The judicial annulment of the Enugu State Gubernatorial
election, which threw up Governor Sullivan Chime, marked the second phase of
the bold judicial effort to deconstruct the tower of fraud, which the Maurice
Iwu-led INEC, in cahoots with the PDP and the Obasanjo presidency, built in
April. That the voiding of the Chime mandate was because of noticeable
irregularities observed in the purported polls, serves sufficient notice to Iwu
and other governors that are basking in the vain hope that somehow, this
charade, like the ones before it would be shoveled under and they would be
allowed to enjoy the fruits of their nefarious efforts. It sufficiently alerts
reprobates and scammers that their commission is a temporary mandate and that
rustication awaits them in the end. Nothing could be more refreshing especially
in the light of the antics of Iwu and his colony of desperate yarn spinners he
has of late unleashed in the media for the purpose of inventing spurious
fallacies in a bid to turn black into white and bail him from the criminal
culpability in an act he deliberately committed. We shall come to that at a
later date.
But one must acknowledge that the parody of April threw up
some unintended positive characters that would make positive impressions on
governance if they were not encumbered by their illegitimate mandates. These
remain what they really are; unintended throw-ups of a reckless conspiracy to
shackle democracy and make it amenable to the whims and caprices of a deadly
cult that do not desire the growth of the country and its democracy.
It should be stated that
as it is now, presents a delicate political case that must be handled with full
dexterity. It presents a hard choice between the triumph of a godless political
godfather, his army of warring eunuchs and the vindication of an estranged
godson who elected to chart his own rancour-free way and not be burdened by the
many liabilities of his godfather. It is not for nothing that more than any of
the states whose governorship has been annulled, Enugu is rife now with many
plots, intrigues, schemes, alignments and realignments, all tending towards
controlling the state.
Since he was thrust upon the governorship of
Chime had been embroiled in a bitter battle with the remnants of the Ebeano
political group of Chimaroke Nnamani. He had been assailed and buffeted on all
sides by those who do not see the reason why he should abandon the narrow paths
charted by the exclusivism of Nnamani and embrace a broader worldview that had
brought for him so many supporters. Chime’s principal fault and why he plunged
into intractable quarrel with Chimaroke and his Ebeano people is that he did
not want to inherit the many enemies of Nnamani. He chose to distance himself
from the pettiness and the contrivances that made Nnamani’s government a case
study in conflict generation while it lasted. He decided to do away with the
cultic filiality and the obsessive narcissism with which Nnanami and his people
approached governance. He would rather he embraced and cultivated a broader
worldview and a seamless government where every
wanted to chart a course of reconciliation that would see him mend the deep
fractures and interpersonal frictions Nnamani provoked as a creed of
governance. Not for Chime is the deadly effusions, the atmosphere of fear and
death that stalked
lasted. This was why
remained an endless killing field while Nnamani lorded over the state. It was
this time, marked by the most diabolical and vile contamination of power that
such high profile murders as those of Sunday Ugwu, Victor Nwankwo, brother to
the unflagging pro-democrat, Arthur Nwankwo, Chimere Ikoku, former Vice
Chancellor of the University of Nigeria among so many others, happened. It was
during this era Chime strived to distance himself from that the Adoration
Tragedy that involved the yet-unexplained murder of many followers of the
irrepressible cleric, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, perhaps one of the greatest critics
of Nnamani’s misrule happened.
What more, Chimaroke Nnamani, who rode holistically on the
back of Jim Nwobodo to power deemed the deconstruction of the political
machinery of his godfather as the primal task of his governance. He succeeded
in turning Enugu into a one-man show where his only idiosyncrasies reigned and
woe betide you if you dare question this demagogue, so ensconced in narcissism
and other wild self-glorification fantasies. Thus, all leading political
figures in Enugu ranging from the predominant Catholic Church to C.C.Onoh to
Jim Nwobodo, to the Nwodos, to Ken Nnamani, to Enechi Onyia, to Dubem Onyia,
were, by the nihilistic proclamation of Chimaroke Nnamani, made enemies of
Enugu State and a state war was launched on them for the period Nnamani was on
the throne. Drawing generously from the mischievous beneficiary of his earthly
god, Olusegun Obasanjo, at whose pleasure he practically existed, Nnamani got
away with any misdemeanor his erratic mindset deigned to commit. This bred a
portent opposition that condensed into the Enugu Democratic Coalition, which
seized the sentiment of the average
indigene and disavowed the continued sustenance of Nnamani and his Ebeano
remnants.
When Chime came, riding on the crest of the Ebeano hegemonic
group, many thought he would continue on the trails of Nnamani but he
demonstrated the wisest and most apt political wisdom when he chose to unite
the
people and court the vital stakeholders and people for a much more inclusive
government. He did away with the atavistic tendencies of Nnamani and this was
to set him on a collision course with Nnamani and what remains of his political
grouping, who saw no wisdom in Chime jettisoning the rancorous legacy of
Nnamani because that restricted prism limits the partakers in the wealth of
Enugu State. As the flaks from Nnamani and his people grew, Chime gained
tremendous support from other
people who approve of his broader perspective of governance. The tense, deadly
suffocation that stifled life out of
during the Nnamani hegemony relaxed and those who have been shut out from
making input into the governance of
were courted and embraced and a pro-people atmosphere was cultivated.
Now that Chime’s illegitimate mandate has been legally
removed, it behoves the people of Enugu to work on what is surely a very
delicate situation that stands the chance of returning the state into the war
zone of the last eight years. It was reported that supporters of Nnamani openly
mounted celebrations the day Chime’s mandate was voided, which warns all to
ensure that that victory does not in any way, translate to a future victory for
Nnamani and his cohorts any day a fresh election is held in
been slighted would fight bloody to infiltrate any of the formidable groups and
parties in Enugu with the hope of forging an alliance that would see Chime out
and possibly reflate the sagged strength of the Ebeano group. Considering that
those that battled Chime did so basically because of the Nnamani content in his
mandate, it would amount to cutting our nose to spite our faces if any of the
leading opponents in the
tussle honours any alliance that would resurrect the deadly legacies of Nnamani
in
believe that Dubem Onyia, Ugochukwu Agballah, Okey Ezea, Oscar Egwuonwu know
where their political interests and those of Ndi Enugu are best served between
the political camps of Nnamani and Chime. Ditto for Enugu Democratic Coalition,
the most potent political force in
presently. So all these should sit down with Chime and decide on what is best
for
people, even if it is to retrieve a little chunk of the years eaten by moths
and irreverent locusts. Chime himself should be humble enough to acknowledge
this precarious scenario; made precarious not only to his political interests
than to those of
people. He should know that his political fortunes are more decided outside the
PDP than in the PDP and should de-emphasize the importance of the PDP in the
new calculation. He should sit down with these forces and take radical
decisions to not only drive the nails to the coffin of Ebeano political group
and its many nuisance values but also
take
to the people, a task he had started irrespective of his illegal mandate. I
believe that is what
requires now, as the drums for another gubernatorial contest, gathers momentum.
