by Frank Onovo
Frank Nweke Jnr, a former Minister of Information, is suave. He frequently poses as a patriot. He is also articulate.
It is easy for him to impress some people, especially outsiders. But he doesn’t impress his Enugu people, despite his fine credentials. Not even his Ozala people in Nkanu West Local Government Area. And he will never. Frank Nweke Jnr is a good example of the old saying that all that glitters is not gold.
Nweke, who is participating in the March 18 governorship election as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, is in bed with outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and outgoing Senator Chimaraoke Nnamani. In fact, he is their stooge.
Frank Nweke Jnr was Nnamani’s Chief of Staff when the latter was the Enugu State governor from 1999 to 2007. He took over from Peter Mba, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gbernatorial candidate in Enugu State in the 2023 general elections, who was moved from the post of Chief of Staff to the Commissioner for Finance. Frank Nweke was such a beloved member of the dreaded Ebeano Family founded by Dr Nnamani that the then-governor recommended him for a ministerial appointment. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the then-president, accepted. The rest is history.
As the 2023 general election was approaching, both Senator Nnamani and Governor Ugwuanyi asked him to join APGA and run on its ticket. This was their Plan B. Their Plan A was Peter Mbah. I will explain.
As outgoing Governor Ugwuanyi doesn’t have enough brains for clever political tricks, he has been relying on Chimaraoke Nnamani for direction and guidance. Ugwuanyi has learned from his master and has been sponsoring his acolytes in different political parties and even nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to work as spies and agents. This is a notorious fact to every Enugu indigene and resident.
Two persons who just sought to secure the Labour Party’s ticket in the Enugu East senatorial race to be held on March 18 are well-known Nnamani/Ugwuanyi loyalists. Emmanuel Uche Ogbodo is still serving as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Ugwuanyi, as you are reading this brief note. Dr Chinyeaka Ohaa, who embarrassingly now claims that he didn’t contest even after he purchased the form and was represented by a trusted ally at the extraordinary Labour Party Convention last Sunday at Hotel Top 10 in Golf Estate, was Nnamani’s Accountant General.
He was so committed to the Ebeano’s cause that Nnamani recommended him to Obasanjo that he joined the federal public service at the top. President Obasanjo accepted the recommendation. He remains a passionate leader of the Ebeano which most Enuge people regard as a dreaded cult, frequently fingered in politically motivated assassinations. For example, Professor Arthur Chukwu, the head of the Department of Professional Ethics and Skills at the Nigerian Law School, Yola Campus in Adamawa State, told journalists two days after the killing of his elder brother, Barrister Oyibo Chukwu, a former Nigerian Bar Association chairman and the Labour Party candidate in the Enugu East senatorial election originally scheduled to hold on February 25, that his brother had complained to some people that the Ebeano group was determined to kill him.
There is a third aspirant sponsored in the Labour Party by the duo of Nnamani and Ugwuanyi: Everest Nnaji. He wanted to join the race for the Labour senatorial ticket but chickened out towards the end. Why? He challenged the LP governorship candidate in Enugu State, The Rt Hon Chijioke Edeoga, for the governorship ticket up to the Supreme Court which in a landmark judgment used harsh words against his behavious o Monday, February 27. He is now afraid of his shadows.
Until the Labour Party Hurricane and the Peter Obi Tsunami, the PDP was the strongest political party in Enugu State, though facing occasional threats from APGA. That’s why Nnamani and Ugwuanyi worked hard, though secretly, to get the parties to hand over their flags in the 2023 gubernatorial election to their viceroys, that is, Peter Mbah in the PDP and Frank Nweke Jnr in APGA. Ugwuanyi and Nnamani would rather spend their people’s fortune on causing problems within parties and NGOs than on providing basic infrastructure or developing human capital.
After 24 years in power, the PDP “has been creating, deepening, and distributing poverty all over the state”, as James Offor, a retired civil service director, put it. “The resources of our state are cornered by a notorious cabal. The people of Enugu State have, therefore, decided on a change.”
Enough is enough. No one wants Ebeano boys under any guise anywhere near the Lion Building anymore.
Enough said.