By PETER ANOSIKE

An erudite lawyer and prominent indigene of Enugu State, Olive Udeh, has said that the Labour Party Governorship candidate in the last governorship election in Enugu state, Chijioke Edeoga, is chasing shadows by challenging the authenticity of the National Youth Services Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate of Governor Peter Mba.

Udeh, who is the founder and CEO of CEELUX Group Ltd, an infrastructure development company, as well as the founder and CEO of a Tech Start 2FE AgroTech EcoTech, an American company, said that Section 177 of the Nigerian constitution provides the qualification to run for the office of a governor in the country and that discharge certificate of the National Youth Services Corps is not among the requirements.

According to him, going by the constitution, NYSC participation or non- participation can therefore, not be a valid ground to deny Peter Mbah the mandate which the good people of Enugu State has given to him, adding that there is already a legal precedent of Agi and the Peoples’ Democratic Party to that effect.

In this interview, he also spoke on the new electricity bill, which President Bola Tinubu recently signed into law, godfatherism in Enugu State politics, among other issues.

The governorship candidate of Labour Party, Chijioke Edeoga said that he has mobilized 31 witnesses to prove that the governor of Enugu State, Peter Mba forged his NYSC discharge certificate. What is your view on this?

31 witnesses to do what? Prove a case of forgery. You don’t even need up to that number to upturn a presidential election in a tribunal. That shows you that some people want to make a mockery of the judiciary. Personally, l wouldn’t want to answer this question so as not to preempt the outcome of the court decision or be seen to make some prejudicial comments like the DG NYSC that was seeking cheap publicity as a soldier but the law allows me to ask NYSC some key questions: (1) Did NYSC mobilize Peter Ndubuisi Mbah for service with a call-up letter? (2) Did Peter Ndubuisi Mbah report to the Orientation Camp? (3) Did NYSC post Peter Ndubuisi Mba to a Place of Primary Assignment? (4) Did Peter Ndubuisi Mbah receive a letter of discharge and clearance from the Place of Primary Assignment? (5) Is there any letter of termination or rustication from NYSC to Peter Ndubisi Mbah that precludes him from receiving a certificate? The burden of proof regarding the mystery surrounding Peter Ndubisi Mbah’s NYSC certificate is squarely on the NYSC as a public institution to show cause on why Peter Ndubisi Mbah should not receive a discharge certificate. NYSC ought to have looked inward before issuing a public statement which l am certain that the law will eventually compel them to retract and issue an apology to Peter Ndubisi Mba, members of the public and other victims of their recklessness. As l said, l don’t like commenting on such myopic issues, so let me stop here.

Enugu state government has started removing waste from the state and converting them to kinetic energy and President Bola Tinubu recently signed the electricity bill into law, indicating that states can now generate their own electricity. How can Enugu state benefit from the electricity bill?

The electricity Act as signed by Mr. President is a good step in the right direction. There is no way you centralize electricity generation, transmission and distribution in a humongous nation like Nigeria and expect a good outcome. With the rapid advancements in technology, comes with numerous options in power generation, distribution and transmission. There are various options such as solar, waste, wind, turbines etc. The world has moved beyond power generation through dams, hydro, nuclear sources that are complicated in nature and requires huge resources to maintain the functionality. The Electricity Act that Mr. President signed into law has broken the monopoly of the federal government over power generation, transmission and distribution. You certainly don’t need thousands of kilometers of High Tension cable of from Shiroro or Kainji Dam to Enugu in other to provide basic amenities such as water and electricity for the good people of Enugu. The monopoly of the federal government in the power sector created more harm than good. Power generation, transmission and distribution very soon will be similar to what we have now in the telecommunications sector unlike when we had the monopoly of the Federal Government through NITEL. While I applaud Mr. President for setting us free in this regards, it is certainly not a remarkable achievement to celebrate. Rather what will be an achievement is how various actors will utilize the opportunities in the power sector to create jobs and develop the economy. Governor Peter Mbah, as an entrepreneur, is already thinking in that direction. As a matter of fact, the Oji River Industrial City, Enugu state would be powered carbon free. The promoters of the project, in Partnership with Enugu State Government, is consulting with various stakeholders in power generation such as Schenider Electric, Chinese and Turkish companies that are into solar energy to develop a sustainable ways to ensure uninterrupted power supply in Oji River Industrial City Enugu state.

With the emergence of Peter Mbah, do you think that the issue of god-fatherism in the politics of Enugu state has been silenced forever?

People believe that Peter Mbah is an extension of Ebeano political dynasty of Chimaroke Nnamani and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. I am glad that you asked this question because it was a recurrent question during the electioneering campaign and the truth of the matter is that His Excellency, Peter Mbah deliberately avoided answering because it is not just diversionary and but condescending for a man of great accomplishment at his level to be tagged as an errand boy to some persons and individuals that are good enough to be his employees. There is no better definition for a myopic thinking than to say that a man that single handedly built a single business investment in Nigeria that is worth over a billion dollars and his firm penacle oil and gas is audited by a renowned globally accounting firm KPMG would turn around to become a stooge to persons or groups of persons whose combined genuine net worth is far less than $20 million dollars. It is my understanding that many of us don’t actually know the man at the Enugu State Government House. Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mba. He is a not a man of many words or a traditional politician that enjoys to manipulate the minds of electorates with empty rhetorics that profits them nothing while devising techniques to enslave them economically. The truth of the matter is that His Excellency, Mr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, is not a product of any man or woman in Enugu State. His emergence was purely an act of God and destiny and even the so called godfathers were actually working underground to truncate his chances of becoming the Governor of Enugu State.

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