Owo Ranch: Attention, Gov Peter Mbah! By Ochereome Nnanna

I have visited Enugu State three times since Dr Peter Mbah assumed office as Governor of Enugu State. In two of those visits, I participated in guided tours of his project sites. He regularly trends for high performance. This is not mere hype. Mbah is not only a top performer; he is visionary in broad dimensions. Enugu State has been blessed with a succession of above-average-performing governors since 1999, building on the foundational legacies of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr Michael Okpara and Chief Jim Nwobodo. Enugu is one of the most beautiful cities in Nigeria, despite suffering great destruction during the Biafra War.

This became more pronounced than ever under Governor Mbah. Apart from his smart school projects, multi-million-dollar Enugu International Hospital (EIH), International Conference Centre and excellent road infrastructure, Enugu State is building a new Smart City that will transform it from a civil service state to an international business metro. When I read that Mbah took Enugu State’s internally generated revenue from N26.8bn in 2022 to N406.77bn in 2025, thus placing it third behind established internal revenue giants—Lagos and Rivers—I doubted it as mere political grandiloquence. But the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and other rating authorities later confirmed it. This is what you get when an astute businessman takes the helm.

But I have a big problem with Governor Mbah in the area of security. I am not talking about the crummy cops-and-robbers kind of criminality. I am talking about protecting Enugu State—and Igboland—from vicious Fulani expansionist militias masquerading as herdsmen. Mbah’s Enugu State has been advertising its tech-driven security infrastructure and command centre situated in the Government House, complete with drone coverage. It enables officials to monitor movements throughout the state from the centre. It is impressive to watch. However, despite this fascinating “TV show”, Enugu’s northern extremities, such as Igbo Eze North and South, Udenu and Isi Uzo LGAs, remain free killing fields for Fulani herdsmen. Enugu is the most Fulani-terrorised state in the South-East. So, what is Mbah’s fanciful “TV show” doing about it?

It is one thing to have power and authority and another thing to possess the heart, guts or balls to use them to protect the people. It does not seem that Governor Mbah set up his sophisticated security architecture to protect Enugu people from jihadist Fulani expansionist terrorists. Indeed, the Mbah administration has committed two unpardonable scandals that belittled the Igbo nation and compromised its security and honour. First of all, we remember how Mbah’s predecessor, former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, reacted when Fulani terrorists invaded Ukpabi Nimbo in Uzo Uwani LGA in April 2016, massacring scores of indigenes and destroying their farms. Rather than take a decisive stand to protect his people, Ugwuanyi fled to Aso Villa to weep before the number-one proponent of the Islamisation and Fulanisation agenda, President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the killings continued, as they did in Benue and Plateau.

When Mbah came in, he responded to the continued attacks by sending a delegation of traditional rulers to Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar, pleading that Enugu State was ready to “peacefully coexist” with Fulani herdsmen. When people reacted to this with deserved outrage, an Enugu government official dismissed our concerns as noises from those “erection and lefelendum” people—IPOB. I am not aware that the Mbah government issued any official statement explaining the reason for that shameful and totally un-Igbo mission. You cannot kill my family members and I come to beg you for peace. That is cowardice! It is my job to make sure that when next it crosses your evil mind to threaten my family again, you will remember the hunchback I inflicted on you last time! That is Igbo!

And now, Governor Mbah appears to be taking matters a step further. One of his grand projects is a massive ranch which he has earmarked for his hometown, Owo, in Nkanu East LGA. According to Dr Chidiebere Onyia, the amiable Secretary to the Enugu State Government who conducted editors round Mbah’s project sites, the ranch will be bigger than the Enugu Smart City, which is about 10,000 hectares. Communities have already been forcefully uprooted for the ranch. All over Owo land, cows were grazing in lush pastures beside people’s farmlands. It suddenly struck me that the ranch could be Mbah’s “peace offering” to settle Fulani herdsmen! I put the question to Onyia, and he said on record that the ranch would be run by “professionals” who would obviously live inside it.

I was gripped with fear. Which “professionals” does Mbah have in mind? I raised my hand to ask this question during an interactive session with the Governor, but unfortunately, the session ended before it got to my turn. So, I want to put this question right here: which “professionals” will operate the ranch? Will Mbah allocate the ranch to violent jihadist Fulani land-grabbing expansionists in fulfilment of his pledge to Sultan Abubakar? If he does, it means he is building a Fulani “Ruga” in Enugu State, Igboland! He will not only permanently destroy his own hometown, Owo; he will also endanger the entire South-East and South-South. That zone will become another Mangu (Plateau) and Yelewata (Benue) state!

Fulani herdsmen are violent and primitive nomads, not livestock “professionals”. Their lifestyle is totally incompatible with that of Igbo people. Mbah should not play with fire. Fire burns! He should concession the ranch to internationally certified corporate ranchers with track records of livestock value-chain expertise. Enugu (especially Owo) youths should have a big share in this project. They should be trained and empowered to benefit from this potentially laudable scheme and help the government control security within that axis. We say no to “Ruga” in any part of Igboland! Keep violent, jihadist nomads off Owo Ranch! Don’t invite a deadly virus to your own hometown!

The post Owo Ranch: Attention, Gov Peter Mbah! By Ochereome Nnanna appeared first on Vanguard News.