Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Uche Nnaji, has expressed frustration and disappointment over the way he was humiliated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his men when he called his bluff by snubbing his pleas not to honour Governor Peter Mbah’s invitation to the state for projects commissioning.
The visibly grieving minister was quoted by his minions as saying that he had lost both electoral value and respect among the people of the state because of the way the president deflated his ego before the public when he showered praises on the governor as an excellent leader who is transforming and leading the state in the 21st-century development pathway.
President Tinubu was in Enugu on Saturday, 4th January, 2025, on the invitation of Governor Mbah, a Peoples Democratic Party Governor, to commission numerous landmark projects among which werr the Command and Control Centre with AI-embedded security vehicles and cameras that have continued to ensure that security is topnotch in the state; 30 completed and digitally-equipped Smart Green Schools, 60 completed and medically-equipped Type-2 Primary Healthcare, over 100 urban roads, several rural roads, a world-class International Conference Centre, among other projects.
While conducting the commissioning of the historic projects, President Tinubu described Mbah as a leader doing a fantastic job in security, technology, and infrastructure; maintaining that the governor was doing everything possible to provide security, attract foreign and local investors.
“There is no better investment than the investment to secure lives. I saw those cars, the Distress Response Squad. It is the way to go. You have built a good team, and I have reviewed a number of things with you in Abuja. You have encouraged me in technological advancement,” the president stated.
In an ostensibly strong message to Mr. Nnaji, previously scored as the worst performing minister in the history of the Ministry of Science and Technology by rating agencies, including other reputable civil society organizations, as the worst minister in the present dispensation owing to incompetence and cluelessness, the president stated that the era of political mudslinging was over, and that it was time to move the nation forward.
In Governor Mbah, President Tinubu saw a leader committed to human capital development. “You have demonstrated that irrevocable commitment towards human development. I don’t care which party you come from. You are my friend. You are doing well and very focused. We must build this house called Nigeria to not just satisfy our immediate need, but our tomorrow too,” the president categorically declared to the irritation and flurry of the minister and his unbridled bedfellows.
Downcast by the huge success of the event, the minister, who nagged inconsolably like a broken soul to his helmsmen, said the president’s visit to Enugu State and subsequent commissioning of landmark projects executed by the Governor Mbah-led administration was the highest humiliation he had received from office as minister since his appointment.
Insiders in the minister’s camp had disclosed that they felt dejected that President Tinubu visited Enugu State to commission projects from a non-APC government, adding that the president’s open declaration and unconcealed encomiums on the governor had rubbished any remnant of ministerial respect the ineffectual minister had paraded prior to the visit.
“See, there is nothing remaining for us in Enugu State. Engr. Uchenna Nnaji’s 2027 political coffin has been nailed by the president’s visit. Chief Nnaji is really devastated now. He is angry with everybody and has been transferring unnecessary aggression on us. It’s nobody’s fault. The president was determined and unstoppable.
“Despite all our pressure and pleas to the president not to come to Enugu, he turned a deaf ear to us. The minister and his friends from Imo State met the president’s men on several occasions to dissuade the president from making such move, and they promised that their request would be considered.
“In fact, to add salt to injury, just a few days to the visit, the minister was accompanied by one of the southeast governors to see the president. They showed the president all the publications which we sponsored through third parties against Governor Mbah, but the president was unfazed. He called our bluff.
“He looked straight into the minister’s eyes and told him the inconvenient truth about the uncommon leadership in Enugu State. But we didn’t give up, hoping that the president would change his mind before 4th January, being the scheduled date of the visit. We were assured by the APC governor in the southeast that he would convince the president at the last minutes not to honour the invitation based on party sentiment.
“To our disappointment, the president landed in Enugu. The minister has been unwell, aggressive and frustrated since then. He has refused to eat for the past few days. We are just afraid for him. His health is deteriorating. This is a difficult and trying time for him and for all of us,” said one of his aides who identified himself as Engr. Emmanuel Agbo.
Mr. Nnaji had picked up a fight with Governor Mbah, then PDP governorship candidate, in 2023 when he ran for the office of governor under the APC where he found it difficult to win his polling unit in Akpugo. Almost losing his polling booth to the PDP was a distressful time for him in the general elections.
However, political watchers had disdainfully written off the featherweight politician as only vying for office as a decoy to manipulate his way through to power at the federal level since his candidacy was despised and unpopular among the people. His eventual rejection at the poll wasn’t surprising to analysts who had predicted the outcome. Sadly, it’s on record that the minister couldn’t win any political ward for President Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
Imposing himself on the APC in the state after stifling the founding fathers of the party with campaign of calumnies and slurs, with the help of some Imo State political rampagers, Nnaji found his name smuggled into the ministerial list which eventually generated uproar at the senate before some backdoor intervention.
Having failed and rendered redundant by some high-performing minsters such as the minister of communications and digital economy, minister of interior, among other topnotch ministers, Nnaji would insist on distracting his state and pull others down with him with the straw he is clinging to.
Regardless of the torrent of false publications the minister is sponsoring against Enugu State Government, President Tinubu made it clear that he had reviewed what was going on in Enugu State under the leadership of Governor Mbah and found the government doing a fantastic job. Again, this only validated the narratives the beneficiaries – people of the state – have been singing like melodies.
