For clarification purposes, “acceptance” by Merriam Webster Dictionary is “the quality or state of being accepted or acceptable.” In the province of law, precisely the realm of contract, “acceptance” means an agreement, either express or by conduct to the act or offer of another so that a contract is reached. Essentially, parties are at consensus ad idem.
In a world of increased self-consciousness, people celebrate their birthdays for myriads of reasons yet the bottom line remains that a birthday is a time where a celebrant pauses to ask thought-provoking questions on how life has been lived thus far.
The eventful birthday celebration of the Enugu State Governor, Ugwuanyi on 20th March 2021 was more or less epochal and revealing. Ugwuanyi was made larger than life by the torrential downpour of goodwill messages originating from the high and the low of the nation. All existing parastatals and corporate entities poured out in a most electrifying manner, their life wishes for the man who knows better.
Truly, it was a window for all and sundry to appreciate their performing Governor whose exceptional governance is no longer in dispute even before armchair critics unless you take joy at disputing what is demonstrably incontestable among discerning minds. Thusly, in a most unprecedented trajectory, the wishes came individually and in groups.
One writer in his wishes almost forced moistures into my eyes. He pathetically carved out pictures of how miserable his generation was, and the governor’s dire and dramatical intervention in rewriting his family’s tide of hard times. Obviously, there was more to Gburugburu’s birthday.
Barely six years in office, Mr. Fulfilment symbolizes many things to many people. To the youth, he’s a loving father, a mother to the motherless; a doting husband to our widows.
What’s more, to crisis-torn communities, he’s their unbiased arbitrator and prince of peace who has proved impervious to politics of acrimony and ruckus.
As my phone kept beeping for messages, subconsciously I was compelled to reflect on one of my best quotes from Woodrow Wilson, once an American Statesman and talisman who said thus:
“You are not here merely to make a living you are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world; and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
Unarguably, the birthday’s dust and binge stand testimony of Ugwuanyi’s services to humanity. Benighted lives received glamorous radiation of hope, the homeless now sheltered in swanky estates. The fascinating of them all is education, the life engine of well-to-do society, now at the behest of our people under Ugwuanyi’s watch.
Ugwuanyi’s birthday amazingly polarized Nigerians into two major schools of thought. One, to which am an ardent believer, is that the workaholic governor be launched into national assignment especially this time that Nigeria teeters towards irreversible and regrettable collapse.
The other school asserts that Ugwuanyi need not be nationalized but internationalized. How appealing the wishes of the latter school are. Yes, he deserves more.
Be that as it may, what I see is a government embedded in the general will of people anchored on consent and respect of human rights. A government that epitomizes the core tenets of the social contract theory as evidenced by the torrential outpour of praises by both the common man and the highly placed on the event of the birthday.
Let me now leave you with a quote on leadership from the inimitable Lao-Tzu;
“I have three precious things; which I hold fast and price. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”
Without hesitation, I abide by the above immortal truth with no iota of doubt in my belief that His Excellency Ugwuanyi, is a leader. These rare qualities of gentleness, humility and liberal-mindness operate with a combinational force in the benign governor. Little wonder he stands courted and overwhelmingly accepted by all.
BIBIAN ANEKWE NEWS ADDED” LEADERS BECOME GREAT NOT BECAUSE OF THEIR POWER BUT, BECAUSE OF THEIR ABILITY TO EMPOWER OTHERS. GOV. IFEANYI UGWUANYI THANKS ALOT FOR YOUR EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES
Written by
IKEMSINACHI NWA-ONAH
MEDIA TEAM MEMBER OF ENUGU DI N’AKACHUKWU MOVEMENT
Writes from Makurdi the City of Benue.
