The candidateship of Distinguished Senator for governor of Enugu stated presents the good people of Enugu state a very different proposition to what they have been served for the better part of the fourth republic. The politics of the state has been characterised by high incidences of godfatherism that held then state back for so long in spite of its enormous potentials.
The state, which has become known as “the coal city state”, has been punching below it’s weight even as its assets go to waste due to myopic leadership. While nations, cities and regions such as South Africa, Egypt, Dubai and others earn billions of tourism dollars and the attendant allied industries, Enugu’s tourism assets are left to degenerate. Agriculture which used to be one of the key areas of advantage in the state has taken the backburner, while the leadership of the state has become dependent on hangouts from Abuja to run, without impact on the citizenry.
The entry of the distinguished senator into the race for government house Enugu, offers a whole new dimension to the political calculations in the state. First the man Ayogu Eze is well recognized as a man of himself, not beholden to any godfathers unlike previous occupants of the office of governor and would therefore perform independently and deliver on the aspirations of the people rather the whims of an individual or cabal. It is no wonder that even though he hadn’t stayed long in the APC, all the chairmen in the state rallied round to declare support for his candidature even though there was significant pecuniary inducement for them to back other candidates in the primaries.
Senator Eze is clearly in touch with the needs of the people of Enugu within the context of a 21st century knowledge driven world. Senator Eze has a clear vision for the education sector of the state that has underperformed even by the abysmally low standards we have in many parts of Nigeria, driven by the knowledge of the power of a solid knowledge base in individual and collective development. He has committed to ensuring that every Enugu child gets the opportunities that have been afforded him, a boy from a humble background, to serve his country at the federal level as well as the countless other dimensions he has added value to the nation.
In the area of infrastructure, the incumbent and predecessors have basically refused to invest in critical infrastructure as witnessed in neighbouring Anambra state, while Governor Ugwuanyi has simply failed to continue from where Governor Sullivan Chime stopped. Senator Eze brings a clearer and different perspective to the infrastructure challenges of the state with emphasis on private sector participation. There is no doubt that the PDP failed to deliver on its promises to the people of the state, while continuing to loot the state dry, hence the groundswell of support that has greeted the candidate of the APC, Sen. Ayogu Eze in such a short period of his membership of the APC.
