Rarely has an individual’s ambition to serve his people in any
capacity elicited so much enthusiasm, staunch support, excitement,
euphoria and general acceptance as has been evidenced in the adoption of
Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as the consensus governorship candidate of his
party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the people of Enugu North
Senatorial Zone to whom the people of Enugu State has zoned the office
of governor, preparatory to the 2015 general election in the country.
Such popular acclaim is considered as ample demonstration and,
indeed, conspectus of the inherent good things in the selection process
initiated by Governor Sullivan Chime and adopted by the party and all
the governorship aspirants themselves. This aligned with the confidence,
which members of PDP in Enugu State and the people of Enugu North
Senatorial Zone have reposed on Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and which has also
saved the zone the rancor and division that could have arisen among
them if this well thought out path was not unanimously followed.
As has been noted by Dr. Okwy Nwodo, former governor of Enugu State
and former National Chairman of PDP, ‘‘the emergence of Ugwuanyi is a
political masterstroke by Enugu North leaders, who have successfully
warded off political invaders keen on taking away the position zoned to
us by the state PDP.’’
Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, Special Assistant to the President on National
Assembly Matters and former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee
on Information, described the exercise as ‘very pragmatic.’ Instructive
in this is that the governor showed a good reading of social and
political matrix of the state and flowed with the tide of people’s
opinion. He went further to say: ‘‘Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is a bridge
that provided the platform reconciliation and unity among the diverse
interest in the state.’’
For Dr. Mishark Nnabuchi, Associate Professor of Physics at Ebonyi
State University, Abakiliki, and a member of Enugu State Unity Forum,
which has also endorsed the candidature of Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, ‘‘his
choice will serve as lesson and inspiration to emerging politicians in
the state that loyalty and obedience pays.’’ He also called for dialogue
and understanding among all the other aspirants while urging them to
eschew selfishness and rally round the people’s choice. The Enugu Unity
Forum is chaired by Barrister Ben Ezugwu and has other notable leaders
like Barrister Mike Ajaogu, SAN, Barrister Ofordile SAN, and Prof.
Augustine Nweze.
To Uche Ezechukwu, international journalist and renowned newspaper
columnist, ‘‘Hon. Ugwuanyi, with his experience and kind disposition,
has the capacity to expand the frontiers of peace and development in
Enugu State, as started by Governor Sullivan Chime.’’
Let me now recur to the story of how Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the man many like to call
Gburugburu,
was chosen from among the plethora of aspirants, numbering over 13 from
the zone, jostling for the candidature of the party in the coming
elections and his interesting adoption as the consensus candidate by the
same aspirants. What are the compelling qualities that made Hon.
Ugwuanyi the man of the people? Why is everybody, both young and old,
gravitating towards him?
Managers of the various communication companies in Nigeria may have
wondered at the volume of telephone calls emanating from and going into
Enugu on the morning of Friday, September, 26, 2014 when the news first
broke out that the Barrister Sullivan Chime, Governor of Enugu State,
and the top hierarchy of PDP in the state have given their nod to the
aspiration of Ugwuanyi to be governorship candidate of the party.
The people of the state were literally in a state of frenzy, as it
was still said the final outcome of this wonderful endorsement cannot be
known until the late night of that day when the governor, the aspirants
and the leaders of the zone would meet to finalise on this tantalising
story.
Many people kept vigil till the early hours of the next day, even as
phones buzzed or rang consistently. And the joyful news followed that at
the venue of the meeting, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu, an aspirant, moved a
motion for the adoption of Hon. Ugwuanyi, as a consensus candidate and
his motion was quickly supported by Chief Okechukwu Itanyi, a former
deputy governor of the state and the executive commissioner at Nigerian
Communications Commission, who was also an aspirant. And the rest of the
aspirants now voted in favour of this adoption.
And so began the next round of frantic calls within and outside Enugu
State to intimate friends, well wishers, party members and the voting
public of this wonderful development, as its historic import and essence
resonated across the globe. It was also reported that even supporters
of the other governorship aspirants, who accompanied them to the venue
of the meeting gave spontaneous applause the moment the choice of
Ugwuanyi was announced.
The joy and appreciation of the people over this popular decision
will still spill to months and years ahead, as all hail his choice, as
both momentous and of great historical import.
Hon. Ugwuanyi is the member, representing Igboeze North/Udenu Federal
Constituency in the House of Representatives and Chairman, House
Committee on Maritime. Also, he’s the Chairman, South East Caucus of the
same House. He is acknowledged to be one of the strategic thinkers of
the House of Representatives, a silent operator whose committee has
collaborated well with all the head of the agencies in the maritime
sector to engineer the revolution, going on in that facet of our
national economy. He has both the genius and élan of good leader, calm,
cool and calculative, with the soothed voice of seasoned broadcaster and
the amiable, perceptive, friendly and persuasive disposition of a good
salesman, perhaps, born out of his former vocation, as an insurer.
