A group of Enugu State stakeholders has held an emergency meeting on what they described as the deteriorating condition of the state since Peter Mbah took office as the governor last May 29, and told the governor that “billboards in every street corner cannot confer legitimacy on his regime”.

The Enugu State Stakeholders Forum (ESSF) met today at the state government-owned Nike Lake Hotel and Resort and expressed dismay that the new regime seems to channel most of its energy to erecting billboards throughout the state celebrating himself and political godfathers rather than concentrate on governance.

The state government, according to several sources, ordered every local government administration as well as different chapters of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to adorn the state with pictures of Governor Mbah and those of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the immediate past governor widely regarded as Mbah’s godfather.

“Even to appoint commissioners has been a Herculian task”, bemoaned the stakeholders in a statement signed this morning in Enugu by Professor Joe Aneke, their president, and Dr Ifeanyi Agbo, the publicity secretary of the forum.

“Mbah managed to submit the names of proposed commissioners just on the last day allowed by the Constitution because of his preoccupation with things which add little value to the well-being of the people like roads development, public transportation plans and creative security”.

The Enugu leaders alleged that the ubiquitous billboards celebrating the governor and his PDP arose from their strategic plan to make Enugu State Governorship and House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal members feel that he is popular and, therefore, running a legitimate government.

“This puerile trick cannot make any impression on the tribunal members because the proceedings at the tribunal show clearly Mbah is a pretender to the state’s leadership”, they asserted, observing how the trial has highlighted “the fact that Mbah submitted a forged National Youth Service (NYSC) discharge certificate with number A808297 to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and also the fact that Mbah connived with corrupt INEC officials to announce a spurious vote of over 15,000 in his Nkanu East Local Government Area”.

The Labour Party won 88.7% of the 482,990 presidential votes cast in Enugu in the 2023 general elections, seven out of the eight House of Representatives seats in the state, two of the three senatorial seats, and 14 of the 24 House of Assembly seats, but curiously declared Mbah the winner in the governorship race.

“How can Mbah rely on erstwhile Governor Ugwuanyi for legitimacy when the same person was beaten by 104,492 to 46,948 votes by Barrister Okey Ezeah of the Labour Party in the Enugu North senatorial race on February 25?

“Ugwuanyi is the only sitting governor in Nigeria’s history to lose not only his local government area and even his hometown but also his polling unit where he managed to garner only seven votes”.

ESSF accused Mbah of refusing to learn from Ugwuanyi’s tragic mistake of “engaging in self-worship and megalomania” by having billboards with his photos everywhere when other governors were delivering the goods to their people.

Quoting the famous Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, the stakeholders noted that “madness is doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result”.

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