Why Enugu Is not Aware of any other Party besides the PDP

By Reuben Onyishi

In Enugu State, the PDP, Peoples Democratic Party, is a huge political unconsciousness down the inner recesses of the Enugu citizenry. The party is the main current in the political awareness of an average Enugu citizen who exerts thoughts toward politics. This huge unconsciousness is akin to what the Neo-American Marxist, Fredric Jameson, called  the political unconscious which presupposes the unconscious ideological disposition as reflected in cultural texts. That a thing is subsumed within human unconscious does not follow that it does not exist. Neither does it also mean it has no functional influence on one’s behaviour. The average Enugu citizenry may not overtly  express this political attitude verbally but acts it out during elections. It is the sole driver of the political and voting decision of the Enugu man. Even if the Enugu voter closes his eyes, he knows the slot of the PDP where to cast his vote at all time.

Since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic governance, the PDP has played active roles in governance at all levels of the Nigerian state: the national, state, local governments and wards. It had controlled power at the national level until  2015 when Nigeria bought into a new deceptive narrative that has today brought the nation to its knees. The people are groaning and grovelling over the blighting economic and security challenges brought to bear on the nation by the choice of ostensive change. The nation had made a choice of a new party called APC having bought into the false narrative that it needed to change the ruling party, the PDP. Indeed the PDP was changed for a worse option that has rendered the nation down and out on all fours.

Despite the gale of the said change that swept across the nation, that brought in the APC government into power, Enugu State remained unfazed and impervious to that cyclone. The people massively voted the PDP at all levels of government: the state and local government executives and legislatures. Till date, there has been no opposition elected to any position in the state from 1999. Enugu is PDP and PDP is Enugu.The heartbeat of the people is PDP; their DNA is PDP; the PDP and Enugu State are like the breast and the chest. They are inseparable. The party does not even need to campaign as the people would  demonstrate this huge political unconscious expressly extempore.

Some politicians had thought to lure the people away to other parties by contesting elections in them. Today, such politicians have become wiser. They were hoofed, hasped and herpled in pains and regret. Most of them defected to the PDP after they had been taught the political lessons of their lives. Some recalcitrant ones had serially played opposition and had serially failed. It is politically foolhardy of anyone who would dare to change the people’s commitment to the party, for while they have enough lessons to draw from, they rather chose to hope against hope and paid dearly for their indiscretion.

Party primaries in preparation for the 2023 general polls had been concluded.The PDP was the choice party of anyone who wanted to be serious with the contest for any position in the state. However, those contestants who seemingly lacked political patience and maturity eloped to other parties where they were easily recruited to contest against the PDP candidates. Some political watchers are amused at the display of arrant political immaturity and  wonder why anyone would take such political rope and hang themselves in the name of desperation; whereas, they could have drawn from the political lessons the PDP had taught the opposition in the state for 22 years.

Whoever would play politics should learn patience and also ask for wisdom. A good politician is a mathematician. He crosses the figures and balances the equation. He is stable and does not easily succumb to the emotional wind that blows the political epicures off the corridors.

Naturally, after the primaries emotions may be stoked. It is a normal thing. This has been the case, but the people have a way of dissipating the emotions and getting the ‘wounds’ healed and then close ranks in order to deliver the choice of the party. Immature and ideologically feeble politicians would scamper like rodents to other parties. They would contest and fail again only to return to the umbrella through the back door. The umbrella in Enugu State is incidentally big enough to contain them. The PDP has a good and large heart to forgive the prodigals whenever they return. This presumably is one of the assets of the party in Enugu State. Everybody cannot win at the same time. Politics is a game and must be played with the spirit of give and take, that is, sportsmanship. Mature politicians lose and join forces with the winner but inexperienced emotional greenhorns quickly run to another party only to run back later politically bruised and battered.

One other asset of the Peoples Democratic Party in Enugu State is the number of political support groups that identifies with it and its candidates. The emergence of Peter Mbah has already led to the formation of many support groups one of which is Peter Mbah Support Vanguard (PMSV) which engages who is who in Enugu State, as it is spread to the three senatorial zones, 17 local governments and 260 wards in the state, sweeping across the state massive support to the PDP and its candidates.

Quite another is that the present governor of Enugu State, Dr Lawrence Ifeanyichukwu Ugwuanyi, himself has a forgiving spirit which has also rubbed off on the party. Most of those who had talked ill of him also did return as prodigals and were forgiven and reintegrated. Ugwuanyi’s arms are wide spread with the olive branch in palm to bring back to the fold recalcitrant prodigal sons who left basking in the cornucopia of blessings in the Enugu PDP for the pigsty. The party is ready to welcome them back and get them fed off kwashiorkor and rehabilitated. Those who went out and saw for themselves the effects of leaving the PDP should be on hand to advise those who have taken the political rope to the forest of any other party to commit political suicide.

Any tree trying to grow taller than than the Iroko is looking for the trouble of the sky. There is no vacancy anywhere in Enugu State for the labourers, for they would labour in vain. It is vain for you to wake up early in the morning and labour till nightfall in vain. I am like the owl. The owl hoots to warn the children of men about impending deaths. The owl itself does not kill. Those who have ears, let them hear; those who have heard ‘told’ others as Zebrudaya would say. Me m’ atoo!