By TUNDE OLUSUNLE
“My brother Tunde,” Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the attorney and daring disruptor who is reengineering Enugu State said to me as he received me into his office in “Lion Building,” the seat of government in Enugu, the famous “coal city” capital of Enugu State with a warm handshake. “We’ve kept you so long here now that in the traditional African society, you would have been due for a new wife. I’m happy madam is not here to hear us, though,” he smiled as he waved me to a seat. He courtesied the gentleman we had both sat together in the ante-room to his office to take the seat facing me as well.
His zestful Chief of Protocol, Innocent Ugodike, who chaperoned me from the hotel and had been in-charge of my welfare on behalf of the hardworking Chief of Staff, Victor Udeh, an attorney like the Governor, had pleaded with me that that Monday was particularly busy for the Governor, as evidenced by the numbers in the Governor’s waiting room. I confess to the structured functionality of Government House, Enugu, which availed me personalised medical care when I needed attention and was visited several times by Dr Ralph Anakwe and Tega Urhue, a professional nurse undergoing the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), in “Lion Building.”
I had previously met Governor Mbah in June 2025 in Enugu when he hosted the biennial convention of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE). I was privileged to have shared VIP accommodation with Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, FNGE, CON, Emeritus Editor of the erstwhile Business Times, the London-based West Africa magazine, and Daily Times all owned by the primordial Daily Times of Nigeria Plc. Ugochukwu had given me a hint that Mbah would visit him one of those evenings. Since my books are almost always part of my travel piece, I autographed copies of some of them for Governor Mbah, who was most impressed by my consideration and generosity. That meeting, however, was not the type we had on Monday, September 28, 2026, as I had to excuse Ugochukwu and Mbah to discuss issues of mutual interest in the South East.
Mbah was in a work-gear that evening. The time was close to 8pm. He spotted a white shirt and a tie to match. His jacket was resting on a hanger behind his seat. I did a quick scan of his table and saw volumes of project drawings, 3D images, and miniatures in places, aside from the usual files and documents positioned for his executive attention. His phone was mounted on a stand in front of him, even as he occasionally interacted with it with techy savvy. “Congratulations on your investiture as a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors,” Mbah continued. He was indeed the chief host at the ceremony two nights before and had decorated me with the commemorative sash, assisted by one of Nigeria’s living media legends, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, FNGE, CON, CFR, revered statesman and two-time Governor of Ogun State.
“Let me first apologise that we’ve not been able to meet since you completed work on the book which you initiated about our work here and published, all by yourself,” Mbah proceeded. In the course of the Guild of Editors convention last year, we were taken on extensive tours of developments embarked upon by the Peter Mbah administration. Editors were broken into two groups, one personally led by Mbah himself, with Osoba as team leader, while the other was led by Mbah’s amiable and indefatigable Secretary to the Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia, which had Ugochukwu as leader. We were collectively marvelled by the scope, solidity, and investment of Mbah’s industry that I took it upon myself to monitor media reportage of our findings.
I was genuinely awed by the very positive and objective representations of our visit and previous writings on Mbah’s enterprise that I conceived of a compendium of essays. I discussed the idea with Ugochukwu, who saluted my intuition and proactiveness and thought it was worth giving a shot. This birthed Peter Mbah: Media Kaleidoscope on a “Talk and Do” Disruptor, a 496-page volume of 85 writeups and interviews, which Foreword was graciously penned by Ugochukwu, back in March 2026, and published by the reputable Kraft Books Ltd which is based in Ibadan. It was meant to be a birthday surprise for Mbah, who turned 54 on March 17, 2026. A copy of the book was prominently displayed on Mbah’s desk as we engaged that day to underscore its closeness to his heart despite competing and distracting official and political exigencies.
When the Guild of Editors published the itinerary of our tour in the course of our more recent visit, I scrutinised it for possible duplications, in the event that we would be taken to the same sites and developments as we were last year. I was mistaken. The project listing read like: tour of the 40 kilometre Owo-Ubahu-Amankanu-Umualor-Ikem dual carriage road; stopover at Livestock Hub, Ubahu; stopover at Model Secondary School, Owo; the Enugu International Hospital, and a drive-through the New Enugu City, and the Technical and Vocational Educational Training Centre, (TVET), respectively. The now completed and operational Hotel Presidential, and the ever-evolving Security Command and Control in Government House, Enugu, were the only two projects we toured last year and revisited this year to apprise ourselves with their progressive evolution. Such is the sheer altruism, the visionary restlessness, and the fearlessness of Peter Mbah in the wholesome reengineering of Enugu State.
“I actually thought we’d have the time for a public presentation of the book, which is very well produced,” Mbah went on. “But then the electioneering season has come upon us, and I’m wondering if we’ll be able to squeeze out the time for the launch.” Turning to the gentleman in a suit who was with us on his desk, Mbah said: “I invited Ozurumba Afigbo, my Special Adviser on Delivery Unit, to sit at this meeting so we can action whatever decisions we take here. A follow-up volume to your book has become compelling. I’m sure you went on the project tour chaperoned by the Secretary to the Government on Saturday. You were also at the interactive session I had with your colleagues at the end of the tour. A lot has happened between when you went to press with the first volume of your book and now, as you’ve seen yourself. And we need to document these in the same scholarly manner you did the first volume of your book.”
I told the Governor I observed that the Nigerian Union of Teachers, (NUT), had taken over the Enugu International Conference Centre (EICC), which hosted us Editors during our five-day conference. “Absolutely,” he retorted. “We least imagined how that conference centre would redefine conference tourism in the country when we completed it early last year. It has suddenly become the preferred convention centre. It has become the host of a relay of events. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was here after the Guild’s convention last year, and we had the Enugu Gaming Conference at the same venue in July. Of course, the facility equally hosts many social, cultural, and political events. You would have noticed that a functional mall complete with stores, restaurants, and galleries has sprung up within the complex as part of our vision for the intentional expansion of the economy of the state.”
For every point Governor Mbah made and espoused, he pulled up the approved architectural and engineering designs from his papers. He never left you in doubt about being an organised administrator, away from the impulsiveness of many of his colleagues. The thoroughbred technocrat shone through. “We’re developing Enugu State for the improved comfort of our people and making it the new hub for national and international activity. We’re hosting the National Festival for Arts and Culture (NAFEST) between Saturday November 21 and Saturday November 28, 2026, and this will immediately be followed by the National Sports Festival, (the Coal City Games), between Friday November 27, and Friday December 11, 2026. Please make sure you visit the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu. We’re rebuilding it to FIFA standards, complete with a natural grass pitch, fully roofed spectator stands, modern floodlighting, upgraded digital scoreboard, and improved medical and media facilities.”
“Now that your colleagues have gone, please appeal to madam that we’re keeping you for one or two more days. I need you to see what we’re making of the Agwu Games Village which will host the forthcoming national sports festival, and similar national and global events in future. Remember Agwu was the very first orientation camp of the National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), when the scheme was established by the administration of General Yakubu Gowon in 1973. Don’t forget Agwu also served as a military location and was known as the Ojukwu camp during the Nigerian Civil War, between 1967 and 1970. We are preserving that historical essence and building a 1,000-bed hostel; redeveloping the main pitch of that facility and expanding the athletics tracks into eight lanes; constructing indoor and outdoor sporting courts and providing infrastructure for combat sports.”
Mbah’s New Enugu City is real. Chinese Communications and Construction Company has opened up a dual carriage access into the 10,000 hectare new development and is building infrastructure, even as the sights and sounds of earthmoving equipment enveloped the ambience when I toured with a driver from Government House, Tony Osuagwu, and my friend in Enugu, Emmanuel Nwonyi. The new city, strategically positioned along the Abakaliki Road, is carved out of five local government areas abutting the existing Enugu city namely: Enugu North, Enugu South, Enugu East, Nkanu East and Nkanu West. Mbah is building an inaugural 1000 units of upscale accommodation as part of a deliberate effort to decongest the old Enugu metropolis. He’s also building 15,000 mass houses in Onuogba Nike, Akpoga Nike, and Ogbeke Nike. Such is the infrastructural daringness of Governor Peter Mbah.
The title of my piece is the Igbo adaptation of Mbah’s favourite slogan, “Tomorrow is Here.” Visible evidence on ground in Enugu State attests to this truism.
(To be continued)
Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors (FANA), is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (FNGE)
