By Emeka Nwatu

People often use the word ‘Leadership’ without really understanding its in-depth meaning and connotations. For many, a leader is anybody with a staff of office or possessing authority over a group of persons.

Yes, such a person is qualified to be a leader but what goes amiss most times is the practice of leadership by such individuals. In the true practice of leadership, a leader causes positive influence, moulds others and aggregates potentials to achieve a desired common good. A good leader develops, harnesses and empowers his subjects to reach the zenith of their abilities. In the other words, a true leader motivates his community into achieving set goals through inspiration, vision, direction that elevates the populace with his faultless decision-making.

For Socrates, true leadership is rooted in virtue and knowledge, prioritizing the greater good and intellectual humanity. Socrates said that critical thinking is employed for good leadership, same as wisdom, courage and justice to serve their followers effectively. Aristotle talked about temperance as an essential trait of a good leader.

All these qualities are what His Excellency, Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has employed in his first two years of leadership test and he scored 99.9 percent in the scrutiny. Going back prior to his emergence and during campaign period, Governor Mbah did not show flamboyant personality but maintained decorum but explicit in the enunciation of his programmes. He won, became Governor and got straight to the point of governance. At the unveiling of his manifesto in October 2022, one of the things that Mbah promised to establish is a multimodal means of transportation which by today, over 100 Compressed Natural Gas, CNG buses have been made available for cost-efficient and modernized means of transportation in the state. Electric cars are also in the series that will follow in the transportation sector with bus terminals that are ready built at Holy Ghost, Garriki, Abakpa, and Nsukka locations.

How Governor Mbah makes achievement with ease has created a puzzle and envy among some politicians. For instance, he pleaded during the campaigns that he will asphalt 10,000 kilometers of road and the doubting Thomas made calculations and said that the area measurement of the state was not up to 10,000 kilometers. But look at what has happened between May 29 2023 and today and say the distance of roads that have been overlaid with asphalt. Again he said that technology will drive his administration as most of his programs will be hi-tech supported and today we have the Command and Control centre being used to tackle insecurity and to upgrade the state Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from $4.4 billion to $30 billion.

Mbah summarized it that his administration will employ “Disruptive Innovation” to arrive at his desired result but only very few understood what he meant. Now it has become clear that disruptive innovation means doing things the extraordinary way, a departure and break away from bureaucratic bottlenecks that had in the past constituted laxity in administrations. Mbah has the conviction that the state on the hills (Enugu) must rise beyond its past potency and assert itself as a preferred destination for business, investment, tourism and for residence.

The two years transformation in Enugu state was encompassing. It was not just about tangible infrastructural improvements, but in entrenching the confidence that good governance is possible and not a rocket science. The ease of doing business has been so entrenched that Enugu has become the most admired part, east of Niger. The establishment of Enugu Geographical Information Services (ENGIS) which has digitized over 80 percent of land titles in a digital land archive has created confidence in investments in the state. Industrial clusters and manufacturers are now benefiting from improved electricity access; ensuring uninterrupted operations for businesses in critical sectors since Governor Mbah signed the Enugu State Electricity Law 2023 which enabled the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) to commence full operation. The law has strengthened the regulatory framework and created an enabling environment for service providers, developers, investors, stakeholders, and customers to participate as licensees, off-takers, or players in the electricity sector.

It will be difficult to capture the essence of Governor Mbah’s leadership in few words, particularly when the invisible strides are greater than the discernible ones on the streets and in the hinterlands. Communities that had been far away from civilization are beginning to feel the impact of development since May 29 2023. Such communities include Amankanu, Umualor in Isi-Uzo where Trunk-A road is being constructed to open up the areas and connect them to Benue state and the entire northern parts of Nigeria. The same goes to Nara, Nkerefi, Mburubu, Ihuokpara and all the rest of the most difficult terrains that were inaccessible and whose people gnashed teeth as if they were not meant to be part of civilization.

Accolades are even coming from what used to be the opposition elements in the state that have not just collapsed their structures with the magic wand of the Mbah administration and chose to become partners in the government they saw that they would not have done better than what Peter is doing right now. If it is not the Labour Party members that are throwing in their towels, the APC structure is praising the Governor for his efforts in Enugu North senatorial district and beyond. The Enugu State House of Representatives Caucus commended the development strides of Mbah saying that the Governor has been phenomenal in addressing road infrastructure, insecurity, revamping moribund state-owned enterprises, and the speedy completion of abandoned projects in parts of the state.

The quintessence of Mbah’s leadership therefore lies in going beyond the trappings and inhibitions that frustrated good governance in the past to overcome such challenges, employing courage and innovation to cause disruptions that break yokes to achieve liberty and prosperity for people. That is the essence of leadership!

The cases of the International Conference Centre, Presidential hotel, the legendary dualisation of Nike road/Nike lake roads up to Opi Nsukka as it is obtained in other parts of the state, the 260 Green Smart schools in every ward, the Type 2 primary healthcare centers in the 260 political wards, the 300 beds international specialist hospital coming up in Rangers Avenue at Independence Layout Enugu, the farm estates in every local government and also the major ones in the 17 local government areas to boost food production and food security and reactivation of the decayed Enugu Water Corporation infrastructure are all projects that have elicited motivation and elevated citizens and residents of Enugu state to say that there couldn’t have been a better administrator than Peter Mbah at this time.

It is based on all the above that the Enugu Unity Forum in Enugu East Senatorial zone is proud of our son, Dr. Peter Mbah, as the association is fully in support of him. We plead and encourage other parts of the state to keep supporting him and ensure that he is seamlessly reelected in 2027 to continue with the good works.

Dr. Chukwuemeka Nwatu is the Coordinator of the Enugu Unity Forum in Enugu East Senatorial district