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By M.O. ENE

The number four signifies stability and maturity. On Monday, May 29, 2023, the fourth Enugu State governor of the fourth republic will be installed for the next four years. Expectations are rife that the incoming governor, Dr. Peter N. Mbah, Esq., will hit the ground running. Popular impatience to welcome his administration is intense. Many want to see that “Tomorrow is Here” indeed.

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The sit-at-home snag should snap. Regardless of who gets the presidency, folks have had enough. Open-road grazing of livestock ends too. The 180-day countdown to a clean Coal City awash with water will commence. All LGA chairs will wake up, sit up, or pack up to ship out by December.

Government is not a one-man business. The stagnation is suffocating. The level of lethargy is a dent on decent democracy. Silence-styled peace is a blight, not a blessing. Adverse transition rumblings are troubling. The situation sprouts sycophancy. Gossips. Rude remarks are taken to the top of tactlessness in e-forums. Democracy in darkness does not deliver dividends. Effective media and popular participation wane.

Far too many community leadership problems are at the extreme of embarrassment charts. The notable successes of current commissioner for rural development are muted, instead of intensifying efforts to empower communities. With steady state stipend, our people could provide and maintain common facilities and community policing.

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The ball is now in Mbah’s court. He must work hard honestly, with humanity and humility, to meet popular expectations of basic social services and security. Government is a continuum, especially with a 24-year run of PDP. He has little room for blames. Excuses are instruments of the incompetent. He is not one. Mbah comes with credible 4-Cs: Character. Competence. Commitment. Compassion.

Beyond refurbishing PDP, Mbah must continue to engage the people. We have read his proposals. Action is next phase. It must be a massive and innovative disruption galore with variations of velocities and angles of approach. He needs competent and committed hands with private participation in such projects as the International Conference Center, commercialization of Rangers, business incubation, IT hubs, mass communication, etc.

Many Enugu people really do not know the latest Lion. Here is a self-made man of many parts whose trajectory in life should be a model for our youths. Instead, a blitz of campaign calumnies in demarketing him by proxy took over the airwaves. Competent communication strategies will delete these deceits.

Dr. Mbah is a man of destiny. Getting to the Lion Building was far from his mind two decades ago. He wanted to complete his law education and return to entrepreneurship. In an instant inspirational intervention, Supreme Court Justice Nnaemeka Agu changed the narrative and redirected Mbah to his destiny.

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Mbah must please his many well-wishers by doing exceptionally well in public office, as he has done in private enterprises. The legacy we leave behind defines our earthly existence. If we look back someday and say that outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi did well, it will be because incoming Governor Peter Mbah delivered on his magnificent manifesto—or not! I prefer the former.

Just as Socratic unexamined life is not worth living, an uncritiqued government is not worth having. It is a waste of everyone’s efforts, resources, and time to support a government without asking questions. Nothing beats constructive criticisms. The era of insidious insinuations and radical rudeness will end if we build a society where everyone participates diligently and kindly. Government is of the people, by the people, and for the people.

‘Okwute, nọọ!’

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#moe, 5.5.23

@aladimma