Enugu: From Ebeano to Gburugburu

Next Friday, as a new government is inaugurated at the centre, in Abuja, with President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, taking the oath of office as well as oath of allegiance and new governors also being sworn in, Enugu State will, most likely, be the cynosure of all eyes. There is sure going to be excitement, feeling of fulfillment and pride. This will be so not just because a new governor is assuming office. No. It's because a man in whom many an indigene of the state is well pleased is taking over the reins of government.

Right from the time the race for the Lion Building, as the Enugu Government House is called, started, one candidate stood tall among others. He easily emerged as a consensus candidate, even when other states were still planning how to resolve succession controversies. He was unanimously adopted by people from his zone. He was accepted by other zones in the state. He was embraced by the outgoing government in the state. And he was endorsed by the majority of the ordinary people and the elite. With this, it was a matter of time that he would clinch the governorship ticket of the ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I am talking about Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, governor-elect of Enugu State.

Yes, in this political dispensation, I have not seen many politicians that are loved by their people, as Ugwuanyi. I have been wondering how a former insurance guru became so popular that he appears to be loved almost by all. Months before the time political parties picked their governorship candidates, Ugwuanyi had emerged as consensus candidate in Enugu. I remember last September/October when his Nsukka people, in a stakeholders meeting, presented him as the preferred choice. In the meeting, in which he emerged, other aspirants attended and when a motion was moved for his adoption as consensus candidate, there was no opposition. It was not surprising, therefore, that when some of the aspirants later decided to reject the consensus arrangement, they could not get the people behind them. Everybody had accepted Ugwuanyi, the man they fondly call Gburugburu.

By the manner of his emergence as candidate and victory at the polls, Ugwuanyi has proved to be a popular candidate in Enugu. The way almost everybody in the state embraced him is unprecedented. And the way almost everybody in the state, the elite and ordinary people, worked for his victory at the polls is remarkable. He appears to have a cult following, which makes him one of the few politicians whose election to the post of governor could actually be said to have the support of the majority.

With charm, likeable personality and warmth, Ugwuanyi looks good as the people's governor. The way ordinary people talk about him shows the kind of impression he has made in them. Seen as a generous, caring and easy-going man, Ugwuanyi, over the years, touched the lives of many, in various ways. He is said to have given financial support to the less-privileged, attended people's weddings, families' burial and other ceremonies, as his own way of identifying with the people. This generosity and camaraderie, built over the years, from the time he worked as chief executive of an insurance company, to his years at the National Assembly, are what set him apart in an election, which turned out to be a walk over.

With the support Ugwuanyi is coming to office, it looks that his will be a popular government. As people hail him Gburugburu, wherever he goes in the state, I remember the years of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, as governor, from 1999-2007. During the eight years tenure of Nnamani, Ebeano (where we are) became a slogan in Enugu. People hailed Nnamani as Ebeano, to the extent that when anybody said Ebeano, you knew he was talking about Nnamani. Also handsome and charismatic, Nnamani was loved by many. His sign-off phrase, "To God be the glory" became almost an anthem in Enugu and across the country. And his lecture series wowed many, as he coined "dividends of democracy," which is now a cliché to describe government works, so to say, in Nigeria.

Love him or hate him, the Nnamani years in Enugu cannot be wished away. His Ebeano movement did make an impact. Today, most of those who are leaders of the state are his creation. Nnamani came and decided to create new leaders in Enugu. He took young boys, who had no known "surnames" and transformed them to leaders. Those unknown young boys, prior to 1999, are the ones calling the shots in Enugu and for the state. Of course, the elite, who felt that leadership should start and end in their families, did not like the Nnamani audacity. And they did fight back, which was one of the major problems the medical doctor-turned politician had. However, Nnamani did his best and bowed out. Despite the fact that some of those he made abandoned him and actually became his nemesis, nobody will ever forget his contributions in the politics of Enugu.

In Ugwuanyi government, I see the chant of Gburugburu becoming a state anthem. I see a popular governor, who many would identify with. I see a recreation of the Nnamani years, not in terms of the controversies, but in the area of mobilising people. However, the incoming Enugu governor should not be carried away by the seeming support and love by all. My fear is that people usually take advantage of leaders like Ugwuanyi. He should, therefore, learn from Nnamani, who made many people and was later presented as a villain. He should work to meet the people's expectation, shun sycophants and praise-singers, who are mere pretenders.

At a time Igbo are trying to build new leaders, Ugwuanyi needs everybody's prayers and support. He needs everybody in Enugu to succeed and all Igbo to be relevant in the national politics.

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Re: 2015 polls: This gratuitous insult of Igbo

We've right to self-existence

What is the hue and noise of Igbo and PDP about? Don't people have the right to self-existence and determination? The tribes that voted for APC, are they better than the Igbo? I think enough is enough of this petty weeping of sentiment. Now, APC has won, what about it? Chinwendu, Enugu. 08176829531




Igbo did as others

Yes, the South-east voted for PDP just the same way the North-west voted for APC, but we were even more rational, as PDP controls three states in the South-east while APC controls almost all the states in the two northern states mentioned above. Who is fooling who?

Nnamdi, Abuja. 08050857546




What made PDP Igbo party?

From your write up, it seems Igbo are now undertakers. Tell us what made PDP Igbo party. Do you want us believe Goodluck Jonathan is an Igbo candidate, as Buhari/Osinbanjo are Hausa/Yoruba candidates? We Igbo have the right to vote our choice but for APC to get only three representatives out of five states makes us look like a people that lack focus. The more you defend it the more some of us get annoyed. Okoroji, 08034053634




Can they do for Igbo what we do for others?

It is only a blind man and a small mind, a man that is always defeated by many challenges that can say such things against the all-conquering Igbo. Can they do for the Igbo what Igbo have done for them? Small minds think that 2015 elections are the end of the world. Igbo are universal.

C. Ok, Owerri, 08033263892




Opposition will bring our best out

Thank you for your article of May 8. You captured it well. Being in the opposition will bring out the best in our people. We prosper more under challenges. 08058149336




Good hand will be used

Let your mind be at rest. APC government is on rescue mission. Whosoever is needed to put this nation on the path of development and progress will be used irrespective of his political affiliation or region. Buhari has a great work to do.

Chief J. J. Ibeka, Lagos, 08182242380




Igbo owe nobody apology

I commend you for your article and I totally concur with your reasoning and conclusion. The Igbo voted for the party and candidate of their choice and, therefore, owe no one any apology for doing so. Neither of the two leading presidential candidates was Igbo, ditto two leading gubernatorial candidates in Lagos State, yet the Igbo people are singled out for attack for voting according to their conscience.

Nnabuike Edechime, Barrister-at-Law, Vice President, Aka Ikenga; 08033201173




Why are Igbo shouting marginalisation?

It will be a privilege to argue the facts with you, with respect to your piece in an impending essay. Suffice to ask what the Igbo "stood firm" for by voting Goodluck Jonathan unlike others who "betrayed him" (according to you)? Just to show a "real man?" Similarly, if as you aver: "It is not only when an Igbo man occupies one of topmost offices that South-easterners would benefit from government at centre," why are Ohanaeze and Ndigbo shouting marginalisation and hell-bent on rotational presidency? Tiko.




Yoruba least qualified to talk of Igbo voting

Yoruba are the least qualified to talk of Igbo voting for the opposition. Until PDP came to their rescue by foisting Olusegun Obasanjo on Nigeria, the Yoruba sheepishly followed Obafemi Awolowo in perpetual opposition. What is the sudden interest in Igbo after their Oba of Lagos display of phobia. I agree with you. The Igbo have nothing to lose at all. They are Nigerians, like any other.

Osas Uwaifo, Benin city. 08180473336




Behold Yoruba heroes

Thank you for defending our voting pattern. It is not a crime to be in the opposition. The Yoruba heroes are Ebenezer Babatope, Bode George, Ayo Fayose, Richard Akinjide, Iyiola Omisore, Ogunewe and Fatusi, among others. Thank you once again.

Dr. Ken Ezugwu. 08096018895




Igbo miscalculated

I do not share your defence of the Igbo voting pattern. The Yoruba stick to an opposition party and use it as a platform to align or negotiate for political position/power sharing deal in an open manner. On the other hand, the Igbo could not forge any formidable front, either in APGA or PDP. What you have was a coalition of personal interest with no articulate agenda to canvas for an Igbo Presidency. They aligned with the dubious self-serving agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan cabal with no clear understanding of power sharing arrangement. The North and South West aren't naïve to politics and so took advantage of this. The Igbo certainly miscalculated and extended their chances by another 16 years. You guys are reading things differently.

A. Abba, Kaduna. 08036465434

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Re: APC and the politics of next Senate President

Keep your advice

Why are you crying more than the bereaved? Who are you to now offer APC advice on how to pick Senate President? Nigerian media, NBA, NLC and Nigerians should seriously campaign against jumping from office to National Assembly by our ex-governors and co without first of all giving account of their stewardship and be probed. It is deceitful and wicked to do so! And government at all levels should stop giving appointment to anybody who fails election. All these are manipulation of morality and justice, and above all playing in Nigerians' collective intelligence. Romanus Ndehigwo, Idiroko, Ogun State, 08057123287