The Ugwuanyi Betrayal And A Weep For Enugu North LGA

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Nwa David Ugwuanyi) will obviously go down in history as one the worst Governor Enugu state produced in its short history. Even the military that interjected at its creation were not as cunning, swift, evasive and above all daft, as the administration of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi turned out to be.

Let’s look at it. Even ex-Governor Sullivan Chime that brought in Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi considers his choice a mistake because Ugwuanyi does not behave like him. A father can disown his child if the child’s behavior becomes ridiculous and that is the disclaimer Chime put on Ugwuanyi. Can you imagine Ugwuanyi priding himself that he bought his Governorship from Chime, and therefore that he will sell his own to the highest bidder!

Ugwuanyi must be drunk with power to have taken the inglorious and cowardice path that he unfortunately toed in the selection process of his successor. The aftermath of the conduct of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial primary election was an outcry of political deceit, denial and the despondency of the losers. The anger and acrimony that followed it was not just peculiar to the direct losers such as the aspirants that participated and those who withdrew from the election, but also the general public’s psyche, whose expectations were not just dashed, but insulted on how the conduct of the election was superintended by Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Chief Okey Ezea (Ideke) who though did not contest for any position is licking the wounds he sustained from the fallacious Governor Ugwuanyi over the tragedy of the boggled equity for Isi-Uzo in Enugu east senatorial district and the Ugwuanyi voracious ambush of the PDP Senatorial ticket for Enugu North senatorial district.

Whereas, there is the hue and cry over the marginalization of Isi-Uzo local government in Enugu East Senatorial district, the tragedy of Enugu North local government council has remained underreported. Enugu North local government council is the landlord of Enugu state and the political precursor of all the local government councils in the state, which by all expectation is not supposed to be an underdog, but that is exactly what Governor Ugwuanyi emasculated the council area to become.

Up till this moment, the Ogui and Ngwo aborigines of the local government council have remained subjugated and utterly sidelined in the polity of Enugu state; a situation that was designed and executed by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Presently, Enugu North local government council does not have a representative in the Executive council of the Ugwuanyi administration, which the council has contended with, hoping that Justice will be done with the 2023 election. But low and behold, even what the council should ordinarily have was taken away from it by Ugwuanyi.

The House of Representatives seat that rotates between Enugu North and Enugu South was taken away and retained in Enugu South where Offor Chukwuegbo has occupied the seat for three terms. Offor was even arrogant in telling everyone before the election that Ugwuanyi had approved his third term in the House of Representatives and dumped the governorship nomination form that he purchased.

It’s so sad that the former commissioner for Health and renowned physician, Dr. Sam Ngwu was quickly removed because he hails from Ogui, the same treatment was meted out on Hon. Emeka Edeh when he was commissioner for Agriculture and since 2019 Enugu North local government is yet to have a statutory commissioner in the executive council of Enugu state. Emeka Edeh aspired for the House of Representatives but he was denied by Ugwuanyi who aborted the understating or rotation of the position between Enugu North and Enugu south local governments.

Even the House of Assembly position that rotates between Ogui-Nike and Enugu-Ngwo has been violated and tampered with following Ugwuanyi’s return of Ibenaku Onoh to the state Assembly, thereby disenfranchising the Ogui-Nike completely in the 2023 elections. The rotation agreement between Ngwo and Ogui was entered into during the Chimaroke Nnamani administration, but since the Ngwo chose to to listen to Ugwuanyi, it should be ready to loose the chairmanship position to Ogui in 2023.

Ugwuanyi has really never thought well for Enugu North LGA. All the things achieved under the Chimaroke Nnamani administration have been dislocated by the Ugwuanyi administration. Under Chimaroke Nnamani, the Presidential hotel worked, Rangers avenue, Chime avenue were dualised, parklane hospital was upgraded to teaching hospital and other numerous achievements, but under Ugwuanyi the Ogui lands and markets such as the new Artisan have been taken away from them. Even the Enugu central development council was handed over to a non indigene of Enugu state simply because his brother was a friend to the Governor while in the House of Representatives. Why the hatred for Ogui Nike?

The case of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s hatred for Enugu North local government even extended to ensuring that the entire infrastructure in the council area are dilapidated, abandoned and forgotten. The case of the Presidential Hotel which Ugwuanyi ensured that it was never resuscitated is an agony and a hate taken too far. The International Conference Center has remained uncompleted. Instances of other forms of decay and outright neglect of the infrastructure in Enugu North local government are manifest in Ugwuanyi’s turn of blind eyes to the urban renewal of the capital city which is domicile in Enugu North local government. His refusal to decentralize the city so as to ease off congestion and lack of water supply to the metropolis are just snippets of the Ugwuanyi disdain of Enugu north local government council.

It is only in Enugu North local government that the agitation for the creation of autonomous communities has been erroneously rejected, yet Governor Ugwuanyi was quick to take the Okaome title, that is historically and exclusively synonymous with the Onoh family, from Ngwo, yet the Ngwo in Enugu North local government is yet to be granted an autonomous community. Late Igwe Tony Ojukwu of Ogui Nike used to be the spokesman of Enugu North aborigines after the late sage, Chief CC Onoh departed, but since Ojukwu’s demise, the metropolitan council went down the abyss, compounded by the Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration.

Kudos must go to Hon. Ken Onoh, who like his father is dogged in the struggle for emancipation and was the only governorship candidate from Enugu North local council that went into the race but was fooled like others by Ugwuanyi. Why must Enugu north that hosts the seat of the Lion building be treated with disdain and ignominy, just like Ugwuanyi treated other council areas in Enugu east senatorial zone? The Isi-Uzo story is not as pathetic as the Enugu north story because Enugu North is by far ahead of the Nkanu population in the zone.

With the 2006 population census figure of 244, 852 (which is even obsolete), Enugu North local government is 46.9 percent of the total population of Enugu east senatorial district that was 1, 166, 864 population. Where then lays the equity that Gburugburu cried for when he disadvantaged Ekweremadu to rear his head in the contest of Enugu state governorship? Governor Ugwuanyi no doubt established obvious neglect of a significant majority and he should remember that with BVAS (Biometrics Voter Accreditation System), votes now count.

Ugwuanyi just gave power to 300, 967 population of Nkanu East and Nkanu west LGAs out of 1, 166, 864 population of the six LGAs in Enugu east senatorial zone. That is about 30.1 percent which is not good mathematics. By giving the Senate to Nkanu west and governorship to Nkanu east LGAs without regards to the rest of 60.9 percent of the zone can only come from a daft brain like that of Gburus!

That’s why it was pathetic to have seen Isi-Uzo LGA pay solidarity visit to their greatest oppressor (Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi) only to tell him that they were ‘happy’ with the outcome of the primary elections of the PDP, even when the Isi-Uzo that Nsukka people had so much solidarity for could not get even Senate as alternative, nor Enugu North and Enugu East LGAs; these three majority council areas that Gburugburu mistake for minority could vote out the PDP in the 2023 hurricane that is being powered by the Peter Obi mantra.

Why Enugu north LGA is of much attention is because of the state revenue that accrues to the state which Ugwuanyi accepts that he tripled the IGR collection in his first year of administration. The state IGR is what actually propels the Enugu state government more than the federal allocation. The Ugwuanyi administration has even been adamant on what to do with the Gas leakage in Caritas University, a potential that the state could leverage on to build the state economy. In thinking that he had enslaved Enugu North LGA and emasculated Isi-Uzo, Ugwuanyi made mockery of himself and a prisoner of his own conscience.