Engr. Charles Ugwuh is among lmo’s first eleven. ln all considerations. He loves the state. And even more than those who had benefited immensely from it.
Under cross-examination, l would swiftly posit that, Charles Ugwuh, Obowo man , is an outstanding patriotic son of lmo and of course, Nigeria. He deserves a statue. Aga akpuya akpu. Akpula Charles Ugwuh?.
He has also gone through the crucibles of lmo socio-political and socio-economic lives or endeavours. ln all these, I doubt, if he has ever reaped where he had sown. His accruing rewards, perhaps, may be in “heaven”. Who knows?. Making him the Chairman of lmo PDP, was akin to giving him a “sick child” to nurse. And since then, he has continued to see his ears with his eyes. He has continued to see the one that seniored Marcus.
Born on December 3, 1942. Ugwuh has M. SC, Mechanical engineering. Proprietor of the famous ROKANA industries limited, producers of UZII water, and so on . President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, from 2003 to 2006. Ran for the guber ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2006 and came tenth. The governor then, Chief Achike Udenwa was his sponsor. Became Minister for Commerce and industry, from July 2007 to October 2008. About sixteen months or less than two years.
On the first of August 2020, he was elected the State Chairman of lmo PDP. He emerged through the consensus arrangement, after the other twelve contestants were persuaded or compelled to withdraw for him. The reason he was able to garner two thousand, Six hundred and twenty one votes of the delegates, at the kalu Nwankwo Sports Complex, Owerri . And here we are today.
When he became the lmo PDP Chairman, some commentators frowned at that, on the ground of age. They said, he was too old. l disagreed with such contributors. I had insisted that , the older, the better . The older, the merrier.
For me, lmo PDP, at the time he came, needed an accomplished man to hold forth. A man with the needed capacity to take charge. To chair the Party.
l had also argued and l was right too, that, Chief lnnocent Nwoga and Chief Marcon Nlemigbo were not younger than Ugwuh, when they respectively headed the same PDP. Or, Chief EJK Onyewuchi, when he became the State Chairman of ANPP.
Today, Ugwuh has become the subject-matter in lmo PDP. And for the wrong reasons. He has also shown that he’s bereft of what lnnocent Nwoga or Alex Obi or Marcon Nlemigbo had had, to lead lmo PDP, especially, in time of squabbles. ln time of crisis. ln time of push me, l push you.
For 2019, Emeka lhedioha defeated Samuel Anyanwu in the PDP guber primary. Perhaps, for that reason, Anyanwu and his supporters never backed lhedioha in the election proper.
lncidentally, Anyanwu picked the Party’s guber ticket for the 2023 poll. ln the circumstance, nobody would have expected lhedioha and his supporters to support Anyanwu, unless, the Mbutu man and his supporters had decided to forgive and forget. That was their option. But they decided not to have or settle for that option. “Do me , l do you, God no go vex”. And Samdady had known that.
In the case of Ugwuh, he failed or refused to know that, he was the State Chairman of lmo PDP. And not the State Chairman of Anyanwu or lhedioha and their respective groups . Even if he had gotten certain reservations over the candidature of Anyanwu, he would have been wiser than the serpent. Or, be as wise as the ant.
ln other words , Anyanwu having emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP, with INEC and the National leadership of the PDP accepting him as the Party’s candidate, Ugwuh had no better option than to fully support him . To support the Party he’s its State Chairman. At least, on the ground of what he represents in the Party.
Ugwuh, rather, stayed away. And not only stayed away, but also part of the scheming to remove the Party’s candidate as the National Secretary of the Party. That was not the proper action for Ugwuh to take. And the timing too was wrong. With such action, he rebelled against the national leadership of his Party. He sabotaged his own party and its leadership. Simply put, Ugwuh didn’t support Anyanwu, the candidate of his party in the 2023 guber poll in lmo. He didn’t support the Party, PDP, he leads as Chairman. Then, who did he support?. Thats the question. He shot himself on the ankles.
l won’t go the whole hog, talking about Ugwuh’s actions. But the truth of the matter remains that, Ugwuh, the Chairman of the PDP in lmo, working against the gubernatorial candidate of his party, was an aberration. Was an internal sabotage and also external sabotage. Sabotage of the highest order. Awkward. An absurdity. He can’t defend it.
He allowed himself to be caught in the web of the power Play of two men and their supporters. And he lost it. With him as chairman , the Party would continue to go down, because he has lost the moral justification to hold on. The party now needs a “mid-fielder”, J.J Okocha or Sunday Oliseh or Stephen keshi or Mikel Obi to navigate it at the moment. Not “one-leg footer” like Ugwuh.
It is very difficult to defend what Ugwuh did, unless one would say, to hell with decency or whatever that is right.
Even if Ugwuh survives the current onslaught against him, and remains the chairman of the Party in lmo, that would not mean that he acted his part well. lt would only give credence to the current dismay or worry most people are having about the nation’s democracy. The question or worry of where we are going from here. Not funny at all. Not juicy. And neither lofty.
All these, also seem to be dramatizing the debilitating status or standard of lmo politics. A situation, the State Chairman of a Political party, openly worked against his Party’s guber candidate in an election. lt’s worrisome. Teacher, don’t teach us nonsense. This is the level lmo PDP has gotten at the moment. Where lmo PDP is, as we speak or write. The once beautiful bride called lmo PDP, has gotten to a situation where it’s state Chairman would work against the candidate of his party in a governorship election. The party has become “physically challenged”. Lame or leprous. Disabled. And some people seem to be celebrating such absurdity. For me, a spade must be called a spade. And we take off from there.
While we continue to clap for Jesus.
