thisday0520

THISDAY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
UPDATE&TRENDING
19
MIDWEEKPOLITICS
In Enugu, an Era Begins
For the first time in her political history, the emergence of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi
as the Governor-elect of Enugu State bestows on the state a governor with rich
background in active national and global politics – antecedents that could translate
into good governance. Ejiofor Alike reckons
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Ugwuanyi in a tête-à-tête
The recent election of Hon. Ifeanyi
Ugwuanyi as the incoming governor
of Enugu State was a demonstration
of a bold attempt by the people of
the state to sustain some aspects
of the legacy of the administration
of Governor Sullivan Iheanacho Chime in the
areas of human and infrastructure development.
Indeed, Chime’s administration impacted
heavily in the lives of the people of the state
in the areas of providing physical infrastructure,
despite the misgivings in some quarters on the
current political situation in the state.
But for the current crisis in the State House
of Assembly, Chime would have left a legacy
of rancour-free politicking, in addition to his
track record in the provision of infrastructure.
Those, who are very familiar with Ifeanyi’s
antecedents, believe that he is the best choice to
sustain and possibly surpass Chime’s achievements
in attracting developmental projects and
programmes.
For the first time since its creation, Enugu
State is set to produce a governor, who has
the national and global contacts to leapfrog the
state to enviable heights in the areas of political
and economic emancipation.
Though all Ifeanyi’s predecessors, including
Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo and Dr. Chimaroke
Nnamani had gathered much experience in
their own right (apologies to Prof. Attahiru
Jega) before they came on board, Ifeanyi has
broken the record as the first politician with
an over a decade of unbroken record in active
national politics to be elected executive governor
of the state.
Unlike others before him, Ifeanyi has 12
years of uninterrupted experience in active
national politics as a key player in the House
of Representatives and the Chairman of one of
the most influential committees that provided
oversight to a very important segment of the
Nigerian economy.
Ifeanyi’s chairmanship of Marine Transport,
which is an important sector globally, exposed
him internationally and positioned him for his
current assignment. His legislative experience
also includes membership of the House Committees
on Defence; Population; Privatisation and
Commercialisation; Science and Technology, as
well as States and Local Government Affairs.
He was also Deputy Chairman of the Committee
on Public Service and Deputy Chairman
of Committee on Pension. His closeness to two
different House leaderships under both Hon.
Dimeji Bankole and Hon. Aminu Tambuwal
also gave him wide national and international
exposure in the art of good governance, which
is unrivalled by his predecessors.
It is expected that Ifeanyi will use his rich
wealth of experience, as well as his wide national
and global contacts to attract unprecedented
social and economic development to Enugu State.
In 2000, a group of stakeholders in Udenu Local
Government Area (LGA), who were saddened
by the sorry state of the local government, which
was created by the late General Sani Abacha
in 1996, had wooed Ifeanyi to come and vie
for the chairmanship in order to rescue the
local council area. But Ifeanyi’s close associates
opposed the stakeholders’ move on the grounds
that he was too big for such local position and
also “too clean” to get his body immersed in
the murky waters of Nigerian politics.
Indeed, his credibility, integrity, generosity and
large-heartedness might have accounted for his
revered position at the prestigious Rotary Club
International, where he was then addressed as
‘Rotarian Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.’
His amiable personality and ability to relate
equally with the poor and the rich, as well as
the young and old, portray him as a man, who
believes in a classless society.
Later in his political life, these sterling qualities
For the first time since its
creation, Enugu State is set
to produce a governor, who
has the national and global
contacts to leapfrog the
state to enviable heights in
the areas of political and
economic emancipation
earned him the name “Gburu-gburu,” which could
also mean “everywhere” or “all round” because
as a bridge builder, he is always everywhere and
accessible at all times to attend to everybody
on every issue.
Many had wondered why he would choose
to abandon his promising business empire to
vie for the position of Chairman of Udenu
LGA, with her then zero monthly statutory
allocations from the Federation Account. In his
characteristic humility, however he succumbed
to the pressure and abandoned his flourishing
business to serve his people.
The debate on his decision to descend so
low to vie for the position of chairman in the
2002 Local Government Elections in Enugu State
had hardly died down when he was suddenly
directed by the PDP stakeholders in Enugu State
to drop his ambition.
This shocking directive came after he had
invested huge human and material resources
for over one year to market his candidature.
The decision by the PDP to endorse another
consensus candidate was a litmus test of Ifeanyi’s
faith in the party.
It was an unpopular decision among the
people, who saw him as the only candidate
with the enormous capacity and goodwill to
defeat the late Dr. Ignatius Eze (Prince Eze)
of the opposition All Peoples Party (APP) at
the election.
But as a loyal and law-abiding PDP member,
who believes in party supremacy, Ifeanyi obeyed
his party’s decision, despite overwhelming
pressure from his supporters to join another
political party to realise his ambition.
As a disciple of modern democracy, where
personal ambitions are subservient to party
decisions, desperation for power, which is
common among the political class, has no place
in Ifeanyi’s political life.
He is not an apostle of “I –or-nobody else”
style of politics played in this dispensation, where
some politicians, who benefited from their party’s
endorsements as consensus candidates in the
past turned their back against this modern form
of participatory democracy.
Today, Ifeanyi’s reward for his belief in party
supremacy and obedience to party decision no
matter how unpleasant to one’s personal ambition,
is a good lesson to students of political
philosophy and today’s politicians in the pursuit
of their ambitions.
He not only accepted the decision of his
party in good faith and withdrew from the
chairmanship race, but also made invaluable
contributions to boost the electoral fortunes of
the anointed candidate, Hon. Chinedu Onu.
Despite his pedigree, he humbled himself to
personally campaign for this promising young
man, who was only yesterday among his key
supporters.
His show of magnanimity to the new candidate
and unalloyed loyalty to the PDP did not go
unnoticed as a top leader of the party in the
state (names withheld) was said to have declared
at a private function that “this man (Ifeanyi) is
humble and very loyal to the party.”
With his track record as a tested and trusted
loyal party man, whose words are his bonds,
it was not difficult for him to emerge as the
candidate of PDP in the 2003 elections into the
House of Representatives.
His wide acceptability across party lines
manifested evidently in his victory at the elections,
where he emerged as the representative of Udenu
LGA/Igbo Eze North Federal Constituency at
the lower house. For the past eight years, he
has been the chairman of the influential House
Committee on Maritime Transport.
When Governor Chime came on board in
2007, Ifeanyi fitted into Chime’s dream of new
Enugu. As a gesture for his achievements during
the first outing, he was re-elected in 2007 and
returned a third time in 2011, in appreciations
of his contributions to the uplift of the people
of his constituency. His immediate constituency
loves him but his election as governor clearly
demonstrates that the good people of Enugu
State need him most.
Ifeanyi’s victory at the recent governorship
elections is the beginning of an era that will
usher in a new dawn of enduring legacy of
unprecedented development of human and
physical infrastructure in Enugu State.
Never again will mediocrity, political gangsterism,
non-performance, banditory, nepotism and
corruption be promoted to an art in Enugu State.