By Wordshot Ugwuele,
The way some opposition elements in Enugu are near suicide because of Mbah’s performance, is the greatest testament of his success. They are sweating daily in futility to nail him by all means, including repeatedly saying the same lies over and over again.
They were thinking his government was going to be a failure; so unimpressive that everyone would be in that agreement. But, my dear brother, let me tell you something, Mbah is very brilliant, and I think he owes his success to this.
He perfectly understood who is the most important constituency. He recognized early this is the people, the masses, and has been working for them ever since.
That was why the elite came with the zoom story, because he just needed to focus on work and not the usual self-aggrandizing political meetings.
During the last election, I was in Abakpa one day the PDP came for the campaign there. I was so angry that I almost carried out a one man demonstration against them.
Why? The state of the roads in that community they rode through to the venue. There was no single motorable road in Abakpa.
It was so openly too insulting that the only time they realized Abakpa existed was during the campaigns.
When I went on air on the radio, I blasted the local government; the council chairmen of the urban areas of Enugu, for not doing anything. At least they could have patched these roads, fixed culverts and gutters. They were just there.
Now, go there today. Go to the same Abakpa and see for yourself. I visit Abakpa almost on a daily basis for business.
I can tell you there is a profound ignition of citizenship pride and a pronounced sense of belonging evident all around, as they go about their daily business on these well rehabilitated roads.
In fact, I can’t even imagine what would happen when the dualization of the Nike Road is completed. Honestly, I am still wondering what Mbah’s opponents would tell residents of Abakpa as the reason not to vote for him.
People often say Mbah demolished markets and all that. They never understood that some of these spaces were actually recovered from those who stole them, in brazen cases of mindless trespassing, with official impunity by former public office holders and their agents.
These people are largely responsible for the pain of those who lost their daily livelihoods when the structures built on them were demolished.
For instance, do you know that this Abakpa which is impassable most times of the day, because the only place the vehicles load and discharge passengers is along the road, once had a large motor park?
Do you also know that the old Ogige park used to be five times bigger than what it was before it was demolished? The story is no different in Holly Ghost and Garki.
Where did they all go? Private citizens illegally acquired and turned these public spaces into private properties and estates, which they redeveloped and started collecting rents from the occupants.
Mbah is not just brilliant. He is bold. He reached out and boldly recovered all of these.
Even the roads that are being finalized, from Abakpa Junction to T – Junction, see what he did in recovering all the road shoulders people stole, to extend their buildings into.
The T – Junction flyover underpass is now being remodeled, where the road didn’t pass before because of private property, to serve better public interest.
Those whose properties were untouchable before, like Senator Gill Nnaji, had to bow and give way to superior and overriding public interests. That is how it should be.
As a journalist, I have the professional tools to feel the public perception of the Peter Mbah administration, and I can tell you his ratings are quite high among the real people. Forgot politics.
It is the truth. Reach out to the people in the streets and hear their honest assessments; where he is getting it and where they think he is not. Forgot the social media noise by political opponents and the opposition.
In line with my job, I regularly carry out vox pop on random issues in such public spaces like the streets, markets, motor parks, filling stations, public buses, etc.
The people’s verdicts here are usually reliable. Go there and feel the real pulse of the people. You will hear the truth. You will hear less propaganda.
And to be sincere, the only area the people, as per my interactions in the streets, have issues is with regards to taxation.
And this is because they do not fully understand the operable dynamics of the tax assessment, netting and payment the government is implementing, given that there was enforcement laxity before now.
Once explained and they understand that no one who shouldn’t be paying is paying, and no one is paying more than he should be paying, they understand.
My wife runs a business in the city. So, I know from her assessment that she wasn’t being cheated. But, of course, left for her as of most people, she shouldn’t be paying anything at all.
The same applies to the issue of water. To deny that is not a challenge is to be insincere. But to also say the Mbah administration has not been working hard for solutions, is equally unfair.
I can tell you for a fact that it is true when the government says what it is pumping has doubled. It is also true that dilapidated supply lines waste a larger percentage of these, making it impossible for effective and wider distribution.
For example, right now there are two places near my office that were recently repaired. One was directly under a building and the other at the center of the road. If you are around the Parklane roundabout, going to Trans Ekulu, the patch where the road was dug up, is it.
Their locations delayed the work for such a long time. Then in a street in Thinkers Corner, there is another hole, dug, for an old broken asbestos pipe to be replaced.
They have replaced it but the hole has not been closed yet. It’s like they are still observing it. In fact, in many neighborhoods, water is being lost that way.
Finally, when next you come to Enugu, I undertake to take you round, to see for yourself. I swear, you will be proud of what you would see.
