Anayo Nwagbam

Saying that Enugu is the most peaceful state in Nigeria today is like stating the obvious. The records, evidences and indices are there and one needs no soothsayer to confirm this. The residents, visitors, security agencies and investors have all attested to this and have enjoyed the tranquility and serenity of the coal city state, which was made possible by Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led administration. 

This is a no mean feat, especially in a country, where crime rate is on the increase. Recent dastard and politically motivated acts in the state few weeks to the 2019 general elections had shown that some few political miscreants and thugs working for disgruntled and unpopular factional guber candidate of the opposition party in the state are out to disrupt the enduring peace in the state.

These miscreants had some weeks ago set ablaze the campaign buses of a factional guber candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Barrister George Ogara at his campaign office, located opposite Ogui Fire Service station. Just few hours after the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Enugu State chapter, the umbrella body of all registered political parties in Nigeria conferred on Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the award of Commander of Good Governance and Democracy Dividends in Enugu State at Government House, where the State chairman of the group, Engr. Godwin Okey, said the decision to confer the award on the Governor Ugwuanyi was arrived at, after a conscientious appraisal of his administration’s performance from 2015 till date, these miscreants having realised that the endorsement by all the political parties in the state, coupled with the gale of endorsements by several groups on Ugwuanyi ahead of the election, have sounded death knell on the ambition of their paymaster, angrily went andset ablaze two campaign coaster buses and four hummer buses of the governor parked at the Tickles Centre, along Osadebe, opposite WTC, Ogui, New Layout, Enugu beyond repairs.

   This act is not only condemnable, it is a desperation by the opposition to throw the state into turmoil before, during and after elections, all in a bid to prepare ground for the manipulation the election outcome in their favour by all means. Followers of the campaigns in the state ahead of the election, would have observed that while Governor Ugwuanyi and other PDP candidates have been traversing the nooks and crannies of the state soliciting for votes, the factional opposition guber candidate and his cohorts are nowhere to be found campaigning in the state.

They have been bragging that they will rig the elections in their favour, using the security agents that are controlled by the powers-that-be in Abuja. Not many in the state are bothered by the empty boast, knowing that APC, having being factionalised in the state is not on ground.

It is now crystal clear that they are using their ongoing dastard acts of burning PDP campaign buses, destroying their billboards and intimidating their supporters to test water and pave way for their planned mayhem in the state during the elections. This ugly development is very worrisome because election is not war. It is a game of popularity and numbers.

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Besides, Enugu is not known for violent elections since its creation in 1991. The people have always elect their leaders in a free and fair election. It cannot be different this time, especially as Governor Ugwuanyi’s achievements stare everyone in the face. It behoves the security agents to urgently fish out the perpetrators and sponsor of this continuous pre-election crime in the state before it gets out of hand. These miscreants are not spirit. They are living among the people and are not above the law.

They must be apprehended and made to face the wrath of law. Anything on the contrary will mean that they are being emboldened, shielded and protected by some forces in connivance with the security agents in the state. With this, the residents may have no option other than to resort to self-help, which is not the best, unless opposition wants to turn the state to a lawless society.

   The miscreants and their paymaster should be reminded that nobody has monopoly of violence and they should not overstretch the lenience of the state government and the residents of the state. They should know that no amount of politically motivated violence against the government and people of the state will earn their paymaster the people’s votes, rather it will worsen and reaffirm his already battered and violent political image.

Looking at the people’s mood and political atmosphere in the state today, majority of the residents are supportive of Governor Ugwuanyi and his party. They are not ready to compromise their support for Ugwuanyi becauseof his outstanding performance in office. They are also not ready to condone or tolerate anything, anybody or groups that are out to truncate the absolute peace they have enjoyed in the state in the last three years plus, courtesy of Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration.

So, what the perpetrators of this dastard act and those behind them should know is that they are not only fighting PDP or Governor Ugwuanyi, they are trying to test the will of the people of the state, who will stop at nothing in resisting them by all means. This is especially when they are known, few in number without goodwill or much political relevance or base in the state. Apart from this, Enugu has been a PDP state since 1999, the state has remained in PDP under Ugwuanyi’s administration.

This is despite the fact that PDP is not in control of power at centre again. But that does not matter to majority voters in the state that are supportive of Governor Ugwuanyi and his party ahead of the elections. To them, it is not about the party at the centre or the state, but the sterling performance of the occupant of the office of which Governor Ugwuanyi has been outstanding, exemplary and emulative in the last three years plus.

Nwagbam writes from Ogui road, Enugu State