Former Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani yesterday said his major problem with major political actors in the state including his successor. The former governor said he was hated by those who felt they owned Enugu following the application of “social principles” which he introduced in his government that gave a sense of belonging to the downtrodden to become part and parcel of the state.
“The mistake I made was to apply social principles that have been studied in well developed societies, and tried to apply it in Nigeria .  I went to
bring a woman carrying sand, brought her up and sent her to the House of Assembly; or I decided to bring a band boy, brushed him up and send
him to the House of Assembly; I am doing that because the democratic set up does not need for you to be literate to be guaranteed a say in
the society.
“But that didn’t go down well with the political elites. Those who felt they owned Enugu , those who felt that they should be part of every activities of the state, that the state is perpetually indebted to them, probably by their contribution to ensuring the creation of the state. You won’t understand that what is going on in Enugu State is pure elitist deceit; it is a deceit of the elite; elite that is thoroughly disconnected from the masses; the elite
that, for the eight years I was in power, they were dislocated from power. So, unknown names, people without antecedents, people who were
nobody became somebody.”
“So they can’t forgive me; they cannot; I don’t expect the Enugu elite to forgive me, because for eight years of governance, they were dislodged; they were dislocated,” he said. He added, however, that no matter how any one feels in the state, his achievements as governor of the state for eight years would continue to speak for him. “Whether you like it or not, wherever you go to in Enugu today you will see me; if you go to Opi-Nsukka road you will see me, if you go to Obollo-Afor-Ogrute you will see me, I’m there; if you go to Ozaraezimo-Nkwere-inyi, you will see me; you will see me in the water project, you will see me in the bore-holes. If you come to Enugu urban you will see me; you will see me at Park-lane hospital; if your child is sick and you go to Park-lane hospital you will see Nnamani right there; if you pass through the tunnel that decongested traffic between Okpara Avenue and Ogui, you will see Nnamani. If you use New Haven bye-pass you will see me right there; and when you are at Okpara Square you see me looking at you; I look at you at the International Conference Centre, I look at you at the Judiciary; so what surprise are
you talking about. If you start heading to Nkanu you will see me; you will see me at ESUT, you will see me at Air Force, you will even see me at Renaissance and Mea-Mater. So let’s not belabour the issue.
“The issue of popularity does not arise; nobody can touch more lives or build capacity than I have done in the history of Igbo land. Check it, who iit? Okay where are the names now? The names that you hear that belong to the political elite, where were they before I came back from America; ask yourself, is there anybody who is a major player in Enugu today that was somebody before I came back from America. How many of them could afford a new car? How many of them could have their own homes? How many of them know the way to Government House, Aso Villa or National Assembly? So I have nothing to prove to anybody. It is there, whether you accept it or you don’t, it is a historical fact; and you can’t remove it. Because you cannot beat a child and ask him not to cry, they have to complain; they have a right to complain because its democracy.
“These guys were dislocated for eight years; it’s like a baby clutching the nipples of the mother, breast feeding and you remove the mouth from the nipples, that baby will not leave you alone. So I don’t expect these people to be clapping for me, praising me, it does not make sense; how else do you expect them to express their anger, the hostility, the denial of access they had. These were the exploiters of my people; these were the bourgeoisies, dysfunctional elite who exploited Enugu people for years, carrying CV’s, doing contracts and this boy from Agbani shows up from nowhere and took power for eight years and you want them to give me a red carpet, they will not; because I dislocated them, including their children and grand children; I raised a new political class in Enugu, that is what the quarrel is.