party and its leadership as jobless and idle.

A party that has taken Nigeria irredeemably backwards in the past seven years and has nothing to show for the vast resources at its disposal is not expected to do anything special but to embark on their stock-in-trade; campaign of calumniation and harangue. The APC came into power in 2015 when PDP had prudently done everything within its reach to navigate Nigeria out of the junta days' terror, and restored the country’s economy to its glorious days.

With the APC deceiving Nigerians and foisting itself on them, the rest is history. It’s now from one agony to the another anguish. The party has led Nigeria into a state of economic collapse. Seven years of the APC has become a dystopia. The whole system is collapsing under their supervision. Terrorists are having a field day. Bandits are now negotiating territory with brute force and ruthless audacity. Nigerians no longer sleep under the watch of the APC. It’s a mortifying failure all through the seven years of the APC. There’s still no end in sight with the party still rudderlessly paddling the country.

One would wonder what moral rectitude the APC, a party synonymous with failure, has to disparage a people-centered and humanist party represented in the PDP. It’s not surprising why the APC has not been able to tell the people of Enugu State one thing it’s poised to do if elected. This calls to mind Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma’s brave submission that the APC in Enugu State was a Trojan horse that has nothing; not even one clear programme for the people. Its mission is to assume power in 2023 like it did in 2015 and destroy the giant strides of the PDP in the state, send the people into despair and hunger. By so doing, it will set back the hands of clock and leave the people of the state in misery and depression.

When a party has no sellable, industrial, modern and enterprising governorship candidate but only an accidental, “one-chance” and unprepared candidate, then it’ll get preoccupied with what others are doing. Don Quixote striking in a shinning armour on an errand he was never sent.

Why is the APC obsessed with the internal arrangements of the PDP? Why is the party crying more than the bereaved over the choice of appointments made by the PDP? Instead of weeping in lamentations, shouldn’t the APC be rejoicing over the choice of Chief Asogwa since they believe he is such a bad choice for the ruling party in the state? Isn’t the attitude of these accidental candidates and failed political party that have never won even a polling unit since the history of Enugu State lethargic idleness?

The Enugu State PDP has made its choice on the appointment of Ikeje Asogwa, a celebrated, stellar entrepreneur, and such decision, having been hailed with satisfaction by the people of the state, becomes functus officio. It’s a test of quality assurance through his time-honoured integrity.

One thing Abugu and his desperate sponsors should be reminded is that the DG of the Peter Mbah and State PDP Campaign Organization has an unblemished antecedent and uncommon track records in the public service just as his private sector life also corroborated. Asogwa’s public service life in Enugu State gave the Sullivan Chime’s administration some of the glory it enjoys up till today. Nobody can controvert that universal truth.

It's on record that Asogwa’s leadership strides at Enugu State Housing Development Corporation gave the state the outlook and elegance of a modern, smart-city state. The Asogwa I know will never claim credit for his excellent works. He will always say it’s a team work. If Asogwa who believes in teamwork and collaborative effort could always say it even in public, how then would one reconcile Abugu’s allegation of high-handedness and arbitrariness? Isn’t that another sham from a cantankerous mind?

With Asogwa’s few years at the Housing Corporation, the state became a beautiful destination attracting people from all walks of life across Nigeria and beyond to scramble for space to settle down and feel that serene, touristic environment. Enugu’s aesthetic sceneries have wetted Nigerians' appetite for a new world in Africa.

The Liberty Estate, Rangers Estate, the Coal City Garden Estate, the completion of the Maryland Estate, the adroit planning and execution of the Ivory Estate, Fidelity Estate, and a number of other highbrow estates constructed by Asogwa couldn’t have been possible without his crave for team spirit. Interestingly, he was once rated the best performing public Housing MD in Nigeria by a world renowned body. Under Asogwa, most of his staff became proud homeowners through his friendly and flexible policy of empowering the downtrodden. The only time he will look down on someone is, unarguably while stretching the length of his arms to help others up. Therefore, the dishonest and spurious claim of high-handedness be perished as coming from sinking barge.

Today, Asogwa remains the best Executive Chairman the Enugu State Universal Basic Education, ENSUBEB, would ever have, having performed beyond even the most technical expectation from critical minds. For the first time, primary schools in hinterlands were constructed with a standard that meets the requirements of best practices. Our pupils can easily appreciate their learning environment notwithstanding extraneous factors.

Men of goodwill who had listened to Asogwa’s side of the story have found sympathy for him in the ENSUBEB skirmish that was overblown by members of the opposition and mischief makers. A mountain was made out of a molehill, and yet, Asogwa, humble enough, as a public servant who understood the core ethics of the public service, showed remorse and even extended conciliatory gesture. But his detractors in the APC would not appreciate such magnitude of humility portrayed in the olive branch.

Asogwa has consistently shown his humanness and meekness by lifting others up, and by the capacity he espouses. His appointment was a well-thought-out strategy, and needless to say, deservedly because of his equanimity and self-control especially in challenging times. Asogwa has proved that the cap fits him, and his appointment heralds victory for the PDP.

The APC should, rather than being occupied with the PDP internal mechanisms, find a way to rework and repackage their unmarketable candidates already rejected by the electorate, or entirely jettison the same, purge themselves of their seven years crimes against humanity and Nigeria, and make their way to the monastery where they’ll reflect on their years of misery and failure.