Enugu Politics, LG Autonomy and the Question of Who Gets a Return Ticket: Performance, Loyalty, or State Capture?

By Kenneth Eze

The political atmosphere in Enugu State, fondly referred to as the Coal City State, has always been a fascinating study of Nigeria’s democratic evolution. Often described as the “heartbeat of the East” due to its rich intellectual and cultural history, Enugu has generally maintained a political culture distinct from the volatile nature of its neighbors.

However, beneath the veneer of this political stability lies a structural dysfunction that has defined governance at the grassroots level for decades: the absolute control of Local Government Areas (LGAs) by the power that be.

Following the landmark Supreme Court judgment of July 11, 2024, which declared the State-Local Government Joint Account unconstitutional and ordered the direct disbursement of funds to democratically elected LGAs, many Nigerians hoped for a new dawn of grassroots development. Yet, two years after this judgment, the reality on the ground in Enugu suggests that financial independence for the 17 LGAs remains a mirage.

In addition, the latest flashpoint is the All Progressive Congress (APC) local government primaries held in May 2026 ahead of the October 2026 council elections. The outcome—where several first-term APC chairmen were denied return tickets while others were cleared has raised questions about the real criteria for selection. Was it performance, loyalty, or control of council finances?

Following the recent All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries held in Enugu State on May 23, 2026. While the nation’s attention was focused on the senatorial and House of Representatives primaries, a more subtle but equally consequential battle was taking place at the local government level. The question of who gets a “return ticket” to continue as Local Government Chairman and who is sent packing, has opened a fresh wound in the body politic.

In a system where council chairmen are widely seen as “errand boys” who surrender their monthly allocations to the governor, what metric is being used to judge their performance? Is it the number of boreholes drilled, or is it the volume of cash remitted to the Government House?

This article chronicles Enugu’s political trajectory since 1999, examines the history of state interference in local government funds, analyses the implications of the recent primary outcome, and outlines what an ideal democratic system should look like.

Following a Chronicle of Executive Dominance since 1999–2026, to understand the current crisis regarding return tickets, one must first trace the history of gubernatorial interference in Enugu’s local government system, a habit that predates the current administration of Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.

During Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani Era (1999–2007), he took the reins of the old Enugu State (before Ebonyi was carved out), he operated a political machinery famously known as the “Ebeano” structure. During this era, local government chairmen were not chief executives but mere tax collectors for the state. Nnamani’s style was transactional: you were given a council chairmanship to raise political funds, not to execute capital projects. Failure to meet the monthly “remittance” quota meant instant recall. It was during this era that the template for “State Capture” of LG funds was perfected, where the Joint Account was used as a weapon to starve councils that showed a hint of independence.

For Governor Sullivan Chime Years (2007–2015) popularly seen as Consolidation of Control, he inherited a wealthy state but continued the paternalistic control of the LGAs. While Chime is widely praised for his infrastructural drive in the urban centers (Enugu City), the rural LGAs suffered from “absentee administrators.”

Chime’s government was known for conducting local government elections where the results were never in doubt his anointed candidates always won. However, the difference under Chime was that he valued administrative competence over thuggery. Yet, the financial leash remained tight; a popular saying during his time was that “LGA chairmen only see money during Christmas.”

The tenure of Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (2015–2023) who’s best described as “De Facto” Dissolution, known as “Gburugburu,” marked a significant shift in the relationship between the state and the LGAs. Ugwuanyi prioritized peace and the zoning arrangement. However, his administration was notorious for the tenure elongation crisis where caretaker committees ran the LGAs for years, bypassing democratically elected representatives.

When elected chairmen finally came on board, their financial autonomy was virtually nonexistent. Most of the internally generated revenue (IGR) and federal allocations were channeled through the state’s Joint Allocation Accounts Committee (JAAC), leaving chairmen to beg for “pocket money” to change flat tires on their official vehicles.

Then come the incumbent Governor Peter Mbah (2023–Present) who came to power under controversial circumstances. The 2023 election, widely believed by many observers to have been won by the Labour Party, was declared for Mbah by INEC. This victory was upheld by the courts, but the legitimacy question has haunted his administration.

Upon assuming office, Mbah a technocrat and former gubernatorial candidate in Owo moved quickly to consolidate control.

According to reports from the fiscal framework and media investigations, the 17 local government chairmen in Enugu reportedly granted a “Power of Attorney” to the state government through the Board of Internal Revenue, authorizing the state to collect and manage all tax and non-tax revenues of the councils. In essence, the LGAs voluntarily (or under duress) surrendered their primary source of funding to the Governor.

Furthermore, the state government has allegedly institutionalized a system where the state pays local government primary school teachers and health workers directly. While this sounds efficient on the surface, it is a classic tool of fiscal centralism.

By paying the staff, the state determines the structure, prioritizes its own projects, and leaves the LGA Chairman with zero discretion over personnel or capital expenditure.

Consequently, the LGAs have become “glorified dispatch riders” with no funds to implement their own budgets.

The political drama reached its peak when the APC conducted its primary elections to select flag bearers for the Local Government Council Chairmanship positions across the 17 LGAs of the state. Given that Governor Mbah defected from the PDP to the APC shortly after assuming office (to “connect to the center” as his aides argue), the APC primary effectively served as the government’s screening ground for who gets to run for office.

While the exercise was largely peaceful, the outcome has sent shockwaves through the political class. Many of the incumbent chairmen, many of whom followed the Governor during his defection from the PDP, were denied the “return ticket” to run for a second term.

Available Information and political analysis show that the yardstick for exclusion was not performance, given that the local government administration as a whole has been effectively paralyzed by state capture. This is what people described as the Anointed Few, the ‘Loyal’ Batch.

Conversely, those who secured the return ticket appear to be chairmen who are perceived to have fully complied with the “power of attorney” arrangement. The stark difference between the “returned” and the “rejected” is not visible in their project execution because none have executed visible, independent projects. The defining difference appears to be their willingness to relinquish all council funds to the Governor without resistance.

In Interrogating the Metrics: whether Performance or Surrender, this brings us to the central paradox of this article. Civil society groups have long argued that LGA chairmen in Enugu and other states are not performing because various Governors had taken their funds although Governor Mbah’s camp argues that he is intervening in the LGAs to ensure accountability and prevent looting without corresponding realities.

However, since the LGAs have no control on their funds because of executive over-reach, on what basis does the Governor deny a chairman a return ticket for “non-performance” or is there other reasons we do not know? And If the state chief executive allegedly pays the salaries of LGA staff directly via the state, how does the LGA Chairman execute a capital project without state approval?

The logical conclusion is damning: The “performance” being assessed is not about service delivery to the people – It is about “performance” in obedience to the Government House.

The argument is therefore, what if the chairman who gets a return ticket is the one who never questioned the monthly remittances, and who signed the Power of Attorney without a fight is perceived as the Obedient Servant? And what if the chairman who was denied a ticket likely made the mistake of asking for a fixed percentage of the Federal Allocation to fix local roads or pay local debts.

Unfortunately, in the zero-sum game of Enugu politics, that request is interpreted as “disloyalty” and “insubordination” and might have cost them their re-election.

If the insinuation that those who were denied return tickets are those who attempted to assert their financial rights is true, then Enugu State is not merely practicing poor governance; it is engaging in State Capture and its Implications for Democracy it catastrophic if allowed to continue.

State capture is defined as a situation where private interests (or personal political interests) fundamentally take over the decision-making of the state to maintain their power.

When a Governor forces LGA chairmen to sign away their revenue, and then punishes those who resist by terminating their political careers, he is capturing not just the funds, but the very essence of local democracy. Hence, why everyone need to rise and resist it before it degenerates further.

If allowed to stand and continue, the Implications are enormous and severe. First, it aids the death of Grassroots Development since LGAs are closest to the people. When they have no autonomy, a pothole on a rural road in Nkanu-East. Uzo-uwani or any other LGA cannot be fixed without approval from Enugu. This delays development and keeps rural areas perpetually underdeveloped.

Secondly, it emasculates the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which recognizes the LGA as the third tier of government. By treating them as departments of the state government, we violate the spirit of federalism.

Lastly, it creates a vassal political class that breed a generation of leaders who view loyalty to a godfather as more important than loyalty to the electorate. This creates a docile political class that will not challenge executive recklessness.

In Conclusion, In an ideal democracy—specifically a true federal system, a Local Government Chairman in Enugu should receive his allocation directly from the Federation Account. The Governor or his proxy in Enugu should have no power to sign a cheque for the LGA. If the Supreme Court judgment of 2024 were fully implemented, the 2026 APC primaries would have been fiercely contested based on performance: “Who built the best primary health center? Who paid the highest wages? Who built the most markets?” Instead, we are left with a system where the only question asked of a Chairman is: “Did you bring the money?”

As we move toward the 2027 general elections, the people of Enugu must look beyond party lines whether PDP, NDC or APC and demand that their LGA Chairmen fight for their financial independence. People should query why the 17 LGAs in Enugu are yet to comply with the supreme court 2024 judgement to have opened a dedicated account with the Central Bank of Nigeria since 2 years now if not that they are being caged and handicapped to comply with the central bank directive and supreme court judgement and they need to be emancipated.

Until the state governments stopped holding the treasury of the local government in Nigeria hostage, the issuance of “return tickets” remains a sham, a reward for servitude, and a textbook case of State Capture.

Kenneth Eze is a Civil Society Actor and Public Affairs Analyst hailed from Enugu.

engrchukeze2014@gmail.com