Aninri Question: Between Magnus Edeh and Bennett Ajah, the Babylonian King

Now that the defeat of Hon. Bennett Ajah, the infamous Babylonian King, is almost sealed in Aninri, it is time we can start to look at the future objectively otherwise we’ll still have to wait for 2027 to cry that we’re being marginalized in the Enugu State macro politics.

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“It’s too early to talk about 2027,” “Aninri is well positioned,” are some of the deceptive statements only serving them who believe in political correctness.

How our future as a people would look like is, as of today, centered on Hon. Magnus Edeh, our son in the State House of Assembly, a man with the morning sun on his face. He is the first truly elected State Assembly member from Aninri and he should appreciate all the implications that come with that.

Before him, others were anointed and then sent to serve not the interests of the people who, of course, contributed nothing in their ascendency.

In these cases, while the people both lacked the power to hold the men accountable and the ground to make contributions, we feel the case should be different now. We elected Magnus!

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Frankly, he has started well, except for one grave mistake he probably seem proud of making at the moment. In about 7 months, Hon. Magnus Edeh already has several solid achievements in his pockets. Today, Nenwe Cottage Hospital, which was threatened and would have been removed completely from Aninri, is not just retained but was converted to a Teaching Hospital. Magnus did that.

He also put over 500 Aninri farmers in the list which Enugu State Ministry of Agriculture is considering for grants. Also, he has secured 10 electricity transformers for the 10 wards in Aninri, and secured employments for over 40 Aninri NCE-holders across various primary schools.

While we appreciate him for the excellent representation, we are not afraid to point out that Hon. Magnus Edeh is not doing well in term of leadership.

There countless evidence to assert that he has relinquish his powers to Hon. Bennett Ajah, a man who has been tirelessly tearing down the strength and unity of the council area without regrets. This is the first time I’m witnessing that a council chairman can be superior to a state legislator.

This is a great mistake on Magnus’ side. To him its being diplomatic and peace-loving but that’s not the watching outsider see; that’s not what it is. We’re seeing weakness. We’re not advocating for conflicts between the two leaders; we’re simply asking Hon. Edeh to step squarely into his roles.

Like Bennett, Magnus is showing no interest in uniting Aninri socio-political structures or in building his own.

In the end all the little mistakes matter a lot; they’ll play up in Enugu macro politics but before then, we’ll suffer the blows in Enugu West permutations.

People don’t just wake up and begin to marginalize you. First, they’ll compare your strength with theirs, and then leap on you. One comforting thing about strength is that it can be built by the weak.

The talk about “Ikeoha boys,” “Menia boys,” “true PDP,” and “half-LP-half-PDP” ought to be over now. That’s is our point of weakness. Bennett Ajah ended up in shame because of this same notion of disunity.

Today, an amazing future is lay before Hon. Magnus Edeh and before us all. But it’s up to him to maximize the opportunities and emerge a great leader or he can continue to drink the sweet poison of complacency and sycophancy so that Aninri would sink the more. The choice is his.