By Eze Nwamadi, Ogbonna Asadu and Ezema Igwenunu
A certain serial apologist of Enugu Labour Party had recently in one of his many misguided pontifications posited that certain aides of Governor Mbah had celebrated Mbah’s victories at the Enugu Election Petition Tribunal and the Appeal Court days before judgments were given; that it smacked of
foreknowledge of the judgments. He was right. However, he rather fell into the cesspool of the misinterpretation of the raison de etre of such celebration. He sounded simplistic, scratching the surface of what any ordinary man without any depth of reasoning could have done. A deep thinker with complex-seeing capacity would navigate through the perspectives that could inform such preemptive scenarios.
Celebration of victory ahead of time could mean that the celebrant has foreknowledge of the outcome, and this could be by spiritual discernment, or as he chose to believe, physical knowledge of the outcome, and to toe his path, evidence of manipulation where the judges were already bought over and the outcome clearly known ahead of time. This is the simplistic turn of it which shares a border with mischief. Celebration ahead of time could also be an act of faith.
Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for, as we read in the book of Hebrews chapter 11 of the bible. It takes God’s kind of faith to call the things that be not as though they were. This is one option the author did not explore, or rather mischievously glossed over in order to sell his emotional narratives that the judgments were bought and justice miscarried.
We find it preposterous of them who have variously expressed lack of confidence in the judiciary to still resort to the same judiciary every time they were flawed at the courts. The old woman is a witch, yet she won’t be left alone. You would go to her fireplace to warm yourself when you have a cold. The same people have been junketing from court to court in search of a mirage. Nemo dat quad non habet. The court cannot manufacture justice from empty claims. Justice naturally proceeds from evidence.
Well, the fact is that our celebrations ahead of time are deliberate and well aligned with our belief that Peter Mbah is invincible, and invulnerable to all their shenanigans. We had known he would not just win at the polls and courts, we already knew and had declared that he would govern Enugu State for eight years. Why didn’t the writer also include this in his claims? Or has eight years already come and gone? The fact is that Mbah became the governor of Enugu State the day he emerged the PDP flag bearer at the gubernatorial primaries of the party held on 25th May, 2023. That was when it became clear to even all the aspirants a governor had emerged. Those who ran to other parties merely wanted to play try-your-luck game. Or they were misled by some disgruntled folks who wanted to use them as arrows to fight their personal battles of political vendetta. Besides that, was there anyone who listened to Peter Mbah during the electioneering process whose doubts were not healed? By the time Peter is through in four years, Ndi Enugu will practically beg him to continue. Take note of this. It is a prophecy that shall come to pass, and when it does, they would say we bought judgment and compromised judges.
We may play politics, and write these things, but we also have a gift. God would not do anything which he would not reveal to his servants, for God rules in the affairs of men. All power belongs to Him. And that is the spiritual perspective to it about which we had mentioned earlier in this discourse. While INEC withheld the announcement of the result of Enugu governorship election and the Labour Party supporters and the PDP faithfuls had taken positions at Agric Bank and WAEC junctions respectively, at Independence Layout Enugu, close to INEC office, in protest, each asking that their candidate be declared the winner, the media aide referred to in the Labour apologist’s essay, in our hearing, even before some PDP chieftains and directors of the campaign council, told us that after all the noises, that Peter Mbah would be declared the governor-elect. True to his words, Mbah was declared the governor-elect.
Few days to the judgment of the Enugu Election Petition Tribunal, the same aide told us that Mbah had already emerged victorious, saying that Labour would appeal, but that Mbah would still win. He told us that the matter would still be appealed to the Supreme Court, but that Mbah would still win. He said these things had been revealed to him by God through prophecy. To demonstrate it, he began to twit Mbah’s victory days before the judgment, celebrating Mbah’s victory. True to his prediction, Mbah won at the tribunal.
On the eve of the judgment of the Appeal Court, he also congratulated Governor Mbah on his Twitter X, WhatsApp and Facebook handles. He said it all with air of confidence, and rhetorical finality, asking who could pull off the lion that it held inbetween the jaws. It was these things that the Labour Party apologist saw and then concluded that having known the outcome of the judgment ahead of time, it meant the judgments were bought over, and the aide was privy to that. What did the proverbial owl say to the children of men? The owl said that he merely warned men about ominous death, but when death happened as he had warned and predicted, sons of men would say he caused the death. The media aide so referred merely manifested his abiding faith in the prophecy he had received.
Even now that the Supreme Court has not even heard the appeal, our celebration mode is activated. We already know the outcome. We call the things that be not as though they were. Peter Mbah will also win. He shall reign for four years, contest again in 2027 and win again and reign for another four years. Anyone whose ambition drives near the governorship had better wait for the next eight years. There is no vacancy in Lion Building. The throne is occupied for the next eight years. That is why we have always advised those running to courts to stop wasting their time and scarce resources. Even Engr. Dave Umahi, the minister of works, advised them, but they would not pay heed to his advice, but would rather grumble, fume and flounce away. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah is already established on the throne, and he reigns to the glory of God and to the delight and wellbeing of Ndi Enugu.
So, we celebrate Mbah’s victory ahead of time, not because we are privy to anything close to a compromised bench, but because with our spiritual eyes we have seen it all, and so exert faith on that we have seen, and believed.
