Governor Peter Mbah is a mirror of the modern Alcibiades — the Greek statesman who knew how to flip the script and go with the flow even in the most unexpected circumstances.
On the eve of the 2023 gubernatorial election, when it seemed he stood little chance — with the Obidient Movement barking at the gates of the Lion Building in a Gen-Z-led wave of transformation — Mbah engineered a masterstroke that saw him eventually coasting to victory. The same gate he once looked upon with panic, he would later enter in triumph.
With a blend of wit, deep pockets, and self-serving humility, he journeyed from Villa to Vila, visiting Enugu’s veteran stakeholders and offering them what they had long lacked — a mix of finance and relevance. Like a thurifer swinging incense at the altar, he marched solemnly through church naves, hands outstretched for spiritual and moral endorsement in return for a renewed church–state alliance.
It is no secret that Mbah owes his rise to power largely to Enugu’s political stakeholders and church leaders who anointed him as the untainted heir to the Lion Building throne. To them, he was a messiah — a man who could revive Enugu’s fading glory. Ironically, the same man who once worked in the shadowy alleys of Enugu’s PDP politics was sanctified by clergy and power brokers as the chosen redeemer.
But once the dust of the election settled and the stormy legal battles were won, Mbah quickly reminded everyone that he was no one’s puppet. The stakeholders soon learned that the throne they helped him ascend was not a shared seat. With quiet Machiavellian grace, he repositioned the church back to its domain — the solemn naves of worship — away from the labyrinth of political meddling.
From a compliant power broker, Peter Mbah metamorphosed into a leviathan — calm, strategic, and absolute in his command. He has dismantled opposition parties in Enugu, reduced them to rubble, and humbled the once-powerful stakeholders who can now only watch from the sidelines. The church, weighed down by the moral shame of its complicity, finds itself unable to raise a prophetic voice against the creature it helped create.
Now, as Mbah gravitates toward the APC and consolidates his grip on power, he rides the currents of influence toward near-total control. Enugu, docile and politically naïve, lies before him like a plate of meat served to a supper guest. The Obidient Movement that once threatened his rise has waned; dissent has been swallowed by silence.
Smart, witty, and calculating, Mbah stands today as one of the most politically strategic governors in the South East — a man who could soon become a formidable force on Nigeria’s national stage. Yet, his ascendancy raises a haunting question:
With absolute power in his hands, what will Peter Mbah do with Enugu State — and to it?
For in his victory, it is Enugu that truly lost — losing the fragile hope that elections might once again reflect the will of the people, as Abia did. Mbah’s triumph may have secured the throne, but it cost the state its democratic soul.
Fr Augustine Ikenna Anwuchie is a Catholic missionary priest based in the Sahel
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