Loud Governor On Development, Realisation Of Enugu’s Oil Producing Status
By Tony Adibe
There was a kind of carnival in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State as almost all the leaders and stakeholders of the council – traditional rulers, clergymen, other indigenes, and supporters of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi converged on Premier Primary School, Ukpabi, to reaffirm their support and resolve to vote massively for the governor at the poll to represent Enugu North Senatorial District in the National Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Also, the he people of Uzo-Uwani Council Area rallied support for the PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the party’s candidate for Igbo-Etiti/Uzo-Uwani Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Dr. Martins Oke, the candidate for Uzo-Uwani Constituency, Hon. Chukwuma Martins Ekwueme, among others, pledging to deliver 99 percent votes to the PDP at the forthcoming elections in the state.
They said that Governor Ugwuanyi is the only leader who had remembered Uzo-Uwani LGA in the scheme of things and brought peace and massive development projects to the council after decades of neglect by past governments. The people expressed gratitude to Governor Ugwuanyi for his dogged and fruitful struggles for Enugu State to enjoy oil producing status in the country, following the discovery and ratification of oil existence in Uzo-Uwani LGA.
They noted that the inherent benefits of the oil discovery to their people and council are enormous and thanked Governor Ugwuanyi specifically for the bold initiative and remarkable accomplishment. The leaders emphasised that Uzo-Uwani people need Governor Ugwuanyi in the Senate more than any other local government area in Enugu North Senatorial District to enable them fully to harness the inherent benefits of the oil producing status.
Saying that ingratitude was “a crime more despicable than revenge,” the people of Uzo-Uwani LGA distanced themselves from the strange and unpopular acts by a few “ungrateful elements” among them, who they said, “were returning good deeds with evil by biting the hands that fed them”, declaring that they are not part of what the “elements are doing.”
Emphasising that Governor Ugwuanyi’s election to represent Enugu North Senatorial District in the National Assembly on the platform of the PDP is a fait accompli, the people of Uzo-Uwani LGA further stated that the governor’s return to the National Assembly as a Senator woul bring enormous democratic dividends to their council in particular, and the district in general.
They declared that the smallest appreciation they will show to Governor Ugwuanyi is to deliver him at the poll. In his speech, an elder statesman and a revered Chieftain of Uzo-Uwani LGA, Chief Maxi Ukuta, described Governor Ugwuanyi as “a worthy son,” and lauded him for carefully giving the people of Enugu State, Peter Mbah to succeed him as governor.
Chief Ukuta, who said that “the trouble it took him (Ugwuanyi) to find a material like Peter Mbah can only be comprehended by a person who will carry out research,” added: “So, by this singular thing His Excellency did, my problem is that he (Ugwuanyi) gave us a presidential candidate in place of a governorship candidate because very soon the young man will explode.”
The elder statesman lauded Governor Ugwuanyi for the pressure and suffering he passed through to make Enugu an oil producing state, stating that the governor, having done so and also established the State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS) Igbo-Eno and opened up the rural areas which “no governor had opened up our rural areas the way you have done” has written his name in gold in the history of Nsukka zone in particular and Enugu State in general.
Chief Ukuta told Governor Ugwuanyi that his good works will continue to speak for him, reassuring him of the maximum support and solidarity of the people of Uzo-Uwani in the upcoming elections and beyond.
