By Sam Ejiofor Ugwoke 

Public Affairs Analyst | Political Commentator | Entrepreneur | Geoscientist

Your Excellency,

The arrival of a new year traditionally invites goodwill, prayers, and optimism. I extend all three to you, not merely as the Governor of Enugu State, but as a man upon whose shoulders the hopes, expectations, and anxieties of millions now rest. Yet history has taught us one immutable lesson: goodwill without truth is deception, and praise without honesty is betrayal.

This message, therefore, is not a celebration. It is a reflection. And more importantly, it is a warning, offered with respect, loyalty, and a deep sense of civic responsibility.

Long before now, I publicly cautioned against any political romance with the APC. That caution was drowned out by the seductive argument of “realignment to the centre.” I raised one simple but consequential question, one that still echoes unanswered:

If realignment was inevitable, why APC?

Why align with a party burdened by deep and unresolved resentment across the Southeast? A party associated, rightly or wrongly, with years of alienation, broken trust, exclusion, and perceived hostility to the Igbo political destiny?

Politics does not forgive emotional blind spots. The cost of ignoring collective memory is always paid later, and often brutally.

Today, that cost is no longer theoretical; it is beginning to crystallize.

Promises, Reality, and the Pain of Daily Living.

Your Excellency, I also spoke publicly and consistently about the widening gulf between promise and lived reality. Chief among these was the bold declaration that Enugu would have water within 180 days. People misinterpreted me, but down deep am sure they knew i was stating the obvious.

Your government is more than two years now, Enugu people are surrounded by abandoned water galleries, projects littering streets, junctions, and bus stops. Millions of naira spent. No water delivered.

I am a Geoscientist.

I live in Enugu.

I understand the terrain, the aquifers, the seasons and the suffering.

Every dry season is a sentence.

Every search for potable water is humiliation.

Every abandoned project is a reminder.

These are not just failed infrastructures; they are silent monuments to broken assurances. And they speak louder than press statements ever will.

It is heart-piercing.

Equally troubling is the growing distance between the government and the grassroots. Across the 17 local government areas, many council chairmen, who should serve as the living bridge between your administration and the people, have become invisible. Instead of consolidating goodwill, many are 'chasing shadows', detached from the frustrations fermenting at the base. Politics abhors a vacuum, and where leadership is absent, resentment takes root.

Now, the political landscape has shifted, decisively.

Peter Obi’s official move to the ADC has triggered a reaction that cannot be manufactured, ignored, or silenced. It is loud and organic. It is eerily reminiscent of the electric momentum of 2023.

Predictably, some voices are already dismissing the Obidient Movement, just as they did before. But history is instructive: many who mocked it publicly in 2023 were quietly mobilizing for it behind closed doors.

Anyone taking that movement for granted today, especially in the Southeast, is gambling with political disaster.

Let it be said clearly and without revisionism:

many people who laboured, sacrificed, risked reputations, and leveraged personal credibility to secure victory for Your Excellency in 2023 are warming up to work against you in future. Public perception cannot be bullied into submission.

Arrogance cannot rewrite political reality.

The only path to rebuilding trust is sincere, deliberate, and sustained engagement not during campaign season, but now.

Yes, a few local government chairmen have begun this work. But it is grossly insufficient.

Many loyalists now are paying leap service, but down deep they are nursing many unspeakable dissatisfaction. I tried to explain that governance is a process but they responded with the conduct of some of your loudest supporters, individuals who poison goodwill with arrogance, exclusion, and contempt for dissent.

Let there be no misinterpretation:

I am not against His Excellency, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.

I am not seeking undue relevance.

I so much desire and support your second tenure in office. But loyalty does not mean silence in the face of danger. Truth must reach Your Excellency without fear or favour.

A growing number of former loyalists and party faithful are quietly withdrawing; watching, waiting, recalibrating. I live among the people. I listen. I evaluate sentiment daily. The warning signs are real.

They are multiplying.

Your Excellency, the work ahead of you is enormous. And it must begin now, not tomorrow, not during campaigns, not when options have narrowed.

History is unforgiving to leaders who ignore early warnings.

May the new year grant you the wisdom not just to hear applause but to listen to uncomfortable truths.

History is already taking notes.

Happy new year, your Excellency.