From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
Ahead of the March 2023 governorship election, Enugu State indigenes living in the United Kingdom and Ireland have described the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Mbah as the man with the agenda for the prosperity of Enugu State.
In this interview, the Principal Coordinator, Peter Mbah Support Group UK and Ireland, Mr. Kingsley Nnaji, said they in Diaspora are drumming support for Mbah because he is the first Enugu man that has been able to integrate leadership with management.
Nnaji, a Corporate, Property and Real Estate Lawyer/Investor in UK spoke on what Enugu state needs now, the manifesto of Mbah which he described as the most credible and the interest of the Diaspora Ndi Enugu.
You are in Diaspora, what necessitated the forming of this support group for Peter Mbah?
We in the Diaspora watch and listen to everything that happens in Nigeria with keen interest. Why? Because we belong to that country. And in the recent time, our state and indeed our country have seen a turbulent time in politics, in the economy, in security, in everything and this disturbs us a lot and we felt that in fact, there is nothing we can do from here. However, when Peter Mbah contested in the primaries of PDP and was elected by the delegates, we saw how Ndi Enugu have received him with open hands, mind and everything. The royal highnesses, the grassroots welcomed him and also we waited for his manifesto and when it came, we’ve gone through the manifesto and we are impressed with the caliber of person Peter Mbah is and what he has to offer. Being in the private sector and having achieved a lot in his private sector business, we know his capabilities. We’ve also had a meticulous reading of his manifesto, and we can personally identify with Mbah as a friend and one who inculcated in himself the values that drive development in the developed economy. He is a product of the UK, and as such he is our own by extension. In a particular way, he continues to replicate in good ways the quality that the UK represents; quality infrastructure, education, healthcare and life expectancy. We know that if he can replicate what he has done in his private business in Enugu, indeed, tomorrow is already here for us in Enugu state.
Knowing that Mbah is the only candidate that holds hope for Ndị Enugu, I decided to call likeminded people of Ndi Enugu in the United Kingdom and Ireland and asked them all to come together and see if we can help give support to Mbah. Such call received the greatest acceptability and overwhelming enthusiasm. All members agreed to do whatever they can to see him win the 2023 governorship election. And the best we can do is to support him, by giving him all the material support, and expertise we are able to muster, and to also offer financial support. We are prepared to do whatever we can to help to usher in this new era in Enugu state, and we are willing to do that till victory is achieved. Apart from these supports, we are using our Diaspora strength to mobilise our people at home to lend same support by using their PVCs to cast their only votes for Mbah.
What and what do you think you can do from UK and Ireland to make Mbah win the election here in Enugu, Nigeria?
We know that we’re far from Nigeria on the basis of geography, however, we all have relatives back home and we all come from all parts of Enugu State and we relate to these people. It is noteworthy that since our inauguration in August, we have done quite a bit. Currently, we have jingles going on, on radios in Nigeria, for example Dream FM; we have jingles going on every day there, trying to sensitize our people to give Mbah their support on the election day; reminding them of the need to go and vote, that is, to vote ebe esere umbrella. This is our way of sensitizing our people. We also have another jingle on Radio Nigeria, Coal City FM, we have a jingle there every morning. We are planning a two-hour programme with Dr. Uche Anioke which would have taken place on the 19th of this December in his Freedom Square Programme, but for some clashes in programmes, it will be rescheduled. We will be talking to our people in that programme sharing our ideas, what we think Mbah represents, what his government will represent in Enugu come 2023 onwards. We will have our people there speaking to phone-in listeners, trying to do our best to let them know that this is something different from what they have ever seen. We expect a lot from Mbah, from his government and we believe and hope that he will deliver. From his private sector achievements, we can see that he is a man of action and he will deliver. That is our belief. We also have other programmes, for example, we have many ways we think we can reach out to the grassroots apart from these jingles. We are sponsoring production of some posters that will stay as constant reminder to our people that the face of Mbah on the poster is the face of prosperity that Enugu is patiently waiting for. We are also sponsoring another programme that will soon be on air on FRCN; some of these programmes we haven’t started yet, so I don’t want to go into them now. I can tell you that we have a robust support package.
You made mention of letting the people know what Peter Mbah stands for or what the state stands to gain from his government, can we know those things? What is it that he will do better than the others and what interests you more about his programme?
First of all, when management meets leadership, there is a dynamic change in texture. Peter Mbah is an experienced manager in the sense that he’s been able to build a business from the scratch and put it up to a global standard in which it competes with the biggest in the world, across Europe and the United States. He has now come to put an additional feather to his cap by getting into political leadership and as someone who has a company that manages a standing net worth of 4.4 billion dollars; we should know that the person is not there to mess around when he sees state funds and allocations and what to do in terms of investment because he is a transparent investor that we can see.
One can take a cursory look at what he has highlighted in his manifesto, and especially when we look at the energy sector; the energy sector for Enugu is going to be transformed. Before I even go further, I’ll hint at the technology sector first because the technology sector in Enugu right now is not worth up to a million dollar but this is a man who has given us a transparent manifesto which I would and clearly say loudly is achievable within eight years and this will move us from a less than a million dollar investment in ICT to close to a billion dollar investment, and if Enugu had been under PDP leadership for the past few years focusing on education and rural development and all good things PDP has brought to us, it would be important to note that he is the best person taking us to the 21st century metropolitan visions where technology and science will remain critical.
This means that we will be able to communicate to any person in the world from all digital platforms. Technology which our children will enjoy and begin to do so at a younger age will offer them ample experience that they won’t need to travel abroad to acquire such. On these critical sectors of the economy, any information contained in the manifesto is guaranteed as there are transparent reforms envisioned to drive their realization to a logical conclusion. The Lion Building will have a man on its saddle who has the capacity to use technology to transform governance and all these plans will usher in investment from within and outside Enugu State. Do you want me to talk about technology, agriculture and his plans for real estate; they are quite unlimited.
The reason why we are following him is that he is the first Enugu man that has been able to integrate leadership with management and that extra is the finest any person will be able to fill in Enugu politics.
What will be your advice to your people on the issue of violence before, during and after the elections?
Our people should eschew acrimony, rancour and violence in this forthcoming election. They should allow peace reign and people allowed to exercise their franchise without molestation so that we will be able to elect credible people to serve and represent us. And for Enugu State, the only candidate to be voted for is Peter Mbah.