By Barr. Prince Ejeh Josh 

While Christian faithful all over the world were blissfully anticipating the ticking hands of time to ring the joyful bell of Christmas, messages were pouring in from different quarters, celebrating the commemoration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Among the messages was the soul-lifting sermon that went to the root and purpose of the celebration tersely delivered by Dr. Peter Mbah, an oil magnate, successful businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, who is the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State. 

His message was simple and piercing. It was a message filled with burden of responsibilities, introspection, love for humanity, and renewed hope for mankind in a world plagued by vulnerability, scorched poverty, and loss of hope and faith by the downtrodden. 

Mbah’s message epitomized that very teaching of Christ and the essence of Christmas; love for our neighbours as ourselves. Coming with the message that binds the wounded hearts, heals the sick in body and in soul, redeems and restores the true path of salvation at a time like this isn’t surprising. It is not new. Mbah is merely re-echoing his lifetime values and what he has laboured to achieve on all fronts that represent the cause of humanity. It’s a message that beacons hope from the ruins and miseries that had befallen humanity. Mbah has shown, very convincingly, that with his incurable optimism and his “walk-the-talk” commitment, a new nation, a new state, a new dawn, a paradise on earth is absolutely possible. 

As leaders continued to churn out messages, most of them out of queer and sheer pretenses and routine obligation, we can take a glimpse from the Christmas message of His Lordship, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Hassan Kukah, titled, “Nigeria: Let us turn a new page”. The bishop was blunt in his sermon to the nation regardless of faith and creed. After all, we are all human beings before religions. As Nigerians, we have a common cause to fight; the cancer of poverty, bad leadership, corruption, violence, nepotism, despondency. 

As a follow up, Kukah was at the Arise TV’s Morning Show on Monday where he argued rightly that leadership shouldn’t be about sentiment or sectarian consideration but integrity, strong antecedent, pedigree and competence.

Kukah’s message spoke directly to the people of Enugu State about Peter Mbah’s unblemished credentials and impeccable antecedent in his journey to serve humanity, fight for the vulnerable, the weak, the poor, the less-privileged; children and women, by giving them voices, lifting them out of the dungeon of poverty and untold miseries. 

In Kukah’s message, one will begin to identify with the underlying meaning of Mbah’s call for a just, stable, secure and peaceful society where everyone will fulfill their potentials and live life to the fullest according to God’s design for humanity. 

In recent times, we have seen testimonies of Mbah’s excellent, humane and godly antecedent as a flashpoint and pathway for others to follow. When he built a state-of-the-art hospital for thousands of people living in the state and constructed one of the best roads any private citizen had ever attempted, Mbah was only passing a message of hope and restoration of the lost glory in our society.

Because of his unceasing outreaches to thousands of vulnerable citizens, where many have been lifted from the cesspit of poverty, given a new lease of life, equipped to fulfill their destinies on earth through his “Peter Mbah Foundation”, people across tribes, race, ethnic, tongues, age and statuses are all rendering their lustrous experiences about their encounters with the philanthropist. 

That could have accounted for his general acceptance by the people of Enugu State who are drumming support for him, appealing to him to run for the 2023 elections under PDP so that he would do more. We have seen thousands of Enugu people falling over themselves with the plea of, “Peter Mbah, come and lead us”, “Mbah, you’re the beacon of hope for a new dawn in Enugu State”, “Mbah, with you, a New Enugu State is possible!” We, indeed, believe in the message of a new state with Mbah’s roadmap. 

Only recently, particularly on 25th November, 2022, at the Godfrey Okoye University’s GoUni-European Business Park and Centre for Practical Skills, we saw how the world stood still for Mbah’s blueprint for a new Enugu State through his manifesto, curiously assessed from his entrepreneurial antecedents by the foreign and local investors at the programme. On 28th November, 2022, the interfaith and inter-community association living in the state turned out in their thousands to endorse Mbah “because he has been lifting thousands of people out of poverty regardless of state of origin.” 

On 29th November, 7th December, 20th December, to mention just few instances, we saw the audacity of hope and joy exhibited by the Catholic Diocese of Awgu, Catholic Diocese of Enugu, and Methodist Church Nigeria ably led by Bishops John Okoye, Calistus Onaga, and Christopher Edeh, respectively, preaching the good tidings Mbah had brought to humanity even when he never contemplated political aspiration.

Mbah’s love for humanity, to see that nobody lives in poverty, to help restore the glory and dignity of our people spurred him into the political circle where he has made tremendous human capital improvements. 

Describing him, Professor Obiora Ike of the Godfrey Okoye University didn’t mince words when he vividly said of him; “Mbah is a man with a generous heart who will fulfill God’s purposes for the state by championing the right moral values, lifting people out of poverty and catering for the general welfare of the citizens”. 

And Very Rev. Fr. Donatus who stood for bishop Onaga as the Director, Politics/Justice, Development & Peace Commission, said this of Mbah: “He is a man with a generous heart who has been going about doing good, helping the needy and reaching out to the church…” In this context, the Church represents the poor as it feeds, homes and caters for the needy. In his meeting with the National Association of Women Journalists on 30th November, this conviction was reiterated by the governorship hopeful when he declared his commitment to wage war against poverty, prioritize the needs and interests of women, children, physically challenged and the vulnerable. 

What more qualities can be possessed than the above? After all, we are lucky in Enugu State for having him come to our rescue at this critical time of our existence. Come, let’s go to the polls and cast our votes for him.

Compliments of the season.