The political game of 2027 is gradually taking shape across all the political parties in the country. People have started scheming and pitching tents with both friends, enemies, and frenemies just to get what they desire, as by this time next year, the issue of party primaries would have been over.
What some who are still naive with party politics don’t know is that every state has its own peculiar issues because what is obtainable in Enugu is different from what is obtainable in Abịa, Imo, Anambra, and so on.
Taking Enugu State for instance, there is no problem with PDP, unlike Ebonyi and Imo, where it is dead and buried that even an Enugu man by the name of Steve Oruruo had to go and act as the caretaker committee chairman of PDP in Ebonyi—a state that claims to have the Zonal Vice Chairman of the party in Chief Ali Òdefa, a man renowned for stomach politics.
This cannot be said of Enugu State because PDP is one. Even when Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah is currently starving the party seriously, they are still comfortable as they have hopes of a better tomorrow, thus cannot join or work against the party.
On a personal note, I don’t like Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah, even when I worked for him during the election because my boss, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, endorsed him. But even as at that, the question that keeps ringing in my ears is: does he have opposition? The answer is no.
There is no opposition party in Enugu State except there is a third force that will come with its tsunami just like the Obidient movement in 2023. There is this propaganda that when people defect, this and that will happen, and federal powers will be used to get things for APC. It is a lie. In a general election, everybody is on his or her own. There is nothing like federal power, and even those saying it do not have the capacity to give Tinubu 25%; they want to ruin people’s careers. For instance, the leader of APC in Enugu State is running the party like a family business. One can say that he is using the party to negotiate for political power, even when it seems all isn’t well now between them and the current state government. But those believing that narrative have merely been deceived. He has lost it with the presidency.
A confirmation of this was what played out during Tinubu’s visit in January, where he made several efforts to frustrate it. However, those fruitless efforts only fueled the coming the more. The visit later became Tinubu’s first to the South East, his first to Enugu, and his first of the year. That was a clear signal and exhibition of capacity. Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah is in charge. He has more to do with Tinubu than Mr. Uche Nnaji because what Nnaji is to Hope Uzodimma is what he is to Tinubu.
It is also a known fact that with these capabilities and capacities, only Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah can give Tinubu 25% in Enugu or even more, based on what is on the ground as of today. Let’s not rule out the one he exhibited during the tribunal, appeal court, and Supreme Court where he made the impossible possible to an extent that a security agency came to approve a certificate, which the issuers rejected and filed as forged.
Beyond this, Governor Mbah is also the bride because of his strategic political alliances, which cut across party lines outside the state, making him a unifying force in Enugu State politics. The Akpugo man does not have such powers. This is why one must think critically before making any decision at this point in time to avoid an injury-time handball inside the 18-yard box of a football match. In Enugu State, APC is dead and buried, and the attempt to use it in negotiating for a senatorial position for a brother to their leader will be resisted. They have left heavyweights to accept featherweights whose legs in Abuja cannot cross Gwagwalada.
By Sebastine chukwuebuka Okafor Bookastro.
