Power and authority make up government. While power is the ability to exercise influence on the governed; authority is the right to exercise power and it flows from the legitimacy the authorities drive from the people on whose behalf power is exercised.
Government is a body of institutions on whom authority to exercise specific powers is vested. These institutions, therefore, interact with one another in supposedly harmonious manner in order to ensure the realization of governmental goals and objectives. Government is made up of three arms namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. While the executive arm implements law the legislature makes, the judiciary interprets the law. These functions require a good deal of intergovernmental harmony for effective operation. In a situation where these arms lack understanding and the needed cohesion, crisis abounds and governmental objectives may likely be hampered to the detriment of the people.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State since he came into power in 2015 has ensured cordial relationships among the three arms of the government. It is no longer news that Governor Ugwuanyi is a man of peace. His peaceful nature has even attained international recognition and this has also rubbed off on the three arms of the government in Enugu State.
Ugwuanyi’s relationship management savviness is uncommon. Governor Ugwuanyi relates with the low and high in such a way that you feel emotionally attached to him. This is unlike what obtains in some states where the executive is always at loggerhead with either the legislature or the judiciary. We are a witness to what happens at the centre. In 2016, the Buhari administration in a gestapo kind of way violated some supreme court judges in a trumped up allegations of corruption, without even following the due process. This is a sign of disharmony between the executive and the judiciary. As if that was not enough, the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Onnoghen, was kicked out to pave way for a surrogate of the executive. We are yet again witnessing the harassment of Justice Mary Odili of the supreme Court by security apparatchik of the federal government. In a cohesive system, such things do not obtain. A third arm of the government that helps to sustain the rule of law and the institution of checks and balances is being intimidated by the executive that it may do its biddings. And this is unfortunately happening in a democratic system of government. Even the military did not overstep the bounds when they seized power illegally.
Attesting to the harmonious relationship between the executive and the judiciary in Enugu State, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Chief Mellitus Ezugworie Eze, confirms that the relationship is very cordial. He said that Governor Ugwuanyi had changed the face of the judiciary in Enugu State. According to him, the judiciary had begun to thrive since Governor Ugwuanyi came to power. Courts that used to hold sessions in mud courtrooms now enjoy modern edifices of international architectural standard. Governor Ugwuanyi has built many complexes in the 17 local governments in the state for high and magistrate courts. These complexes each contains eight court halls. In Enugu, for instance, two of such complexes were built and they contain 16 court halls. Before Ugwuanyi’s advent to power, the manpower at the ministry of justice was very poor and this negatively affected the dispensation of justice. But Governor Ugwuanyi came in and raised the number of law officers in the ministry from the abysmally low number to over 200 law officers. This also applies to the appointment of judges. There has never been any case of the executive playing politics with the appointment and promotion of judges in the state. The chief justice of the state recently retired and the next most senior judge was appointed. Indeed, when the righteous are on the throne, the people rejoice. The judicial sector is enjoying a very high level of harmonious relationship with the executive. Thanks to Governor Ugwuanyi’s interpersonal relationship management abilities.
The same cordiality exists between the legislature and the executive. Hon. Chinedu Nwamba, representing Nsukka East in the assembly, once did say that Governor Ugwuanyi had set a high level of unprecedented relationship standard between the legislature and the executive. According to him, the incoming governor would have to maintain that standard or run into murky waters. Hon. Ezenta Ezeani, representing Igbo-Etiti East in the assembly, corroborated Hon. Nwamba. He said that the 24 members of the assembly had been so attached to the governor to the extent that they would not unnecessarily waste time looking at his requests because he had earned their confidence. According to him, Ugwuanyi had been treating them as a mother would her children and so they were emotionally attached to him. It is not as though the assembly is a rubber stamp of the executive arm as it may be misconstrued at the surface level. The fact is that Governor Ugwuanyi has got it right at all times to the extent the assembly knows his requests are infallible.The house committee on public funds headed by Hon. Nwamba had audited the accounts of the state government on several occasions in their oversight and had always found them flawless. Indeed, Governor Ugwuanyi has earned the trust and love of the assembly. Ugwuanyi is meticulous and committed to due process at all times.
On 27th October, 2021 during an emergency session of the Enugu State House of Assembly for the consideration of a bill meant to authorize the virement of the sum of N11 billion for capital and recurrent expenditure for the year ending on 31st December, 2021, the chairman of the house committee on health, Hon Sam Ngene, stated thus,”I trust and have confidence in the sense of judgement of this present government. This virement is normal. I also stand in strong terms to support the virement because Enugu State Government has shown prudence in the management of the lean resources at its disposal overtime.” Hon. Ngene’s position represented the view of the 24 members of the assembly. Little wonder the bill was passed unanimously having gone through the three readings.
Enugu State is working. There is no cog in the wheel. The government is functioning optimally with much cohesion because Ugwuanyi has taken care to lubricate the wheel and its joints. This cordiality obtains at both the horizontal and vertical planes. Ugwuanyi is a reference point of good leadership. It takes much sacrifice, discipline, wisdom and deliberate consciousness of the need for intergovernmental harmony to achieve these strides for which Governor Ugwuanyi is known and celebrated. Power does not flow through the barrels of the gun, the gun of power tussle and altercation, the gun of disharmony, the gun of political rivalry, intrigues, violence, greed and naked show of authority. It flows through well-thought-out processes and procedures put in place and followed to the letters. Ugwuanyi has these skills and have leveraged them for effective intergovernmental relationships in Enugu State.
Governor Ugwuanyi’s Enugu State is a reference point of good governance. Nigerians are asking for Governor Ugwuanyi. They are asking Ugwuanyi to take up the leadership challenges at the national level that he may help rebuild Nigeria by replicating these many achievements in Enugu State at the national level bedevilled with many vices of bad leadership.
Bibian Anekwe News added; “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”
Written by
Reuben Onyishi
(Ugoachataberu)
