Mbah’s Dialectical Politics of Integration and National Significance

Ifeanyichukwu Jaja

The outcome of the recent fourth elective National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had great socio-political implications for the government and people of Enugu State. Forget the hype that Dr. Benjamin Nwoye, former state chairman and immediate past caretaker chairman of the party, was unanimously returned as the Deputy National Vice Chairman (South East).

  The real icing on the cake was the fact that two former governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) joined the incumbent to grace the national convention of a party that used to be a fringe opposition in the state during their tenures. 

 Last October when the Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, decided to switch political allegiance from PDP to the ruling APC, critics and skeptics chorused the view that the governor had shot himself in the foot. Those who thumbed down the governor’s defection move claimed that Enugu State has always identified itself with the former ruling party.

They also argued that APC’s structure and politics have not been favourable to Enugu State, even as they pointed to the distribution of ministerial appointments, which according to them, have been skewed against the people of South East. 

Nonetheless, the critics failed to trace the genesis of Governor Mbah’s disagreement with PDP leaders, who failed to factor in Enugu State nay South-east’s unbroken years of solid support for the party. That the PDP succeeded in producing three generations of state governors and many lawmakers in the National and State Assemblies underscored that fact of voter-friendliness and faithfulness over the years.

However, when the time came for Enugu State to throw up a replacement for Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the party in the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC), the party leaders started speaking in tongues and engaging in evasive manouvres.

 Let it be known that when Anyanwu quit from his post as national scribe to contest the Imo State governorship election in November 2023, the lot fell on Enugu State to nominate a replacement as the position was retained in South-east. However, despite the fact that S.K.E Udeh-Okoye was properly nominated and recommended to the PDP leaders, some insouciant forces insisted on frustrating the due process by maintaining that Anyanwu, who lost in the Imo State governorship poll should resume in his former office as if it was his personal estate.

But, as a gentleman and focused leader, the Enugu State Governor, Mbah, served the national leadership of PDP notice that failure to do the right things in the matter, to wit, reinstating SKE Udeh-Okoye as national scribe in line with the party’s resolution, the Enugu chapter of the party would have no option, but to quit PDP. 

Perhaps, believing that the Enugu State chief executive was blabbing, the national leadership of the PDP remained recalcitrant. That stance literally challenged Governor Mbah to do his worst. Consequently, demonstrating the fact that his word remains his bond, and practically as the political leader of Enugu State, Governor Mbah emptied the entire democratic structures of PDP in the state into the ruling APC. The rest, as they say, is now history.

But, greater history was made on Friday, March 27, 2026; when the ruling party held its national convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja. For the first time, Enugu State delegates led by Governor Mbah participated, not as fringe members, but as the ruling party in the state.

 Prominent among the Enugu State delegates were former governors Sullivan Chime and Ambassador designate, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as well as Mbah’s Deputy, Ifeanyi Ossai. What is more, when the roll of elected NWC officials was released, Dr. Ben Nwoye, was recorded as the substantive Deputy National Chairman, South, of the party. 

However, no sooner than the list of the newly elected members of the APC NWC was made public that some detractors tried to downplay Nwoye’s election, which was seen as evidence of Governor Mbah’s triumph and net return on his sagacious defection to APC. Although the naysayers contended that it was no big deal that Nwoye replaced another Enugu State indigene, Emma Eneukwu, they lost sight of the implication of Eneukwu’s occupancy of the office of Deputy National Chairman, South.

 Those who understand the inner workings and politics of APC NWC know that during the period of absence of a leader for Enugu State APC, the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, was charged with the responsibility of overseeing South East states which governors are not of APC. That way, both Anambra and Enugu States became mere colonies under Uzodimma’s administration. 

 Under that dispensation, it was apparent that while an Enugu indigene was physically occupying the position of Deputy National Chairman, South, in essence, the dignity and benefits, including royalties and signature bonuses, of the office effectively belonged to Imo State. 

But, after the fourth national convention of APC, Enugu State now sits majestically as proud member of the NWC of the ruling party. Further, it needs be noted that Governor Mbah’s active presence on the national stage, ensured that Governor Uzodimma’s efforts to resist the new deal represented by Nwoye’s ascendance were strategically countered, thereby paving the way for a shift in the political balance.

If not for Mbah’s timely decision to connect Enugu State to the national political grid of APC, the fate that befell Anambra State, which culminated in the replacement of the hardworking former Deputy National Organising Secretary, Nze Chidi Duru, would have been its lot.  

It was intriguing that the same forces that pushed for Duru’s replacement with Barrister Emeka Okafor, pulled every string to ensure that Eneukwu was retained in the name of continuity. But, demonstrating his keen and deep knowledge of Enugu State politics, Governor Mbah was able to prove that just like Eneukwu, Dr. Nwoye had previously served APC as Enugu State chairman. 

At the end of the day, Governor Mbah was able to deploy his close personal friendship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that oke Enugu agaghi efu (Enugu gets what belongs to it). Of course, with Mbah now becoming President Tinubu’s go-to person in South East, Enugu State will no longer depend on middlemen and interpreters to know what goes on at the centre.

While commending President Tinubu for the overly peaceful national convention, Governor Mbah described the new set of NWC as round pegs in round holes. He maintained that if indeed democracy is all about the people, “we have demonstrated that tonight.”

According to the Enugu State chief executive, “The success of this convention shows that as a party, we are not only modeling good governance and implementing reforms that are repositioning our economy, we have also shown that the APC is a model in party politics and that we are one big family.”

And, with the much-talked about APC national convention done and dusted, whenever the Enugu State Governor declares that Tomorrow Is Here, Nigerians will recognise that Peter Mbah’s politics of integration have attained national relevance and significance.