Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, broke his supporters' hearts -- by returning to the people and party that had robbed him of his mandate. He called what he did "a mere defection", but his supporters saw it as an unforgivable act of betrayal.
Similarly, all but one lawmaker elected under LP eloped to the incumbent governor's party. Only Hon. Harrison Ogara, representing Igbo-Eze South in the Enugu State House of Assembly, is left of the original 14 LP House members.
Only last week, Enugu governor Peter Mbah asked Edeoga to contest for House of Representatives, not for Senate as he had expected. If Edeoga wins as the APC candidate -- and that is almost impossible -- he will be returning to the office he occupied 28 years earlier.
Many of the Enugu politicians who betrayed Obi after winning elections under his shadow in 2023 have now been denied tickets in their new party. They had ported to the PDP and then to APC with their governor. Having seen the popularity of the Obi-Kwankwaso ticket in the NDC, these betrayers are, once more, planning to buy NDC nomination forms. *All Obidients are up in arms against them!* They must not be allowed to use Obi's party to win elections again.
A governorship aspirant ndi Enugu should hope on is *Hon. Dozie Ogenyi.* A gentleman with high moral standards, he served in former governor Sullivan Chime's administration, which is still adjudged to be the best Enugu State has had since 1999. As commissioner for human capital development and poverty reduction between 2011 and 2015, he demonstrated leadership qualities which resonated across local government areas and communities.
He is an Obidient to the core. Hon. Ogenyi has sworn that he will never betray his supporters or his benefactors. Having resigned from the ADC, he's running for governor under the NDC platform. He regards Peter Obi as his mentor, his role model and his alter ego.
_-- By George U. Ochi_
