The Trap Set for Nsukka by Uche Nnaji and the Urgency of Mbah’s Entry into APC

(Why Enugu North Senatorial Zone Must Support the Governor to Join APC)

By: Sebastine Chukwuebuka Okafor Ph.D

(Dr. Bookastro)

In July 2021, when the Ward Congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) started, Senator Ken Nnamani was the one representing Enugu State at the National Working Committee as a member of the caretaker committee from the South East zone. His mission was to discard Dr. Ben Nwoye and replace him with Group Captain Orji from Aninri, as the party felt it was the turn of Greater Awgu to produce the state chairman. While all these were ongoing, there was no sign of Chief Uche Nnaji. It was only rumors that a big man from Akpugo, who allegedly helped in making Senator Uzodimma Governor, was planning to join APC and contest for governorship.

This continued until the Local Government congresses and appeals were concluded. It was during the ward congresses that a certain Ebe Ana Eje joined officially, but nobody till date knows how and when the almighty Akpugo man himself formally joined. He managed to use Princess Adaogbu to play gimmicks on Senator Ken Nnamani and produced Ugo Agballa as state chairman before embarking on his real mission, which was to demarket Tinubu.

 Before doing this, he tagged all the leaders of the party, such as HE Sullivan Chime, Chief Osita Okechukwu, Rt Hon Eugene Odoh, Gen JOJ Okoloagu, Sen Ken Nnamani, Late Sen Ayogu Eze, Dr. Ben Nwoye amongst others, as moles and insulted them everywhere. As if that was not enough, he began to use his stooge Barr Ugochukwu Agballa to suspend and expel them while also using their already existing structures. He only appointed those who entered the party with him as Local Government chairmen. None of the people parading themselves as APC Local Government party chairmen today is legally recognized in Abuja. The Akpugo man gave himself the gubernatorial ticket in one of the most silent opposition party primaries in the history of the state.

When the campaign became tough and all the leaders he had called moles were openly campaigning for Tinubu, he decamped to Imo and began operating from there, knowing he was not truly contesting for anything. After the worst election outing, during politicking for ministerial positions, his Imo lords informed him that President Ahmed Bola Tinubu was heading towards Enugu North Senatorial Zone. He devised a means to paint the party leaders from the zone as untrustworthy, which he has been doing till today using his stooge Barr Ugochukwu Agballa.

First, he thought it was Gen JOJ Okoloagu and sponsored a series of media attacks on him. When that failed, he suspended him several times before personally expelling him. Next was Rt Hon Eugene Odo, who suffered numerous false accusations aimed at damaging his reputation. When that did not work, he was suspended and expelled. Then came the late Sen Ayogu Eze, the lion from Igboeze North, who proved the hardest to silence. He gave him the political battle of his life until the man from Akpugo retreated.

 After securing the ministerial slot, his mission still continued. His next target was Senator Chuka Utazi, a two time commissioner, outspoken and fearless, the only Senator from the zone honored nationally by late President Muhammadu Buhari. When Senator Utazi entered APC after consulting his former colleagues, Chief Nnaji was deeply unsettled, especially when rumors spread that President Tinubu would reshuffle his ministers. He immediately instructed Barr Agballa to label Utazi a mole and even issued a press statement of his sack. Yet the senator’s silence unsettled him, as his plan had been to drag him into a media war that never came.

Chief Nnaji’s mission is to weaken party leaders from Nsukka zone and impoverish them. When some of them saw what was happening, they began to use their contacts to protect themselves. That was where Hon Dan Ugwuja, also known as Danigold, came into play. He was appointed into the South East Development Commission but Chief Nnaji somehow removed him and replaced him with a PDP man, Rt Hon Okechukwu, who also happens to be my brother. The story behind how the initial list was tampered with remains a mystery till date.

 Then came Hon Mrs Favour Asogwa. She was denied the position of zonal women leader but quietly used her Kogi contacts to secure a place at the presidency, where she was penciled for Tetfund. Somehow Chief Nnaji manipulated the list. Because she was perceived as not a serious political threat, he allowed her inclusion instead into the Federal Polytechnic Nekede Board, where she currently spends her own resources to run her office. This was able to happen to an Nsukka woman, after intervention calls from party leaders in the North Central.

However, After that, it dawned on Nsukka members that all was not well. They protested, which led to the sacking of Hon Uba Onah from Igboeze South, a loyal and founding party member, by tagging him a mole. Seeing that his game was beginning to fail, he quickly facilitated the appointment of Chief Eva Asadu into a moribund board known as Imo River Basin as director of engineering, despite his having no engineering background. Till date, the young man earns nothing from the position. It is also on record that Chief Nnaji strongly opposed the appointment of Peter Ezeh into the NPC, but though unsuccessful, he later instigated unrest within the commission by setting brothers against brothers.

 It is already two years since he secured his own ministerial position, yet he remains fixated on destabilizing Nsukka people. Every reasonable Nsukka man should ask himself why Uche Nnaji is focused on Nsukka. Who is he recruiting there? Why has he not done so in his own zone? The answers are clear, he fears for his position.

 A critical look into his activities in Nsukka zone reveals the truth. His mission began when rumors spread that Governor Peter Mbah might join APC. Chief Nnaji knows well that Governor Mbah is the solution to Nsukka’s long quest for a ministerial position, and he does not want that to happen. Consider who he recruited in Enugu Ezike, Opi, and Aku, a personal assistant to a former House of Representatives member, Hon Simon Atigwe, whose highest office was as one of the most ineffective deputy chairmen, and another, a frustrated former PDP and Labour Party man from Opi. Why spend so much on publicizing such weak recruits? They are men who cannot challenge him and must rely on his meager offerings to survive. To make matters worse, some of them were even received in a mechanic garage.

As APC in Enugu State embraces the coming of Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah, it is very clear who is afraid of him and who is causing political unrest in Nsukka zone. Chief Nnaji knows that Mbah’s eventual entry into APC would automatically tilt the balance of influence away from him. That is why he is desperately trying to discredit Nsukka leaders and sow division before that day comes.

What is happening in Enugu politics today is not merely about the control of party structures but about the future of Nsukka’s place in national politics. For years, the zone has been marginalized in ministerial appointments, and now that a golden opportunity is near, there are desperate efforts to deny them their rightful due. Nsukka leaders must resist these antics with unity, because history has shown that no individual can suppress the collective will of a determined people.

 In the long run, truth always prevails. The smear campaigns, the suspensions, and the manufactured crises will not stand the test of time. What remains is for party leaders in Nsukka to remain vigilant and focused, knowing that their strength lies in their ability to stand together in defense of their political destiny.

As the storm settles, the real enemies of progress will be exposed, and their plots will collapse under the weight of truth and justice. APC under Governor Peter Ndubisi Mbah is the one that will finally give Nsukka its rightful ministerial position and retire the current occupier into the party he truly belongs to, the IDPPP, Internally Displaced Politicians Political Party.

“Nsukka’s hour is now. The choice is clear: stand with Mbah in APC, or fall into the trap set by Nnaji.”