Ebonyi 2023: Stirs Trail Edwin-nwonu's Declaration
The recent declaration of the 2023 Ebonyi gubernatorial ambition of the member representing Ezza North/Ishielu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Abuja, Rt. Hon. Anayo Edwin-Nwonu (also known as Anatex), has stirred up Ebonyi polity and led to massive political re-adjusments. These have in turn altered Ebonyi political permutations and left many intending aspirants across the major political parties in Ebonyi State shivering. The unveiling of Hon. Edwin-Nwonu's gubernatorial ambition in Lagos which is the rooftop of Nigeria's economic hub was strategic and impactful in many ways to different segments of Ebonyi polity.
To the vibrant and vast constituency of the young in Ebonyi State who have been restricted to the brinks of power since the creation of Ebonyi State in 1996, Edwin-Nwonu's declaration for the 2023 Ebonyi guber provides an opportunity for the young in Ebonyi State to demonstrate to the world that they have grown into maturity and can effectively steer the ship of Ebonyi State through the tides to the harbour of prosperity and unlimited opportunities for all. Furthermore, Hon. Anayo Edwin-Nwonu's ambition offers Ebonyi people the opportunity for the litmus test of the "Not Too Young To Run" mantra which was contrived to end gerontocracy in Nigeria. These explain the ecstatic joy with which the young generation of Ebonyi State received the news of Edwin-Nwonu's ambition which according to them "could not have come at a better time". Beyond the young, a larger broadspectrum constituency of Ebonyi people who yearned for a new, better and truly equitable order which meets the requirements of compatibility with Ebonyi people's culture, religions and morality see Anatex's guber project as the only opportunity to create a new wholesome order in Ebonyi State.
However, just like the countryside music legend, Dolly Parton, sang, the news of Anayo Edwin-Nwonu's gubernatorial project could best be described as having different strokes for different folks. As majority of Ebonyi youths, women, adults and stakeholders have continued to celebrate and subscribe to it in what has been described as fundamental political realignments for the 2023 power game, some politicians who have built castles of ambition on the injurious and inequitable old order received the news of Edwin-Nwonu's guber project with tremulous fear and hysteria. This being the case, they have assembled their hatchet-men together and resorted to frenetic acts of cheap blackmail designed to disparage both the person and ambition of Anayo Edwin-Nwonu. Unfortunately for these beneficiaries of the old order, Edwin-Nwonu's tall integrity and gubernatorial ambition have proved to be impervious to blackmail and so have remained untainted.
Ebonyi people's preference of Edwin-Nwonu and his gubernatorial project to the fringe ambitions of the lying beneficiaries of the old order is hinged on the enthralling strength of Anatex's moral credentials and commitment to the common good. Low in moral credentials and deficient in goodwill and commitment to the common good which are vital ingredients of leadership character, Anatex's political rivals plead the injurious rotation sequence instead of their respective characters, antecedents and what they have achieved and can achieve for Ebonyi people. It is instructive that inspite of their plaintive taunts and raucous averments, Ebonyi people are becoming adamant in their preference for Anayo Edwin-Nwonu; and determination to vote him as the Governor of Ebonyi State in 2023. This is because Anatex began from childhood to pour himself out like libations for the benefit of mankind. In the approaching days of reckoning known as campaign period, attempts shall be made to present the intimidating achievements of Anayo Edwin-Nwonu for mankind both in his private life and in his public life; and to x-ray the humongous promises he holds for Ebonyi people if elected as governor in 2023.
Ebonyi people have also continued to reject lies about Ebonyi charter of equity on the premise that they are stillborn. Ebonyians believe that no "charter of equity" ever existed because the word "charter" means deed or agreement. It is on record that Ebonyi people never met or agreed on which of the three senatorial districts should produce the governor of Ebonyi State in 1999. Agreements or charters do not and cannot evolve on their own, independent of parties' respective wills or consent otherwise known as "consensus ad idem" in legal parlance. The decision of who became the pioneer governor of Ebonyi State was a product of expedient and capricious whims of non-Ebonyi soldiers who served as chaperones of "civilian administration" in Ebonyi State. That this inequitable and unconscionable regimental imposition has made a turbulent and unpredictable tour through the three senatorial districts does not and CANNOT change its extraneous origin, deficiency and injurious nature. This is true if one recalls that the choice of Dr. Sam Egwu in 1999 was based strictly on grounds of pliability. That the soldiers never thought of the next port of the gubernatorial position after 1999 rebuts the imputation of any intention to have a rotation order.
In the days ahead, one expects more blackmail from those whose ambitions have been dislocated by Anayo Edwin-Nwonu's gubernatorial project; but the good thing is that Ebonyi people's eyes are wide open, shining and focused on truth. One thing that cannot be denied today is that the general acceptance of the Edwin-Nwonu guber brand has confounded existing political permutations; and consequently sent political pundits in Ebonyi State back to their drawing boards. In all, it can safely be said that Anayo Edwin-Nwonu is an unusual political catalyst who has come to create a new and better order and to change the 2023 political game for good in Ebonyi State. Certainly, the days ahead promise to be interesting.