Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Today, May 29, 2023 (Monday), Peter Ndubuisi Mbah will be sworn in as the next Executive Governor of Enugu State, South-East Nigeria.
Mbah, a fiery business mogul of Nkanu extraction takes over from Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who has completed eight years in office as governor.
The new governor is taking over the reign of leadership in a hostile environment coming under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which has held the state captive since the return of democracy in 1999.
From Chimaroke Nnamani (1999-2007), to Sullivan Chime (2007-2015), and then Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (2015-2023). In those years, governance in the three arms of government had been a one way traffic.
Enugu has been running on a single lane with no contrasting views, no mater your grievances. It has been a milito-democracy, sort of.
The slogan has always been “oga says” and so shall it be. No wonder, when Mbah was ‘selected’ at the PDP primary last year, he erected bill boards with the caption, “thank you ndi Enugu.”
Little did he know that a monster was waiting to tear apart the dangerously erected political structure that has milked and sucked the resources and hopes of the people of the state dry.
He and his party, and indeed the good people of Enugu State had no inkling of the tsunami that was to come thereafter.
It was around September that the Labour Party with the influence of Peter Obi, like a colossus reared its head and the booming danger followed such that Mbah and his followers quietly went and dismantled the billboards across the city and went into the real business of campaigns.
It was then that the PDP realised that the local slogan, “ojebego,” (you have entered) would no longer work this time around.
The tumultuous noise from the rampaging Labour quaked and shook the very foundation of the ruling party and the once united family began to fall apart.
Both within and without, Mbah and his party were running from pillar to post in search of what to do, looking for a new winning formula instead of the old evil methods.
Some ugly and ungodly events that characterised the build up to the election were ominous signs that the people have lost faith in the old order, and have chosen the change route hence the demolition of the once unshakable giant building at the center of Enugu politics.
On February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, the people spoke through the ballot box and the political foundation of the state was utterly shattered; the political calculation was completely reset, and the rest is history.
The election further destabilised the ruling party and save for the one week extension of the Governorship/State Assembly election, it would have been “RIP” for the ruling party in the state.
As the new governor takes oath of governance, it is pertinent to point out that, unlike his predecessors, today the State House of Assembly is dominated by the Labour Party with 14 sears, as against the PDP’s 10 seats.
This means that PDP is now the minority in the house of assembly, for the first time since 1999.
How Mbah will wriggle out of the pressure of trying to lobby the majority LP members for most of his policies to scale through remains to be seen.
This is because, the LP members were elected by popular demand by the people to change the status quo and this may make it difficult for them to bend at the beck and call of the governor.
Another big test for the governor will be the showdown which is expected in June when the house will be inaugurated.
The role Mbah will play as Chief executive, how he will be strong enough to get whoever becomes the Speaker to his side will determine how he is going to navigate the state.
Surely, this is the dawn of a new era in the Coal city state.
