Strengthening Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – The Ugwuanyi Approach

By Hon. Chijioke Ogbodo  | 

Political Parties are central to democratic governance in all democracies across the globe, Africa and Nigeria are no exception. However, the existing trend in most of these democracies is a situation where the ruling party becomes a colossus and weakens the political space of other parties and maybe political and government institutions in the system. This ‘colossus’ of a party (the ruling party), particularly in a developing country like Nigeria, drive far their intimidating tendencies thereby employing certain state institutions against citizens especially members of the opposition parties to cast fears on them and ultimately poach on their members. In Nigeria, this sleaze from the party in power no doubts constitute a conundrum that further weakens other political parties and make their members vulnerable if not endangered.

In May – July 2016, the new Executives of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Enugu State were inaugurated with an astute party administrator, Honourable Augustine Nnamani as the Chairman. His enthronement alongside other members of his executive as well as the executives of the 17 Local Government Areas, and all the electoral Wards in the state were devoid of any rancor, reason why the ship of the party in the state is enjoying a bumpy free sail. In Enugu State, PDP machinery is strong and intact. All thanks to the demeanor of the Leader of the Party in the state, His Excellency Rt. Hon. (Dr) Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Governor.

Recently, the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC in Enugu State embarked on a project – Re-registration of members with the alleged ‘influx’ of political big (wigs) names in the state. The media were awash with names of those who were caught in the web of the party in the state. Ordinarily, one would not be disturbed by the name dropping but it is important to remind the reader of the antecedents of one of such names who was touted to have joined the party with hundreds of supporters. This was a man who superintended over the popular ‘Chicken Impeachment’, the most inglorious impeachment Nigeria has ever witnessed in her political history. What about the Igbos and ‘going to the market theory’? However, these are topics for another day. You can now see the caliber of people being celebrated as ‘big catch’ for the party. It seems to me that hunger is getting worse in the land and this is driving some folks to behave unreasonably, like a drowning man who grabs at every straw for safety.

Now, back to the present. The essence of this piece is to assure all the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP members in Enugu state and the general public, that the party is waxing very strong. It is important to note that members of the National Assembly from Enugu State are all products of the PDP. Notable among them are the Deputy President of the Senate, Distinguished Senator, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu; a two time Distinguished Senator Gilbert Nnaji, and Senator Chukwuka Utazi. Also all the members of the Enugu State House of Assembly are of the PDP. Every member of the Law Makers gives a good account of himself.

His Excellency, Rt. Hon. (Dr) Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Governor of Enugu State has consistently assured PDP members through his person, style of governance and government, that the party is impregnable. He has continued to constantly engage the party stakeholders and faithful at different fora in the state. Any watcher of political events in Enugu State PDP in 2014 would attest to how balkanized the party was and would have lost the state to other parties save Ugwuanyi’s emergence as the party’s Gubernatorial candidate. His divine endowed aura and charisma, as well as experience, doused every tension and united the party for the eventual victory during the 2015 general elections. Here is a man who is always ready to go down to whatever level no matter how low to engage and interact with people of the state. His grassroots appeal is unequalled and this is synonymous with his fun name Gburugburu. He is not detached from the people as he does not fail to stop and come out from his car to acknowledge cheers from the people. He is always at home with them as he listens to them, addresses their complaints and answers their queries every time as virtually everybody in the state has his direct mobile phone number whom he interacts one-on-one with. He constantly holds town hall meetings with the state party members and stakeholders.

Taking a cue from the Governor, the Committee of (Local Government) Council Members, CCM Enugu State, through her members in all the 17 Local Government Areas of the state, is working together with the Executives and Party men and women in the 259 Electoral Wards, encouraging more membership.

There’s no gain saying the fact that Enugu State among some other states in Nigeria is in financial dire straight occasioned by the dramatic fall in oil revenue as well as the low exchange rate of the nation’s currency, the naira. This notwithstanding, Governor Ugwuanyi is prompt in payment of workers salary. This in itself has a multiplier effect as the worker can go to the market to buy whatever he or she needs, be it from the rural farmer or the small business owner. To this end, an independent Data Simplifying firm, BudgIT, in the last quarter of 2016, listed Enugu State among the only three states in Nigeria that can fulfil their obligation to their workers in terms of payment of salaries etc. This great feat attracted commendations from a cross spectrum of citizens and residents of the Enugu State. In a statement issued by the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and jointly signed by the state Chairman and Secretary Comrades Chukwuma Igbokwe and Ben Asogwa, the workers said that “it was an exceptional display of quality leadership for the governor to pay salaries regularly and still execute capital projects, despite the current economic crisis in the country”. Also lending his voice to this rare achievement, the Chairman of PDP Enugu State, Hon Augustine Nnamani hinted that the party was not unaware that the Governor would achieve such feat owing to his prudent management of the state’s scarce resources. He urged the people particularly PDP faithful in the state not to waver in their support for the Governor and his government.

In his continuous drive to positively impact the people especially the ordinary man and woman in the state, Governor Ugwuanyi through his project, Gburugburu Traders Empowerment Programme, has earmarked the sum of Sixty Million (N60,000,000.00) Naira (in 12 months) to be accessed by 100 traders selected from about 37 markets across Enugu state in a transparent balloting system every month. This is aimed at aiding benefiting traders in no small measure to boost their trade and meet their other needs.

Nigerians in recent times have been grappling with a wide range of security challenges such as criminality, Herdsmen attack on farmers and residents of communities, kidnapping for ransom, attacks on oil infrastructure, drug trafficking, political brigandage etc. Owing to the strategic position of Enugu state as a gateway state between the north and other parts of Eastern of Nigeria, the state is vulnerable and thereby not insulated from these security issues as she had experienced a fair share of these challenges. In an effort to mitigate these and nip them in the bud, the Enugu State government under His Excellency, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in October 2016, reactivated the Enugu State Friendship Emergency Call Centre, code named: 117 to an immediate and effective operation as a sure prove of good governance. This has immensely exposed and contained a lot of security risks ranging from Herdsmen attack, road accidents, fire accidents to armed robbery attack/s etc. The Enugu State Friendship Emergency Call Centre has created a virtual channel between the government and the people of the State. Since the operation of the call centre began on 10^th October, 2016, a great success has been recorded in containing some emergency situations. Enugu state is once more a safe and peaceful state.

In the areas of construction, reconstruction and maintenance of roads and bridges across the state, the Governor has made tremendous achievements with great impacts on motorists and other road users. It is worthy of note that in 2015/2016, the Governor executed a number of road projects across the three Senatorial zones of the state, most with asphalt over lay. These in no particular order include but not limited to:

S/N	Name	Expanse
1	Nike Lake Road	3.07km
2	Abakpa Nike Road	3.69km
3	Holy Trinity	626 metres
4	Bishop Eneje	200 metres
5	Nawfia	610 metres
6	IMT Internal Rd.	500 mters
7	Benmose	97 mters
8	Samuelson off Isiuzo Str	74 mtrs
9	Isiuzo – Ind. Layout
10	Airport Roundabout-Orie Emene – Eke Obinagu Rd.
11	Mbanefo in New Haven	850mtrs
12	Holy Ghost/Market Rd-Ridgeway	650mtres
13	Colliery Leck Ave.	800mtres
14	Mkpokiti Estate	700mters
	Rural Communities
15	9th Mile Bypass	1.970km
16	Opi/Nsukka Dualization	11.6km
17	Udenu Ring Road	49km
18	Enugu Rd. jnctn/Umuezebi/Nru/ UNN	3.75km
19	Post Office/Odenigbo Roundabout/Ogurugu Rd/Ikenga	3.4km
20	Obechara/Umuakashi/Mechanic Village/Ikenga Hotel Rd.
	Bridges
21	Oshenyi	30mters
22	Iyinzu Isi Uzo	15mters
23	Inyaba Nkanu East
24	Ojorowo Nkanu East
25	Ovu and Nvuna
	Federal Roads (Failed portions of:)
26	Ugwu Onyeama on Enugu/Onitsha
27	Ecochin to 9thmile Mech. Village
28	Egede jctn to Opi
29	Opi to Benue boundary
30	Ugwuoba along Eng/Onitsha Express
	Phase 1 of the following were commenced in Oct ‘16
31	Ugbawka-Nara-Nkerefi
32	Amechi Idodo-Amuzam-Amagunze
33	Enugu Akwu achi-Nkwo Inyi Mkt. Rd.
34	Onu Nwaneabo-Ndiuno Akpugo Rd.
35	Ibeagwa Nike Amaokpo Boundry Rd.
36	Iheaka-Ibagwa-Alo Agu Rd.
37	Amaeghu-Mukpa-Ogbombara/Etiti
38	Amokwe-Ibuzo Amokwe – Amokwe Stn
40	9thMile, Ajali-Ajali-Imezi Owa-Ezeagu L G Hqtrs
41	Nyama River linking Umugo & Ugwuagba Amechi Uno/Obeagu
42	Ndemde Bridge, Maryland-New Era
43	Polly clinic-Ilukwe-church Rd, fork Rd.
44	Onuoha-Obuoffia-O’Eji Ndiagu Rd.
45	UgbeneAjima-Ezeani Army Barracks Nsukka Rd.
46	Ngene oyibo-Agu n’ese-Mmaku Rd.
47	Ogbaku- Ogugu-Owelli-Ihe Rd.
48	Amachala Onovo-Nzerem Rd.
49	Okpu orba junction-Ohebe agu Orba Primary Sch Rd.
50	Umualor Ehamufu Rd.
51	Aguorba Iyioucha Bridge

♦ Data culled from Enugu Sate Ministry of Works and Infrastructure Magazine Vol. 1 no 2, 2016

One of the cardinal objectives of political parties is to provide political stability and this is evident in Enugu state under Ugwuanyi, the leader of PDP. The party in more than one way unites, simplify and stabilize activities in the state. The destabilizing forces arising from the utterances of some decampees are tackled by the governor whose demeanor and provision of democracy dividends in the state are unequalled. If indefatigable Governor Ugwuanyi can record all these achievements among others too numerous to mention, under the present economic hardship, and keep PDP intact, one can only say that the best is yet to come for the party and the good people of Enugu state. His visibility and accessibility help the party because the people of Enugu State believe in him, and this is why no one should lose sleep about whatever name is advertised as having joined other parties. Do not be deceived, stay put, PDP is on the rise again. Enugu State is in the mighty hands of God.

♦ Hon. Chijioke Ogbodo is the State Coordinator, Committee of (Local Government) Council Members CCM Enugu State.