By Thursday, September 25, 2014, the Enugu State Government would have sponsored a rally for the adoption of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election. To this end, all the 17 council chairmen of Enugu State were directed to rent at least 200 persons in each of the 260 wards in Enugu state. Public holiday has been declared and shops and markets shut down- all for a stage effect.
Since last year, various interest groups have been falling on top of the other in seeking recognition as the most ardent supporter of President Jonathan. One of the most prominent among the groups is the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), led by Chief Ifeanyi Ubah. Ltd. TAN has successfully organised rallies in all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
The geopolitical zonal structures of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have also held solidarity rallies for President Jonathan. The South East of Nigeria on April 11,2014, held a similar rally for Jonathan at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu. The South East rally was a huge success with the graceful presence of virtually all the who-is-who in the Federal Government, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the South East.
These supports for Jonathan projects have paid off with his adoption as the sole presidential candidate of the PDP in 2015 election by the various organs and pressure groups within the party- PDP Governors Forum, Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee.
With the above adoptions well accomplished, the question on every lip is the rationale for the Enugu Thursday rally, more so when the governor is part of some of the adoption mechanisms. The general observation is that a prudent resource manager would deploy the State’s resources to other critical areas of competing needs than waste over N2Billion for grandstanding, vainglory and shadow-chasing.
It is a common knowledge that the civil servants of Enugu state are the least paid compared to other states of the federation. It is also on record that hundreds of both the primary and secondary schools in the state do not have sufficient teachers and this has accounted for the very poor performance of Enugu indigenes at both the West African School Certificate examinations, NECCO, JAMB etc Among the state-owned higher institutions in Nigeria, Enugu state ranks very high in school fees as can be verified from the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) and the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The medical students of ESUT cannot exhaust their experiences with the Chime administration.
On the Medicare, almost all the general hospitals in the state are in dilapidated state with the doctors wearing martyred looks. The commercial/industrial bequeaths to Governor Chime are yearning for revitalization. They include the Sunrise Flour Mills, Enugu; Nigergas Ltd, Enugu; Nigersteel, Enugu; Hotel Presidential, Enugu; AVOP, Nachi; NCFC; Daily Star Printing Press; ENTRACO, Emene; etc It is, perhaps, only in Enugu state that we still have rural communities without electricity let alone access roads. Enugu capital city cannot boast of pipe borne water. And any attempt by the trade unions in the state to raise voices, will be met with repression, persecution and other forms of punitive measures. An Enugu state trade unionist, Mr Osmond Ugwu, is still nursing the wounds.
John Brats appeared to have Enugu state in mind when he bemoaned a State without a visionary, proactive leader. In his words, the worst the gods can visit on a State is a visionless laggard. According to him, ‘the laggard reacts while the visionary pro-acts; the laggard is often the victim of the victory; and the laggard leader is a burden unto the people’.
What precipitated the Chime belated and belated rally for Jonathan is the blame the governor faced after the South East Rally organised by TAN at Awka on August 19, 2014. All the PDP governors or their governments’ paraphernalia took active part at the highly successful Awka rally except Governor Chime of Enugu state. The Enugu governor and his handlers appeared to be basking in the local allure of power when they were overtaken by the more proactive Deputy President of the Senate, Sen Ike Ekweremadu. The huge Enugu presence at the rally was powered by Ekweremadu. To the governor, it was a pain.
The writer is on the same page with the numerous Enugu indigenes and other rational minds that the belated rally for the adoption of President Jonathan is a colossal waste of public funds. Every political novice knows that Enugu it totally a Jonathan State. In fact, if the goats, chickens, and cows had votes, they would cast it for a man who has given the South East a true sense of belonging in terms of key appointments and infrastructural development. Or is it a late restitution for his opposition to Jonathan’s emergence as acting President 2010?
The Enugu rally is like trying to impregnate a pregnant woman as Enugu had since adopted GEJ, not just as a PDP candidate, but as a son and brother. Chime should be more concerned with policies that will positively affect the lives of the masses rather than lavish the State’s resources on the massage of self-ego, vainglories, and petty competition.
Cliff Ileka.
