2027: Coast not yet clear in Enugu

The May 29 2025 celebration of the two years anniversary of Governor Peter Mbah administration in Enugu state opened a new chapter of what is to come in the 2027 general elections.

At the ceremony, Anambra state born businessman, Prince Arthur Eze caused an ovation while making encomiums on the Mbah administration when said that President Bola Tinubu has endorsed Governor Mbah for a second term in office. The applaud later turned into attacks on Eze by the opposition political parties, particularly by the All Progressives Congress, APC.

At that Michael Okpara square ceremonial venue, Elder statesman and former Governor of old Anambra, Senator Jim Nwobodo pushed another narrative, stating equivocally that Governor Mbah will not vacate the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, platform for any other political party as its now trending among the PDP Governors in the country. Nwobodo stated that Enugu has remained a PDP state since 1998 and dominated victories in all the elections conducted in the state since then.

The All Peoples Party, APP, in 1999 secured one House of Assembly seat and that was it except in 2013 when the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, secured one councillorship election in Isi-Uzo local government election. That was under the Sullivan Chime administration when also there was a stage-managed victory for the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in Udenu council election where victory for the Chairmanship and councilors were awarded to the ANPP, but the winners quickly returned to the PDP shortly after the election.

Perhaps the only time the opposition party uprooted the PDP in Enugu state was in the 2023 elections following the Mr. Peter Obi’s wave across Nigeria states, when Enugu succumbed to the Labour Party, LP, which claimed almost all the positions in the polls except for Governorship and two National Assembly seats out of 11. The LP won 14 House of Assembly seats while the PDP got 10 seats. The irony of the 2023 victories is that almost all the lawmakers who won elections under the platform of the Labour Party have defected to the PDP except for few who have remained standing with the LP while one is currently incarcerated in Enugu Maximum correctional center in a trumped up charge. A House of Representatives member formerly of the LP however defected to the APC, making the national ruling party to jubilate that for the first time since 2014 the APC can boost of an elected member in the party in Enugu state.

The Labour Party tragedy in Enugu state came to a head when its 2023 governorship candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, surprisingly chickened, cheaply, into the PDP trap and eroded all the goodwill that majority of the voters in the state had for the party and its leaders. Tirades of anger have followed Edeoga’s defection to the PDP, particularly in Enugu North senatorial district (Nsukka zone) who gave him majority support in the keenly contested election. Different Nsukka groups, both in the LP, in the PDP, in the APC and even apolitical stakeholders said that Edeoga disappointed everybody with his defection to the PDP, stating that he would have remained as the opposition leader with the profile he raised in the 2023 governorship election which was finally decided by the Supreme court in favour of Governor Peter Mbah.

But Edeoga gave his reasons. According to him, he decided to throw in the opposition towel because Governor Mbah is doing great jobs in the state, more so, that the Governor has a large heart of caring along every member of the state without the practice of winner takes it all.

“He (Mbah) has demonstrated a mental state that is worthy of appreciation and that is worthy of being supported or rewarded to the extent that is humanly possible. A thing like this has never happened in the annals of Enugu State politics. It might look small, but it will cause a paradigm shift in the way politics is played in Enugu State. It is no longer something where you warehouse bitterness. It is no longer winner takes all. All those things that people have been trying to preach in Nigeria like accommodating everybody are being demonstrated in Enugu State. So, I rededicate myself again to the PDP to make sure that the PDP remains a winning machine in Enugu State as it has always been,” Edeoga said during his defection back to the PDP.

Earlier than Edeoga’s defection, six members of Enugu state House of Assembly members who won election under the LP decamped to the PDP while one other LP state Assembly member joined Edeoga to defect to the LP. Not long after, two members of the House of Representatives also rejoined the PDP, leaving the LP with two Senators, one House of Representatives member and three state Assembly members, after another House of Assembly member for Nsukka West state constituency defected again to the PDP, last week. The defections coupled with the court decided victories in favour of the PDP eroded the Labour Party of its strength in the state.

The party, LP, in its party administration has not helped matters as the state chapter of the party leadership is divided into the Abure and Nenadi Usman national leadership factions. Even party members who refused to follow Edeoga to join the PDP have been confused on which leadership they can rely on with none of the faction leaders showing proactive leadership of the party.

With the weakening of the Labour party in the state, the APC has positioned itself as the main opposition political party against the PDP in Enugu state. The APC boasts of a Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji and a vibrant state party chairman, Ugochukwu Agballa. Since after the 2023 general elections, the party has witnessed influx from both the LP and the PDP aggrieved members who joined the APC to ventilate their political discontent in their former political parties. The APC however has its own problems starting from when PDP members invaded the party as members under former President Mohammadu Buhari administration.

Major political gladiators who joined the APC in Enugu state between 2015 and 2023 included former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; former Governor Sullivan Chime, former speaker of the Enugu state House of Assembly, Eugene Odo; former minister for External Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; former Secretary to Enugu state Government, Onyemuche Nnamani, among others. Internal party squabbles however brewed in the state in the build up the 2023 election leading to Ugochukwu Agballa sacking from the party Nnanami, Chime, Odo, Onyeama and even the pioneer chairman of the party in the state, Ben Nwoye.

With the suspension from the party of the above leaders, Ugochukwu Agballa and Minister Uche Nnaji gained firm control of the party in the state and has been utilizing it exclusively, even with more suspensions of party executive council members who were accused of insubordination and anti-party activities. There was joy for Ugo Agballa and Nnaji when Senator Chuka Utazi joined the party, but shortly after the sledge hammer of suspension was also extended to Utazi for same allegation of ant-party activity. The climax of the crisis was the resignation of the founding chairman of the APC in state, Ben Nwoye, from the party and who has since then been fraternizing with the Peter Mbah-led PDP in the state.

Expectedly, the aggrieved members of the APC had since launched attacks on both Nnaji and Agballa, with a group of the party members asking for the minister’s resignation from office over an alleged certificate scandal. The groups, mostly from Enugu north senatorial district, complained of high handedness from Agballa and Nnaji, marginalization and denial of political positions from the federal government. Recently, a foundation member of the APC and a BOT member from the state, Maj. Gen. JOJ Okolagu criticized both the minister and Ugo Agballa, urging President Bola Tinubu to intervene in curtailing their excesses in Enugu state. Former Speaker in the state Assembly, Eugene Odo is also among those clamouring for the taming of Nnaji and Ugo Agballa if the party hopes to give President Tinubu any vote in the state in the 2027 election.

Ironically, the APC stalwarts, essentially from Nsukka zone, have been making accolades on the good leadership of the PDP administration in the state under Governor Peter Mbah. In a meeting held in JOJ Okalagu’s residence, few months ago, the APC stakeholders in Enugu North Senatorial district commended the developmental strides of Governor Peter Mbah. They maintained that the Mbah administration has done well in the Enugu State in the past two years and that Enugu North Senatorial district (Nsukka zone) was the greatest beneficiary with highest numbers of political wards in the state, with which Governor Mbah distributed amenities such as the Smart schools and the Primary Health Centers.

"The present government in Enugu state is doing fine despite being in PDP. Our son was there but he did not make us proud. We ask the governor not to change his mind about Nsukka people. The politics is over and we are no in governance. We commend the strides of the Enugu State government, particularly in the Enugu North Senatorial zone and we ask the Governor not to retreat. We have seen good governance in Governor Mbah, particularly for Enugu North Senatorial zone which is the largest beneficiary of the smart schools and the health centers," The APC members commended.

As it stands, the PDP in Enugu state is having all the goodwill, except from the Ugo Agballa/Uche Nnaji faction of the APC that have been very antagonistic to the Mbah administration. Ugo Agballa had since barred the Governor from aspiring for a cross over to the APC, warning that they will resist it if the governor gives it a thought. The Governor has however maintained good relations with all segments of the people and residents of the coal city state, mobilizing attraction to his administration. The problem however is the implosion within the PDP at the national level. The Ude-Okoye and Samuel Anyanwu struggle for the position of the National Secretary of the PDP made Governor Mbah to take side with Ude-Okoye (who is from Enugu state) but brought the Governor into direct confrontation with the FCT Minister, Nysome Wike.

Nevertheless, Governor Mbah is thinking big about the PDP with his proposed intervention in completing the construction of the regional office of the PDP in Enugu. The problem the Governor may lose sleep about is the national leadership of the party, whether they would be his friends or foes. Mbah’s predecessor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was recently nominated as a Board of Trustee (BOT) member of the PDP, but Mba’s fear may hover around the long time cordial relationship between Ugwuanyi and Nysome Wike, the albatross in the PDP.