OGIGE MARKET AND THE POLITICS OFR SILENCE QUESTIONING DEVELOPMENT IN NSUKKA ZONE

VOICES OF A NEGLECTED ZONE:

By Hon. Ogbobe Chidera Stanley

After Governor MBA attended the already arranged endorsement rally coordinated by council chairmen across the six local governments in Nsukka zone, where vulnerable villagers were mobilized, induced with stipends, and handed polos and caps merely to stand under the scorching sun chanting “On your mandate we shall stand” for Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mbah, one would naturally expect that such gathering would produce meaningful explanations for the hardship our people are currently passing through and, more importantly, the rationale behind the demolition of Ogige Market.

On the contrary, I expected our brothers and political stakeholders present at that gathering to remind the governor of the embarrassing absence of road infrastructure and meaningful developmental projects across Enugu North Senatorial Zone. Sadly, rather than confront governance failures with sincerity, all of them, including former Governor “Gburugburu,” whose administration underperformed so badly that he was overwhelmingly defeated with over 50,000 votes margin by the late Okey Ezea of blessed memory, were comfortably singing Tinubu mandate songs as though politics has now become entertainment detached from the realities confronting our people.

Meanwhile, traders were forced to lock their shops, businesses shut down, and economic activities crippled, all in pursuit of a political spectacle carefully orchestrated to impress outsiders and manufacture artificial acceptance.

I deliberately watched the governor’s speech not once, but twice, hoping to hear a convincing reason why Ogige Market was demolished. Shockingly, none was provided. Not a single coherent explanation was given to the people whose means of livelihood were directly affected.

Nobody is against development. Only an unreasonable mind opposes progress. But genuine development is not destruction without direction. Development ought to represent expansion, modernization, and innovation of existing structures while protecting the economic survival of the people. That is how governments with human conscience operate. That is how administrations genuinely connected to the pulse of the people behave.

Instead, what we heard once again were recycled promises, the same promises our people have repeatedly listened to without corresponding action. We were promised a University of Agriculture in Uzo-Uwani. We were promised water within 180 days. Several other commitments were made with confidence and political fanfare, yet none materialized. Now that 2027 is gradually approaching, another season of promises has resurfaced, anchored on the assumption that Nsukka people will continually forget yesterday’s disappointments and embrace fresh deception today.

The irony remains deeply painful.

Uzo-Uwani, a local government where the electoral process was heavily manipulated in favour of this administration, was abandoned during its darkest moments of insecurity and bloodshed. It was only my boss, the late Senator Okey Ezea of blessed memory, who stood firmly with the people. He visited affected communities, consoled grieving families, and moved motions in Abuja demanding the deployment of the military, police, and civil defence to rescue our people from terror. Without those interventions, only God knows what the fate of Uzo-Uwani would have been today.

As I write this, not even a single meaningful road project, not even ordinary earthwork, can confidently be identified within Enugu North Senatorial Zone. Governance has now degenerated into endorsement rallies, nomination form calculations, and desperate political permutations ahead of 2027. Their strategy appears simple: hide under APC, distribute stipends, exploit poverty, and attempt to purchase another four years in office.

But our people are wiser now.

Nwa Nsukka is no longer politically naive. Hunger, neglect, insecurity, and abandonment have awakened political consciousness among our people. In 2027, our frustrations will be expressed through the ballot box. They will finally understand what political revolution truly means when the people collectively decide to reclaim their mandate.

Nsukka remains one of the strongest voting blocs in Enugu State, contributing nearly 58% of the state’s electoral strength. Such a people cannot continue to suffer political isolation, infrastructural neglect, and exclusion from human capital development without consequences.

2027 will speak louder than every arranged  and fake endorsement.