By Chinwendu Agoha (Governance Reporter, in Abuja)
Trouble looms in the political camps of the three gubernatorial candidates in Enugu state, Messers Peter Mba of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP) and Frank Nweke Jnr of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), over possible invitation of the trio by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) for alleged non-declaration of their assets while serving in government, as required by the law.
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper Correspondent reliably gathered from top sources in the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), on Wednesday, that the Bureau is already in possession of three separate petitions against the three governorship candidates in Enugu state, claiming that they did not declare their Assets as prescribed by the law which established the CCB while they were government functionaries at the federal level and in Enugu state.
Peter Mba, a lawyer from Owo town in Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu state, according to public records, served between 2003 and 2007 as both Government House (Lion Building) Chief of Staff (CoS) and Commissioner for Finance in the administration of the former governor of Enugu state and incumbent Senator representing Enugu East in the Senate, Dr Chimaroke Ogbonnia Nnamani. Mba, afterwards, allegedly went into entrepreneurship, setting up Pinnacle Oil and Gas Company and other business concerns spanning several sectors of the nation's economy.
Chijioke Jonathan Edeoga, from Mgbuji in Isi-Uzo, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu state, started out in government in 1991, first, as Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the former governor of Enugu state, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo and subsequently as Chairman of Isi-Uzo Local Government Area in 1996, during the military era. At the dawn of democracy in 1999, Edeoga was elected to the National Assembly as a House of Representatives member representing Isi-Uzo/Eha Amufu Federal Constituency.
Then, at the parliament, Edeoga was Chairman, House Committee on Information under the Salisu Buhari/Umar Ghali Na'aba leadership of the House of Reps. Upon return from a law programme in the United Kingdom in 2010, Chijioke Edeoga secured appointment in the federal legislative arm of government as a Special Adviser on Legislative Affairs to the former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. He was later to become a Presidential Special Assistant on National Assembly Laison in the administration of ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, between 2011 and 2015.
Edeoga was later in June 2015, appointed Commissioner for Local Government Affairs by the incumbent governor of Enugu state, Hon. Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi, popularly referred to as 'gburugburu' (Let it go round) in Igbo language. In Ugwuanyi's second tenure in 2019, Chijioke Edeoga was equally retained as cabinet Commissioner for Environment before he quit the government in 2021 to contest for the 2023 governorship poll on the platform of PDP before crossing over to pick the ticket of Labour Party (LP) for the gubernatorial race.
Frank Emeka Nweke Jnr, a Zoologist, began his Odyssey into government in 1999, first, as a member of the Economic Team of the Chimaroke Nnamani administration. Shortly after, he was appointed Coordinator of the Enugu State Community or County Council Project, which, among other functions, supervised community schools in the state. When the then pioneer Secretary to the State (Enugu) Government (SSG), Chief Onyemuche Nnamani left government, Frank Nweke was moved by his boss, governor Chimaroke Nnamani, to replace Ike Ekweremadu who was Government House Chief of Staff (CoS), while Ekweremadu himself was redeployed to take over from Onyemuche Nnamani as the new SSG.
Nweke served in that capacity in government until after the 2003 general elections when ex-governor Nnamani recommended him for a ministerial appointment. Frank Nweke, a post-graduate degree holder in Public Administration and a Harvard University Kennedy School alumni, was initially appointed by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Special Duties and Youth Development, a ministerial position domiciled in the presidency at the time. He was later moved as Minister of Information, National Orientation and Communications.
Nweke, a native of Ishi-Ozalla Community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State, and who known as 'Okeifufe' 11 (Great wind), a traditional title he inherited from his late monarch father, later served in the private sector think-tank body as Director General of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG).
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper also learnt that there is a pending petition against Peter Mba with the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) dated November 11, 2022, forwarded by a group referred to as Enugu State Lawyers for Good Governance, claiming that Mba failed to declare his asset with the CCB as demanded by the constitution when he held government positions.
The said petition against Chijioke Edeoga came from another group called Transparency Network. Their petition bore November 8, 2022 date, and they too claimed that Chijioke Edeoga failed to declare his own assets when he was Commissioner of Local Government Affairs and Environment in Enugu in 2015 and 2019
The petition against Frank Nweke Jnr, also dated November 8, 2022, was forwarded to the CCB by a said youth body known as Enugu Youth Against Corruption. This group equally claimed that Frank Nweke did not declare his assets according to the law, when he was Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Special Duties and Youth Development from 2004 to 2005, and also Minister of Information and National Orientation and Communications from 2005 to 2007.
On the basis of these petitions, this medium learnt that the CCB might issue an invitation to Mba, Edeoga and Nweke to appear before the Bureau to be quizzed on why they allegedly contravened the CCB law. In the event of an unsatisfactory explanation, the three gubernatorial candidates in Enugu state might be wheeled to the Code of Conduct Bureau Tribunal room to face charges of breach of public officers Code of Conduct. NNL.