By Samson Ezea 

In recent times, it could be observed with dismay that some social media hirelings, majorly Labour Party apologists and supporters of Enugu North Senatorial zone extraction have been belabouring emotionally, angrily and narcissistically to compare the performance of Enugu State Governor, Barr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah and his colleague, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State on social media platforms without any standard parameters and verifiable data, beyond fabricating and peddling falsehoods, propaganda and lies.

While it is quite needless and worthless to be comparing the performances and achievements of the two governors so far on social media, due to the differences, peculiarities and challenges of the two states, their financial strength and the campaign manifesto of the two governors, it is important to note that the duo are two different personalities with different approaches, professional background and experiences to governance and government.

The unprofessional comparison of the two Governors by these characters became heightened, reaching its crescendo at the peak of the commissioning of the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, owned by former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji. 

In their usual character and manner of fabricating and peddling of blatant and ceaseless lies to delude people, these Labour Party social media apologists, mobsters and hirelings had days before and after the commissioning of the Geometric Power project hijacked the social media spaces, hyping and ascribing the conception, success and realization of the more-than- a decade power project of Prof. Barth Nnaji to Governor Otti's government without any fact.

They even peddled lies on social media platforms such as; that generator repairers are relocating from Aba, that Aba residents are pleading with Geometric to off light because they are too much, that many companies are relocating from Lagos to Aba and other fairytales and tales by monthlight, to justify and make their lies look real. 

This is even as investigations from Aba residents have revealed that days after the commissioning of the  power  project, they are yet to witness or enjoy steady power supply, due to some little hitches in the power plant that are delaying its proper and full take off. 

Even when all these are in the public domain and can be verified, these Labour Party social media urchins have continued to mislead people with their lies. They intentionally, overtly, and mischievously failed to acknowledge the 1.41 billion naira, five per cent equity share Abia State Government invested in the project by Otti's predecessor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.

When they were confronted with evidence of the investment, which was confirmed by Prof. Nnaji, in an open letter, they couldn't refute it. Rather, they became restless and speechless but have not stopped fabricating and peddling falsehoods about governance and government in Abia and Enugu State.

While, I am not writing to compare the performance and achievements of Mbah and Otti so far, considering that I don't have the complete facts, figures and information about them and their states, I have some information and observations about the two states, their governors and their styles of governance.

It is indeed an axiomatic fact that the two Governors have no doubt raised the bar of governance and leadership in their states with their different approaches and styles to governance.

While Otti has latched on the dilapidated and impassable roads and other infrastructure in the popular and neglected commercial city of Aba to gain popularity by urgently constructing and commissioning some roads in the city and still constructing, Aba residents have continued to rely on individual boreholes and that of Nigerian Brewery and PZ industry to get drinking water, there are no public taps in the commercial city because government has not provided any. The situation is not different in Umuahia, the state capital. 

In Enugu metropolis, where access to potable water is a luxury before now, Governor Mbah has within 180 days in office as he promised during campaign tackled the perennial water problem in the state by raising the water volume or production per day from 2 million cubic meters to 120 million cubic meters.  His government has also embarked on massive reticulation of the water by aggressively replacing the dilapidated and rusty asbestos water pipes laid by the colonial masters with modern pipes to enable the residents easily assess potable water.

Meanwhile, while many of the 81 roads and other projects Governor Mbah flagged off October last year such as Odudukoko road, New Haven market road, Premier Layout road, College road and others have been quietly completed and put to use, work is ongoing on others, such as once abandoned Enugu International Conference Centre, Goshen road, Ninth Mile-Ezeagu- Uzo-Uwani road, Trans Ekulu bridge link road, Goshen Estate road, Idaw River road and the modern smart city that is the symbol of new Enugu of the future and others.

In Owo, the pioneer Smart School of Mbah's government, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria has been completed and put to use, work is ongoing in others almost across the 260 wards in the state. 

It is not in doubt that Governor Mbah's government is noiselessly creating new corridors of economy in the state by making great impacts and inroads in all the sectors of the state economy with the strong vision and conviction that their total integration as being done by his administration will leapfrog the state economy and bring the exponential economic growth of the state economy from the current 4.4billion dollars to 30bn dollars in the next four to eight years.

From my observations, while it could be said that Gov.Otti creates and enjoys his media publicity, stunts and razzmatazz by visiting construction sites often, speaking to the journalists and commissioning constructed roads as can be seen with his recent visit to some ongoing road reconstructions and constructions in Aba with former Speakers of Abia State House of Assembly, Governor Mbah is yet to commission any of the completed projects in the state, except the water project in Ninth Mile.

Governor Mbah is hardly seen at project sites often because he believes in the capacity and quality of his commissioners, aides, and contractors to deliver quality jobs. He appears not in a hurry to commission completed projects of his administration bit by bit to gain cheap popularity. That does not mean that he will not commission projects executed by his administration. He will, but may be he is waiting for the majority of the projects to be completed before he commissions. From what is on the ground in terms of completed and ongoing infrastructural projects of Governor Mbah's administration in the state, Mbah's projects' commission will be or come like a tornado. 

It is also possible that for now, Governor Mbah believes in what his superb, professional, and workaholic media team is doing and that his massive infrastructural development will speak for him. If not, how was Governor Mbah able to scoop three prestigious national dailies awards recently and just less than one year in office? This is enough and true testament and clear affirmation of his giant strides, audacious and verifiable achievements, and performance in less than one year in office.

Meanwhile, while it is too early and foolhardy for one to engage in such comparism on social media platforms without incontrovertible evidence and verifiable data, as being done by some social media trumpeters, it is not in doubt that the two state governors are not in competition. Abia is an oil producing state. Enugu is not. Both leaders are approaching governance with different styles, financial resources available to their governments, and according to the needs and challenges of their people.

One thing that is evident is that it is the residents and indigenes of both states that will be in a better position to write or speak on the performances and achievements of the duo in office and not hired and biased media montebanks that have neither visited nor lived in the two states, but are always in a hurry to chase clout by falsely comparing, drawing  conclusions and misleading people, most times on their authentic and fake social media handles and pages from the comfort of their homes, keyboards of their laptops and keypads of their phones in the name of constructive criticisms and simply because social media is a leveler, where everyone is now an expert, analyst, pundit and commentator on every issue without qualification, expertise,  regulations, restrictions and punishment.