By Deji Elumoye
President Bola Tinubu’s high spirits when he received a high-powered delegation of Enugu State leaders recently was not only unconnected with the endorsement by unusual quarters, but the relief that the evident dividends of Governor Peter Mbah’s transformative leadership in the state validates the efficacy of his economic reforms.
President Bola Tinubu described it as “a very intimidating delegation.” And he was right, for the Enugu State delegation to the State House, last week, comprised virtually all the who-is-who in the state, and they cut across the political, religious, traditional, and business leaders and technocrats.
Led by the Governor of the state, Dr. Peter Mbah, who also came with the Enugu State First Lady, Nkechinyere Mbah, the delegation comprised the Deputy Governor, Ifeanyi Ossai; former President of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani; Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo and his wife, Dr. Patricia Nwobodo; former Governors, Sullivan Chime and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; former Military Governors of old Imo State, Navy Commodore Anthony Ogugua (rtd.) and Navy Commodore James Aneke (rtd.); former Military Administrator of Gombe State, Group Capt. Joseph Orji (rtd); Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Dr. Kingsley Udeh; all serving Members of the National Assembly from the State led by Senator Osita Ngwu, until recently the Senate Minority Whip; a good number of former Members of the apex legislature, including former Deputy Minority Leader of the House and Executive Director (Projects), South East Development Commission, Hon. Toby Okechukwu and Senator Chukwuka Utazi.
On the roll call were also the Chairman, Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, HRM Igwe Samuel Asadu; the Anglican Bishop of Nike Diocese, Most Rev. Onyeka Onyia; highly influential Catholic priest, academic, and founding Director of the Catholic Institute of Development, Justice, Peace and Caritas (CIDJAP), Monsignor (Prof.) Obiora Ike; fiery Catholic clergy, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka; former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Frank Mbah (rtd); former minister and envoy, Ambassador Fidelia Njeze; Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Progressives Congress, Dr. Ben Nwoye; Founder of Afrivest, Ike Chioke; Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter and South East zone of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Sydney Edeh.
According to their leader, Dr. Mbah, they were in the Villa to appreciate President Tinubu for what he described as a beneficial and trustworthy relationship between the present federal administration and Enugu State, made manifest in projects, major interventions and appointments.
He said: “If it were possible, Your Excellency, the entire Enugu State population would have converged here at the Villa to express our gratitude. The delegation here represents the excited and grateful voices of over seven million Enugu sons and daughters. At our backs are millions of men, women, and children whose lives are shaped, for better or worse, by our governance and by the decisions you make at the centre.
“We have come to state, boldly and without ambiguity, that this relationship has earned our trust and support.”
According to the governor, Tinubu had shown good faith to Enugu State even long before they crossed over to the ruling APC.
“Mr. President, you are a true friend of Enugu State. This was evident in January 2025, when you visited Enugu.
You broke a long-standing political distance between this region and the federal government. You crossed party lines.
“At a time when the Enugu electorate did not favour your party, you chose to invest in our state because you recognised what we were building.”
He said decades-long challenges facing Enugu State and South East were now being addressed since that visit.
“The concessioning of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport means Enugu now has a functioning international gateway, and in doing so, it opens up the Southeast – over 30 million people – to the world.
“With the South East Development Commission, you have established a structure for coordinated regional development.
“The extension of the gas pipeline to Enugu will connect the state to the national gas grid and, critically, unlock our own gas reserves, making power generation viable, and shifting Enugu from sitting on stranded resources to becoming an energy hub for the South East,” he stated.
Mbah further thanked Tinubu for the extensive works on the Enugu–Port Harcourt expressway and Enugu-Onitsha expressway, the swift reconstruction of the collapsed New Artisan Bridge, the 700-metre flyover at Eke Obinagu along the Enugu – Abakaliki Expressway, among other interventions by his administration.
He equally highlighted the President’s sense of belonging to Enugu people and South East through key national appointments such as the position of the Chief of the Air Staff occupied by Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke as well as Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla (rtd.), formerly appointed the Chief of the Naval Staff.
Equally important to the Enugu delegation are the President’s policies and reforms, which Mbah said had been the backbone of the transformations going on in Enugu State in terms of investments and over 2,000 ongoing and completed projects.
These include 267 Smart Green Schools, 260 Type 2 Primary Healthcare Centre, state-of-the-art Command and Control Centre linked to AI-enabled cameras, 300-bed Enugu International Hospital, revamping of various moribund assets and industries, over 1,000km of constructed or reconstructed roads, launch of Enugu Air that now has six aircraft, the Enugu Haier Factory, just to name very few.
“Mr. President, the progress we are seeing in the lives of the people of Enugu is not isolated from the decisions taken at the centre. It is made possible by them.
“We recognise that these results don’t come easy. You took difficult decisions – removing the fuel subsidy, unifying the exchange rate, strengthening public finances, and reforming the power sector to support investment.
“It is these bold decisions that have freed up resources, expanded sub-national support, and allowed states like ours to invest, to build, and to translate national decisions into tangible outcomes for our people.
“On these bases, we will stand proudly with you on election day in January, 2027,” Mbah declared.
The happiness on the President’s face was unmistakable and his lavish commendations of Mbah quite unusual. One could hardly recall the last time President heaped such praises on any governor in the manner he did with the unassuming governor.
Besides the endorsement coming from an unusual quarter being the capital of a region where he polled only about six percent of votes cast in the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu’s main joy may have come from the relief that at least here is a state that shows that his reforms are working.
Again, the president also personally inaugurated some of the named flagship projects in January, 2025.
Commending Mbah for his giant strides in the development of the state, the President declared that leaders like Mbah were critical to Nigeria’s growth and democratic consolidation, describing him as a transformative leader with clarity of vision and commitment to Nigeria’s progress.
According to him: “This is a very intimidating delegation. And I will mark this as a very remarkable moment of this administration and the future of this country. The words that you have spoken, Excellency, are quite encouraging and transformative. The work you are doing is extremely important for our democracy to grow and for people to flourish.
“The future of this country rests on people like you with the commitment, great vision, and seriousness that you have embarked upon since you assumed the office.
“I thank you very much on behalf of the country, the great people of this nation, and Enugu State, in particular.
“You’ve been a transformative leader, and we genuinely appreciate what is evolving in Enugu today in a manner that we have witnessed a rapid development of the state.
“The results you have outlined in security, infrastructure, education, and healthcare are not abstract. They are the evidence that our reforms are working, that the difficult decisions we took are yielding real outcomes, and that Nigeria is moving forward.
“I can assure you we will continue to work together, think together, and build together a nation that will be a pride of place for all our citizens.”
He assured that his administration would continue to support Enugu State, particularly in the delivery of critical infrastructure, including rail, power and transport projects that were central to economic expansion.
On the Port Harcourt-Enugu rail line, the president acknowledged the imperatives of the project, assuring that he would accelerate the project and other critical infrastructural projects in the South East region.
“On the matter you’ve raised: the rail from Port Harcourt to Enugu, the power sector reforms, the infrastructure that is a backbone of economic development of our country are noted, and we will do more.
“What has been the problem in the past in Nigeria is that Nigeria was trying to finance long-term projects with short-term funding. We have not embarked upon a serious long-term outlook for our country. And with people like you—a leader that is so committed, so visionary—Nigeria is on the right trajectory to becoming a very successful, leading African nation.”
But the President was not oblivious of the fact that not everyone would be happy with the successes being recorded in Enugu State under his leadership.
“Democracy will survive despite all the intimidations. I ignore, and I will advise you – as I will advise myself – stay focused. When you are succeeding and they are angry, leave them in their corner. Stay focused and believe in yourself, as you have been doing,” he advised.
While the taste of Enugu’s endorsement of Tinubu is to be seen during the January, 2027 presidential election, it is nevertheless an elixir to President’s re-election bid and Mbah’s scorecard will be a ready justification during the campaigns that his reforms were not ill-conceived.
