Godwin Agbo
The concept of “ovuru okweshi” has its origin from Nsukka cultural zone, specifically Nsukka town. It is associated with the Omabe Masquerade society. Literally, it means the person whom the cap fits. It, however, has other meanings in relation to the socio-political cum cultural lives of the society. Some of these meanings include: the person the society deems fit to play a particular role because he will not fail (that is the ideal person). The person who has high degree of integrity and honour and shall be admired by all while representing the people; it also means a man of the people.
During the Omabe festival in Nsukka town, one of the Omabe Masquerades – usually on parade is the “Echaricha Ma.” It is a beautiful Omabe Masquerade that has white beads coated with gold (and at times silver) all over the body. It also has many long red feathers on top of its head. Each “Echaricha Ma” is identified with its costumes and decorations; its jumping and dancing steps. It is the extent to which the “Echaricha Ma” dances, jumps excellently in the village square that will make the spectators admire it. This admiration is usually measured by very high ovations and applauses. Equally, the beauty of the ‘Echaricha Ma’ and the way it displays makes it the centre of attraction as well as appraisal. Where the ‘Echaricha Ma’ has displayed well, people refer to the physical being (and not the spiritual being) as somebody whom the cap fits. In such a case, he would continue to adorn the ‘Echaricha Ma’ costumes on behalf of the village because he makes the village proud. The point, therefore, is that all “Ovuru Okweshis” are gifted with personal charisma that makes the villagers to admire them, so as to continue to represent them in the Omabe scheme of things.
In the present case, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu) is the “Ovuru-Okweshi” of Enugu State. This is because the cap fits him, vis-à-viz the socio-political-cum-cultural situations of the state and that is why he was voted the second time in office. Since 2015 when he came on board, he has been making Enugu State proud and the evidence of his political will abound when juxtaposed with the gburugburu phenomenon. This to a large extent is anchored on social welfare-oriented programmes that have so far touched and continue to touch the three senatorial zones of the state and beyond. Such measure, no doubt, is a reflection of the name “Gburugburu.” It is also an attempt to achieve equity and maintain a triangular equilibrium in the state. His love for peace and unity of the state clearly dwarfs that of his predecessors. It is on record that he is the only governor in Enugu State that has maintained cordial relations with his predecessors. His excellence in peace initiatives could also be seen in the recently signed Umuode-Oruku peace accord.
Such peaceful endeavours have doused tension and also minimised insecurity in the state. It is this peaceful atmosphere and zero tolerance for violence that has helped him secure the life and property of the citizens in the state. This also explains his success story on health care, massive social infrastructure, urban and rural development, sports development, electoral process, etc.
Since 2015 when Ugwuanyi took oath of office as the governor of Enugu State, he has distinguished himself as the best performing state chief executive in Nigeria despite the fact that the revenue accruable from the Federation Account is low when compared to other states in Nigeria. This assertion can, however, be validated via a look at other highlights of the governor’s achievements.
First, the most labour-friendly governor as adjudged by the Nigeria Labour Congress has consistently, since assumption of office, paid workers salaries on or before 24th of every month. His unprecedented massive infrastructure developments in the three senatorial zones of the state are second to none. He has also keyed into the Social Investment Programme of the Federal Government so as to alleviate the poverty of the electorate that voted for him massively. As a result, he has received accolades for empowering thousand of traders, who, on agreed scheme, receive the sum of N50,000.00 meant to help boost their business. Equally, the N10 million “one-community, one-project” initiated by Governor Ugwuanyi, aimed at developing the rural areas, puts him in the class of empire builders such as Elkanemi of old Kanem-Borno Empire, Mensa Musa of Mali, Osei Tutu of Ghana, etc.
Recently, he admonished some local government chairmen in the state who hitherto administered their council areas from ‘overseas’ or away from home, to go back to the rural areas and look after their people as, according to him, development must shift to the rural areas. It is also on record that Governor Ugwuanyi, since inception of his administration, has not paid lip service to the educational development of the state. He has, through his transformational programmes and interventions, lifted education higher in the state. Today, teaching and learning have been enhanced in all levels of education in the state. This, no doubt, is due to his love for quality education for his subjects and his desire to come to terms with the Sustainable Development Goals of 2015 to 2030.
All the landmark achievements by the Ugwuanyi administration clearly portray him as a political leader who has been able to distinguish between politics and governance. As a focused democrat desirous of achieving results (delivery of democracy dividends), he has not allowed partisan politics to obscure his reasoning. Rather, he has always been pre-occupied with how to achieve the critical functions of the state in line with Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended. Consequently, he abhors nepotism, double standard, corrupt practices, ‘godfatherism,’ etc. He embraces meritocracy and frowns at mediocrity because of its absolute reliance on the peter principle as well as undue political patronage.
As can be seen, the landmark achievements of the governor has made him the ‘Ovuru Okwushi’ of our time, who should be supported by all. This is evidenced in the triple award he received as the “Best Governor in the Year 2018” from Independent Newspaper on January 17, 2019; Vanguard Newspaper on January 18, 2019; and from The Sun Newspaper on January 25, 2019. This could also be seen in his philosophy of jaw-jaw instead of war-war, his preference for dialogue as against intimidation and autocracy.
To him, Roussean’s theory of the social contract has more explanatory value than Machiavelli’s philosophy of the end justifying the means. While the former is in line with his people-oriented programmes, the latter is more or less anarchical. Today, it will not be a mistake if the name of Governor Ugwuanyi is not only written in gold but also included in the list of world leaders and democrats. By this I mean great democrats and achievers like the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi of India, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, etc.
•Dr. Agbo is with the Institute of Management and
Technology (IMT), Enugu