The Almighty God the day he created us gave us freewill to decide for ourselves among the options of life. Even in matters of who to worship and serve, God does not force us. He may have his perfect will for us but he does not compel us to follow his will. That was why Joshua told the children of Israel to choose whom to serve but that for him and his household they would serve the Lord, the Almighty God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob(Joshua 24:15).In our local context, Okwe and Patty Obassey made songs of it. However, for every choice we make, we should be prepared to bear the outcome of it. In the book of Deuteronomy 30:15, God tells us that he has set before us life and death. While he advises that we choose life, the choice, however, is ours.
Nigeria in 2015 made the choice of its leadership. Nigeria kept antecedents aside in a manner depicting mental blankness and made a choice of a leader, if a leader he is, whose tenure would spell doom to the nation. Today, the nation is drinking from the cup of affliction it has chosen for itself. The time is gradually coming again for the nation to reinvent itself and take yet again the decision of who will rule it in 2023.The choice is still ours.
The people of Enugu State have drunk to the lees the sweet mug of good governance occasioned by the choice of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. While the nation roasts in its fire, Enugu State by the hand of Governor Ugwuanyi luxuriates in the balm of Gilead. While blood flows along the streets almost everywhere in the nation and hunger bites hard at the entrails of the people, Enugu became a palliative, an otherness of sorts, a succour to the people, the cold water that quenches our thirst and palliates our patched throats. This is the outcome of the good choice Enugu people made by electing Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi its governor.
The cock is about to crow again to summon the people for yet another meeting. The options are about to be laid before the people again. The choice before the people of Enugu State has been filtered by the zoning tradition as it is the turn of the people of Enugu East Senatorial Zone to present to the PDP a candidate to square it up with the candidates of other parties. It will amount to self deceit for anyone to ignore the PDP in Enugu State. It is the ruling party in the state and has not lost any election in the state since 1999. So, it is likely that whoever emerges the candidate of the party will win the governorship election.
The choice of who will take over from Governor Ugwuanyi begins from the governor himself. He has the right of first refusal and that has been the pattern of the internal democracy of the party. The governor will nominate a candidate for the stakeholders of the party to ratify before the aspirant is presented for election to the elected delegates in the party primaries. One good thing to note is that Enugu State is blessed with a wise governor. He is highly cerebral and sound. Ugwuanyi is a man of wisdom and understanding, a humble and kind governor who fears God. He will make a good choice, no doubt.
Nonetheless, the political landscape is strewn with mines of all sorts.It takes much strength of character, integrity and total commitment to chosen ideology to be able to navigate through the undulated political landscape. There are two divides to it: Mammon and Athena.
Mammon is the evil demon in charge of money, especially as it concerns the debasing influence of riches. Our Lord Jesus Christ was the first to use the term in His famous Sermon on the Mount as we read in Luke 16:13, part of which is written, ” Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,” which is also reflected in Matthew 6:24. No man who serves in the demonic temple of Mammon can please God. Mammon is also described in the bible as unrighteous. Whoever panders to it cannot work the righteousness of God. In politics all over the world, money is needed. It is not possible to play politics without money. Barack Obama had to raise 80 million dollars for his election to the office of the president of the United States. God does not condemn money; He also blesses His people with wealth.The bible in the wisdom and proverb of Solomon acknowledges the importance of money, saying that money answers all. Money is good but the love of it is the root of all evil. The love of money is yielding oneself to its influence. As we tilt toward the primaries, the ‘Mammons’ are sleeking around with their seductive selves looking for whom to derail, seeking hands to tie and mouths to gag.But we must not bow to the Greek gift of the ‘Mammons’ that people our political space, for what they give with one hand, they collect, even more, with the other.
Quite another temple presented to us in this race is the temple of Athena. Athena in Greek mythology is the god of wisdom and craftsmanship. Athena has the traits of leadership, courage, strategy and justice; qualities that make her a perfect fit for a ruler. This is the temple where we ought to greet the greetings the buffalo greeted the ocean and drank of its water. Here is the place from where the likes of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi hived off. This is the place we are being recommended to pull out the next governor of Enugu State. We need an aspirant of Enugu East extraction who possesses the traits of Athena. We point our governor to this temple from where he too was begotten the best governor in Nigeria. If His Excellency with his eagle eyes looks in this direction, he shall find from Enugu East Senatorial Zone the good hand that can sustain and build upon his many legacies of good governance.
Bibian Anekwe News added; “Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination on cooperation, not intimidation.”
Written by. By Reuben Onyishi
(Ugoachataberu)
