Despite holding sway at the federal level as the ruling party since May, 2015, the All Progressives Congress had found it difficult to get a foothold in Enugu State. But with Governor Peter Mbah now in its fold, the party is beginning to soar. Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo examines the Mbah factor in the political dynamics.
Governor Peter Mbah has done for the All Progressives Congress (APC) what he did for Enugu State in the aviation industry. He gave his state the wings to fly by establishing Enugu Air, which is rapidly expanding to connect Nigerian cities and also getting set to spread its wings across the West Coast of Africa.
In like manner, Mbah has replicated this feat in the political sphere. He has given APC the wings to soar in the political arena of his state by emerging as the governorship candidate of the ruling party. By now, the national leadership of APC must be counting their blessings for having the Enugu Governor in their fold to fly the party’s flag.
Since the inception of the present democratic dispensation, Enugu APC has never contested the governorship election as a frontrunner. Not again. The political weather has changed. So, unlike in the past when APC used to enter the governorship contest in Enugu as an underdog, the party has now emerged as the most sure footed among the political parties preparing for the forthcoming 2027 general election.
APC is now the party to beat in Enugu even if the governorship poll should hold today. The party’s bolstered electoral strength was engendered by the Mbah factor.
Enugu is now poised to become APC state through the ballot. The state hitherto belonged to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP had entrenched its dominance of Enugu politics since 1999. Even when APC became the ruling party at the centre in 2015, the party did not fair any better in the successive governorship polls in Enugu State. It posted poor result in 2019 and in 2023 PDP still won the race to the Lion Building with Mbah as its candidate. APC was no where near the road to Enugu government house.
But the political prospect of Enugu APC has brightened up for the first time. Governor Mbah made it possible when he dumped PDP on October 14, 2025 and embraced the broom-brandishing party. Apart from the obvious reason that PDP was sinking in a sea of intractable crisis, the Enugu chief executive hinged his defection on the need “to connect his state to centre” with its consequential benefits. He emptied his entire cabinet and the state legislature, as well as his supporters into APC. Mbah also exerted an invisible magnetic pull on the members of the National Assembly from Enugu State, and in due course they joined him in defecting to the APC.
Between October 14, 2025 when Mbah’s defection happened and May 22, 2026 when the APC governorship primary took place, APC has firmed up its roots across Enugu State. The Governor had engaged in massive membership drive for his newfound party. During the APC e-registration exercise, Mbah rolled out incentives that spurred healthy rivalry among local government chapters of the party in Enugu, each competing to attract highest number of members to the party.
Mbah’s membership of APC was by no means a roller coaster affair notwithstanding his status as the incumbent Governor. There was resistance by the Enugu APC leadership that he met in the APC house when he entered. There was palpable fear that the Governor and the huge crowd he brought into the party would drown out the foundation members. It took the decisive intervention of the national leadership of the ruling party to quell was almost leading to open rebellion. The party structure was handed over to the Governor as was always the case after such high profile defection. Still, embers of anger and murmurings remained.
However, through deft leadership acumen, Mbah turned resistance of the foundation members of Enugu APC to acceptance while their disapproval became approval. It was actually thought that the old APC members and the new comers brought by the Governor were politically immiscible. But with the harmonisation that followed, through the guidance of Mbah, the two groups gelled to make Enugu APC become a very formidable political force.
Mbah has acknowledged the sense of unity and cohesiveness pervading the Enugu APC, saying “collective force that has been gathering strength is now beginning to define a new future for us”. According to him, “there is warmth and heart in this moment, a sense that we are standing together, committed to something larger than ourselves”. Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise when Enugu APC members overwhelmingly adopted Mbah as their consensus aspirant going into the governorship primary.
His resounding endorsement as the flag bearer of Enugu APC for 2027 poll was expected. The Governor received 380, 650 affirmative votes, meaning that his candidacy was approved by 96 percent of the 397,370 Enugu APC members, accredited to vote in the primary election.
Chairman of the APC Governorship Primary Election Committe for Enugu State, Hon Usman Aliu Danmaliki, who announced the result of the primary election, said Mbah was “resoundingly and unanimously affirmed” as the APC candidate. He also noted that the governorship primary of Enugu APC was “rancour-free, and indeed a carnival of sorts”. Danmaliki expressed his admiration of Enugu APC, describing it as “a well-coordinated chapter where internal democracy, consensus-building, discipline, synergy and peace reign supreme”.
The accolade was a testament to Governor Mbah’s leadership in building a unified party composed of members with hitherto divergent interests. His governorship ticket is an affirmation of his popularity within and outside his party. Mbah has become a poster boy for good governance at the subnational level in Nigeria. So, APC has gained not only an incumbent Governor but also a performing Governor per excellence, who would lead the party to consolidate in Enugu.
Enugu APC is holding its head high marching into the forthcoming 2027 political battle. Its confidence is bolstered because the person leading the charge is the incumbent Governor, who has done so much for Enugu that there’s hardly any campaign issue left for the opposition.
Indeed, “the story (of Enugu) is different today” as Mbah rightly pointed out in his acceptance speech after his candidacy was officially announced. In a spate of three years he has translated his big ideas to tangible realities manifesting in transformative projects across sectors. Enugu brims with infrastructural projects as has never been witnessed before with a year to spare in the four year term of this administration.
Though Mbah is not one to be boastful about his achievements, he is not shy either to reel them off when the need arises. And the day he was officially declared the winner and governorship candidate of APC happened to be one of such days to display his score card. He did it with gusto. “We have done over 1,500 kilometres of roads, launched five world-class bus terminals and CNG buses to ensure that our people commute in dignity and comfort,” he began as he reeled off his impressive achievements.
APC would be campaigning with these and others as encapsulated in Mbah’s “Tomorrow Is Here” can-do-it philosophy. According to him “what once felt distant, that tomorrow could be different, is no longer abstract. It is taking shape. It is visible in the routines of our daily life, in how we study, how we travel, how we work, how we access services that were once unreliable or out of reach”.
Mbah and his party would easily shoot down any dart thrown at them by the opposition by telling them “you can see (our achievements) in sectors beginning to function with greater coherence”. For instance, in the security sector, the Monday sit-at-home has been tackled and “today, events are scheduled on Mondays without the least apprehension,(hence) we have effectively restored citizens’ faith in the state’s capacity to protect them”.
The Mbah administration has invested heavily on security and has enhanced its capacity in responding swiftly to security emergencies through the command and control centre.
The APC in Enugu would not be lacking in campaign points. In the education sector, its governorship flag bearer has built world-class smart green schools across the state. Mbah said he built these schools in order to make learning attractive by “offering our children education that guarantees them a place in this fast-changing world”. He has ensured that at least one or two primary health care centres exists in each of the 260 political wards in the state, thereby ensuring that accessibility is no longer a hindrance to quality health care.
The impact of Mbah revolution is not concentrated in the urban areas. The infrastructural transformation in education and health sectors is also happening in the rural communities. More so, agriculture which is the mainstay of rural economy has received the Mbah revival touch.
He is engendering economic growth in both urban and rural areas simultaneously. Mbah said his intervention in the agricultural sector was already showing positive outcome. This is because “across our rural communities, crop yield is rising as the work of tractors increasingly replaces back-breaking tasks like ridging and tilling once done with hoes and cutlasses”. He added that “across our towns and cities, opportunities are emerging as decades-long moribund industries are back to life”.
Mbah exudes confidence and it has rubbed off on Enugu APC. He asserted that he has fulfilled the campaign promises he made to Enugu people when he was seeking for his current mandate. The Governor stated that through his instrumentality “Enugu is becoming a standard-bearer of sustainable governance, innovative development, and quality of life”. Already, he has hinted that all that he has so far achieved is just a tip of the iceberg. He invited Enugu people to expect more, including monorail and intercity rail line that would be inaugurated in four years time. This would not be lost on Enugu APC when the time comes for the 2027 electioneering.
The Enugu Governor has noted that his sterling performance was made possible because “we stepped away from the politics of appearance, the kind that looks impressive from a distance but delivers little or close. We have smashed the notion that promises matter more than performance”.
He said that he abhors empty promises hence they have no place in his administration. “Instead, the emphasis,” he said, “has been on real substance, on ensuring that every effort translates into outcome, and that resources are used with care and intent”.
Mbah has given Enugu APC enough verifiable achievements to campaign with. And the party has already spread its wings, soaring high like the eagle.
