Okonkwo Samuel
Many Lies of Edwin Ugwuanyi in His Write Up “Gov UGWUANYI AND HIS ANTI-MIDAS TOUCH”.
By Okereke Ugwuodo
20/06/2020
Treacherous quest of one Edwin Ugwuanyi to destroy the governor of Enugu State in his malicious article aimed at defaming and maligning his person is a deliberate ploy to tarnish the good image of the governor and whip up unwholesome sentiments against him. From the tone of the said article, it is clear that it was sponsored by greedy and selfish elements who feel threatened by the governor’s sincerity of purpose. The infamous and destructive campaign of calumny has exposed the treachery and perfidy in some greedy and mishevious political jobbers. The pseudo writer shamelessly concocted lies and unfounded allegations against Gov. Ugwuanyi, simply because of his insistence on the rule of law.
Well, ordinarily I wouldn’t have bothered to join issues with such blatant frivolities and distortion of truth, but for the purpose of clarity as a concerned citizen of Enugu State, I will respond to some of the baseless allegations he raised, in the believe that discerning readers would unravel the source and sponsors of the malicious and unethical verbal assault desperately concocted against the person and office of the governor of Enugu State. Hopefully, with rapt attention, one could easily phantome where the misiles are being hurled from.
Apparently also, his allegation that Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is not a match to his predecessors is laughable. If I may ask, what is the yardstick for such comparison? The answer is obviously not forthcoming. But let us look at the key areas of concern
Irrespective of the avalanche of challenges confronting the nation currently, Enugu State under Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has made giant strides in all sectors of the economy. To butress this assertion and at the same time put the record straight with regard to the issues raised in the article under review, Enugu State was recently rated as follows-
The 9th best performing state in Nigeria and 1st in the south east with slightly above N30bilion IGR, by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on May, 22, 2020 in its 2019 published state rank in internally generated revenue,IGR.
How then can a state without investment flow achieve such feat in IGR profile?
The second most advanced state in Nigeria on the Ease of Doing Business, earlier this year by World Bank Group. He talked about Rockeffella Foundation once selecting Enugu as one of the 100 most resilent cities in the world during the past administration but failed to acknowledge the above current verdict.
One of the seven states in Nigeria that are solvent with impressive 30 per cent IGR to fund additional economic activities, by Economic Confidential Magazine. For God’s sake is this not a sign of economic vibrancy and proactiveness?
The fifth most competitive state in Nigeria, by National Competiveness Council of Nigeria.
The third most debt sustainable state in Nigeria.
The first state in Nigeria to publish its Audit State Financial Account for three consecutive years.
Are these not proof of accountability and business friendly environment?
One of the 12 states in Nigeria that can survive without federal allocation. Why then did Mr Edwin, the writer, say the state is insolvent?
Listed alongside mega states like Lagos and Rivers as the only 3 states out of the 36 states of the federation that have fulfilled obligations to their workers. Why then did Mr Edwin accuse the governor of ignoring welfare of citizens?
The best in the judicious use of the FG’s Bail out funds to states according to the Nigerian senate. What other accountability index does this retard claiming to be Edwin Ugwuanyi want?
In his wild goose chase to tarnish the image of the governor, Edwin Ugwuanyi as he claims, alleged that waste management under Gov. Ugwuanyi is in shambles. Now tell me, if not mere campaign of calumny, is there any reasonable resident of Enugu State now who doesn’t see the efficient waste management process in Enugu today? Even without the usual molestation of innocent citizens that was the hallmark of their operations in the past, Enugu is now cleaner than ever with over 1000 newly recruited environmental staff to keep the city clean. Where is the writer’s sense of decorum here? Nawa o!
He even foolishly made reference to coal city cab that was introduced by the last regime. Oh my God! Are we sure this person knows what we call forces of demand and supply in Economics? He expects Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to regulate transportation business in Enugu by selecting few people to drive taxis in Enugu as was the case in the last regime, to the exclusion of the larger population who may have interest in the business. This is a clear indication that he is an illiterate and is completely out of touch with the current economic realities in the world capitalist order. Ugwuanyi cannot succumb to his scadalous accusation that tranportation fare is costly in Enugu. As a matter of fact, Enugu has one of the cheapest transport system in Nigeria and everybody knows that.
Unfortunately too, he alleged that insecurity in Enugu State, as well as multiple taxation are the bane of investment flow to the state. Why are people so treacherous and perfidious? Is there anybody in Enugu State today who is not aware that the level of security of lives and property in the state is unprecedented? In the history of Enugu State, the residents had never had it so good security wise as currently being enjoyed under the present administration.
Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, in order to promote synergy and foster unity of purpose between the law enforcement agencies and the state, procured over 100 Innoson vans with full security gadgets and handed over to the police and civil defence corps. In addition, they recruited 1700 forest guards and gave them brand new Sienna Jeeps in each LGA. He also upgraded the neighborhood watch in each community to complement the efforts of the police, and they have been successfully working in collaboration to secure the state.
In terms of investment flow, the fact speaks for itself.The high rating of Enugu State as clearly shown above will attest to the business enabling policies of His Excellency, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. It is therefore mischievous for anybody to raise such malicious allegations against his administration.
Finally, coming to the revocation of the illegally acquired centinary city property by PEIWA, owned by one Kingsley Eze, which is obviously the bone of contention and the real reason behind this surge in attacks against the governor, it is pertinent to state that no legitimate government in a democratic setting will allow such flagrant illegality to stand. The only sin Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committed was to investigate the fraud surrounding the transaction of 1097 hectares of land belonging to the people of Obuagu and Amaechi Awkunanaw communities, and subsequently revoke it for peace to reign.
In apparent response to the protest repeatedly lodged to the government of Enugu State on how the illegal company known as PEIWA usurped the rights of the natives of the aforementioned communities, and discarded the original plans for the said property which was meant for Anambra State University of Science and Technology (ASUTECH) permanent site, in 1982 under Jim Nwobodo’s government, Gov. Ugwuanyi carried out a proper investigation on the matter and mindfully revoked the property. Ever since then, it has been one sponsored media attack against him or the other by those behind the shaddy deal.
It was alleged that sequel to Gov. Chimaroke Nnamani’s movement of ESUT to his home town, Agbani in 2006 and the supsequent hand over of state power to Sullivan Chime, PEIWA in connivance with the state government, took hold of the said property and converted it to Enugu Centinary City without valid documents. In fact, the company was accused of forging documents among which was a purported official gazette No. 12 Vol. 11 of 27th March 1986 purportedly signed by Navy Captain Allison Madueke who was at that time the governor of old Imo State. That was the fake document presented by PEIWA when the original owners of the property pettitioned the state government and took the matter to court. In order to forestall breakdown of law and order, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi revoked the land to allow for justice and peace to prevail. The big question now is, where has the governor erred in this matter?
In the real sense of it, the perpeterators of these kind of atrocities should be in the gulag by now, rather than working the street free and sponsoring malicious articles against the government of Enugu State for enforcing the rule of law.
More nauseating is the writer’s claim that all the Estates developed during the tenure of this administration belong to Ifeanyi Ugwanyi. What kind of funny and wicked allegation is this? So, they want us to believe that any Estate developed under anybody’s regime belongs to the person automatically? Now, can we say Ebano Housing, Gulf Estate, Elim Estate, Goshen Estate and Coal City Garden Estate belong to those that held sway as governors of Enugu State when they were built? Chai! Deception is bad o! And some gullible members of the public will still believe this balderdash! Hmmmm, I weep for my !
In conclusion, no amount of campaign of calumny and name calling will deter Gov. Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi from delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Enugu State. He has demonstrated uncommon disposition of calmness, dynamism and benevolence in his approach to destructive criticisms from his detractors. His current infrastructural drive concentrated mainly in the rural areas that were abandoned for decades will speak for him. His spread of critical infrastructure across Enugu State is pronounced for all to see. His unity of purpose for ndi Enugu is not in doubt and posterity will certainly be fair to him no matter the distractions. I urge him to continue expanding the frontiers of democracy in Enugu State by allowing freedom of speech irrespective of detractors who may want to abuse such privileges. In the fullness of time, he will definitely be vindicated and the Lord will continue to be his strength in his efforts to reposition Enugu socio economically.
Okereke Ugwuodo wrote from Enugu.
