Politics they say is full of intrigues and intricacies. It is one game that is full of deceit and easily conjured to suit the interest which has to be represented.
The thwarting of truth by any opposition party is only aimed at getting the public deceived, targeting the porous hearts of the gullible in order to sell their never-to actualize promises.
It is only in Nigeria and African politics that people brand their former parties evil. This has gone a long way in causing chaos, commotion and unnecessarily heating of the polity thereby terming the art of politics ‘dangerous’.
Since 1999, PDP has already been the dominant party in Enugu State where many talents were nurtured politically. Sons of carpenters and other artisans were lifted and made great and stories of their past were changed for good. Some of them later left politics in order for the new generation to take over but some are still basking in it and making it a serious business. To them, it is a do or die affair and as such, must be fought with every strength in them. It is better for the state to cease being in existence than them not being recognized in any new administration.
Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga, is one of the people who could be regarded as the highest beneficiary of any government appointment and political positions as far as Enugu State politics is concerned. Truth be told, if anyone should leave politics for the young blood to take over, it must be Chijioke Edeoga who since 1998 has been in power even before PDP was birthed.
During his struggle for the seat of Isi-Uzo with Osita Oghene, Edeoga threatened fire and brimstone and later ended with the phrase “either I win or Isi-Uzo will tear apart”. This statement made the then governor swing into action to settle the problem and made Edeoga sign a peace pact.
Apart from being the Council Chairman of Isi-Uzo before the emergence of PDP, Edeoga as a core Ebeano man was later sent to the House of Representatives by the then governor of Enugu State, Chimaroke Nnamani who single-handedly sponsored his campaign. Edeoga went there and was never allowed to go for a second tenure because of the agitation that greeted his second term bid where his constituents cited misrepresentation.
Chijioke Edeoga still, was later nominated under PDP to serve as an aide to the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Soon after Goodluck lost election, his maternal cousin, Ugwuanyi became the governor of Enugu State and Chijioke Edeoga was appointed the Commissioner for Local Government matters, a ministry he milked dry by mandating the 17 Local government chairmen to remit N1.5 million each every month for the publication of their projects in a state owned newspaper called LG News. The mainstream media reported that the money he garnered within 48 months of being in the office was in the tune of N2 billion.
Edeoga was redeployed to the Ministry of Environment in Ugwuanyi second term. His undoings became enormous as the environment of Enugu was embroiled in a pitiable state. Heaps of dirt were all over the city with an awful smell oozing from all corners of the capital city, and yet there was a Commissioner. Experts said God was with Enugu people as there was no outbreak of Cholera in the state.
The glaring ineptitude and incompetence of a man who ordinarily would have garnered much experience due to his long stay in office is disappointing. He couldn’t even be an agent of positive change in the society he found himself.
What is baffling is why some individuals have chosen to identify with such a man who couldn’t write his name in any tablet of progress and productivity.
It is the highest level of deception for Chijioke Edeoga to have left PDP yesterday and branded it evil today when he is the highest beneficiary of PDP’s benevolence. How come he has begun to perceive ills about PDP when he couldn’t perceive one since 23 years he has been wining and dining in the same party?
Even if anything is wrong with PDP as a party, people like Chijioke should be held responsible for being the architect of such. Who told him that once anyone commits any atrocity in a party and moves to another, the person automatically becomes a saint. No, things don’t work that way.
The people of Isi-Uzo had severally said that Edeoga since 25 years in politics has no single project done or attracted to his people. He has used his influence in government to convert community lands to his personal property. Young girls of Isi-Uzo were being lured and deflowered with the promise that he shall sponsor their WAEC examinations and pay their tertiary institutions fees.
Is it not obvious that Edeoga himself is the problem of Enugu State politics and as such, people of his kind should be totally relegated to the backyard of the political space.
Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate has distanced himself totally from Edeoga as well as National leadership of Labour Party since they got the information that he is an elevated failure who is being rejected by his kinsmen. That is why the National Legal Adviser of the party testified against Edeoga at the Abuja Federal High Court which later resulted in his disqualification by the Court.
It has already been noted that the desperation of Edeoga in this forthcoming guber election is borne out of the fact that he has nothing to fall back to for survival should he lose this opportunity of becoming the governor of Enugu State to amass wealth for his generation yet unborn.
