2023: Chijioke Edeoga and His Unending Campaign of Bitterness and Fake News in Enugu State
By Dike Ngbada
For those that have been following the trend in the politics of Enugu State before, during and after the various primary elections conducted by political parties to choose their candidates for the 2023 general elections, one thing is undeniably constant with Chijioke Edeoga’s disgruntled camp, and that is, campaign of calumniation, fulmination, character assassination, falsehood and, chief of them all, fake news. If Edeoga is rightly described as the “Father of Fake News” in Enugu State, one will not be wrong.
Chijioke Edeoga believes, perhaps in his folly, that the only way to cover up his blizzard of incompetence and pull the wool over the eyes of Ndi Enugu on the mind-blowing, infamous corruption that rocked his years of pilfering and swindling the Local Government Service Commission and the Ministry of Environment he presided over for over 7 years, was to frequently divert their attention by manufacturing fake news against his perceived political rivals.
The only way to sustain fake news is to continue to reinforce it by churning out more fake news through the social media. Edeoga had, before the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and even that of Labour Party, boasted to his political minions and to many people that with his strategic media engagements with the members of the public through barrage of fake news, misinformation, blackmail and malicious contents against his opponents, the governorship ticket of any of the political parties was a done deal for him.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to him that the only thing that can win the hearts of the people, and, by implication, win election is the goodwill and trust a contestant enjoys among his people, Edeoga, labouring in vain, commissioned and unleashed his social media ruffians and thugs to do the dirty job. With the cascading negative effects of such fake news publicities on the psyche of the people of Enugu State, Edeoga and his team became notoriously attributed and synonymous with fake news, blackmails, lies, and clowns buried with superficial attention. It has now dawned on the people that whenever any fake news is churned out, such is treated with flippant levity and disdain having understood that Edeoga’s only weapon for campaign is, fake news.
A man without ambition for Enugu State. No blueprints. No roadmap. No pathway. No manifesto. No mission and vision.
With the people of Enugu State underscoring that Edeoga’s worth is only swinging at the lowest ebb of his fake news, iniquities, corruption, and tainted stooge to the Nwodo family, they now treat whatever fake news he ditches out with a mortifying contempt. This was exactly what happened when the disgruntledly frustrated, embattled and embittered factional Labour Party governorship pretender recently used two different faceless law firms or law associations ridiculously called “August Solicitors” and “Enugu State Lawyers for Good Governance” to attack his perceived Achilles heel and nemesis, the governorship candidate of the PDP, Dr Peter Mbah, who, much to his consternation, is the projected winner of the March 2023 governorship election in the state.
The fake news couldn’t fly or sell despite Edeoga priding himself to having access to all the media outfits in Nigeria as a chief media jobber. They all outrightly rejected the publication of the fake news.
Even as this does not intend to serve as any response to Edeoga’s incurable fake news peddling, I was compelled by conscience to draw the attention of the public to the ignoble blackmail and libelous contents when I saw Edeoga personally sharing the fake news in social media groups, instructing his goons, who are odiously venal, to “make this news go viral in order to teach Mbah, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Chimaroke Nnamani, PDP and those clapping for them a hard lesson.” This yet, confirmed the very reason Enugu people rejected Edeoga’s Nwodo political dynasty and godfatherism during the last primary election and in his various campaign grounds where a paltry number of 300 and at most, 400 people attended what they called, “Grand Governorship Campaign Flag-off” despite hiring crowds from neighbouring states. They have no issue-based campaign. They have nothing to offer that will agitate the minds of the electorate. They have no scorecard to present. Governor Ugwuanyi has been feeding them out of his benevolence when they were dying of hunger since they have no source of livelihood like businesses aside politics.
Let me announce this very loud and clear; the supposed “August Solicitors” and “Enugu State Lawyers for Good Governance” are all fictitious names manufactured by Chijioke Edeoga himself to malign and drag his perceived political adversaries to the mud. It is likewise, pertinent to categorically establish that neither had the EFCC confiscated nor had the court ordered the forfeiture of any property belonging to, nor even convicted Barrister Peter Mbah. Never! No record of such except the doctored documents manufactured by Edeoga and his desperate sponsors at a beer parlor near his Golf Estate residence.
I even took my time to make findings on the addresses attributed to those fictitious law firms in Enugu State, and saw it’s all a hoax. They’re non-existent. Somebody should remind Edeoga and those fronting him that there is life after politics. Somebody should remind them that history does not forget. Somebody should remind them that posterity will hold them responsible for their evil. Somebody should also remind them that, one day, they will go hungry again, and they will need the people they are brazenly maligning today with character assassination.
It is important to note how inconsistent the said sham and imaginary lawyers or solicitors, as Edeoga called them, were in alleging that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos convicted Senator Chimaroke Nnamani and Barrister Peter Mbah in 2015, and ordered the forfeiture of such amount of money. That got me laughing out myself. Convicted and they are not in prisons or disqualified from contesting elections and holding public offices as against the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Chai! Edeoga could have procured his law certificate from the black market or through a computer centre designed for such criminal act. According to the body of our laws, a convict cannot vote and be voted for except pardoned. This never happened. It is a pity that Edeoga who has been brandishing the “Barrister” title and his “August Solicitors” and “Enugu State Lawyers for Good Governance” know nothing about the legal positions on the implication of conviction to the electoral freedom and rights. If these accidental bodies of fakeness couldn’t understand simple law, well understood and appreciated even by both the untrained and unlearned, how then does Edeoga want Ndi Enugu to entrust their collective destiny in his hands? After all, Edeoga had baggage of certificates for the most incompetent, corrupt-ridden and dirtiest Commissioner for Environment for 7 bad years in Enugu State. I’m not surprised! Ndi Enugu State will not forget in a hurry that painful experience.
In the purported letter manufactured by Edeoga and attributed to the fabricated “August Solicitors”, Edeoga noted that the body had the mandate of, and was writing for the people of Enugu State as a law association. Such insanely conception from a sick mind. Where are the Enugu Bar Association; Nsukka Bar Association; Oji River Bar Association; Obollo Afor and Ezeagu Bar Associations that have the sole and reserved right to speak for the people of the State, and the Attorney General of Enugu State Government? Edeoga has taken his desperation to a heightened level, impersonating and usurping the authority and power of these bodies for political motive. This is unacceptable! The NBA should stand up and call Edeoga to order. He shouldn’t drag the revered noble profession into the murky waters of politics. It’s time for the NBA to dissociate itself from this criminal impersonation and show that it is not conspiring with Edeoga and his sponsors to sabotage the will of the people.
It is even more ridiculous that the faceless address-less contraption is coming up at the verge of election in a judgment they claimed was given in 2015. Assuming but not conceding that any such judgment existed, why did they just suddenly wake up when it is barely few months to elections? Campaign stunt? Delay, it is trite, defeats equity. Equity aids the vigilant, not the indolent. What were the lawyers doing since 2015 when they got the alleged court judgment? This lie from Edeoga’s should be dismissed as coming from people whose inordinate, desperate and untamed ambition is already vanquished and collapsed irredeemably.
Like President Muhammadu Buhari rightly said during the unveiling of the legendary, national strategic Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd’s intake, storage and off-take terminal facility in the Lekki Free Zone, Lagos, sitting atop the Atlantic Ocean, made possible by Dr. Peter Mbah’s disruptive innovation and transcendental leadership mechanism, the project is the first of its kind in West Africa, providing thousands of jobs for Nigerians, making life easier for Nigerians, including Enugu State people, through abundant supply of petroleum products, and banishing the notorious traffic and scarcity in parts of the country. For the first time, Pinnacle Wonder Facility rallied our sharply divided Nigeria people together to celebrate one of their own for his selfless commitment to improving our lives and standard of living. I hope Edeoga is benefiting from the oil supplies from the Pinnacle facility piloted by Dr. Mbah, and whenever he’s driving, he should be remembering that Dr. Mbah makes it possible. Let’s also assure him and his minions that Mbah doesn’t discriminate. Edeoga will likewise benefit from the road infrastructure, agricultural revolution, smart education, technology services, etc, Mbah is bringing to bear come May 29, 2023 when he will be sworn in as the Executive Governor of Enugu State. It’s my firm belief that Mr. Edeoga is already preparing his congratulatory message for His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuishi Mbah.
