One of Nsukka’s finests, Dr. Emeka Asogwa, a renowned champion of Youth O’Clock, Youth Participation in Politics, Not Too Young to Run and founder of Gburuism; now Peterism, has, in his usual unequivocal disposition, laid his heart bay on his adventurous and impactful foray into politics of Enugu State.
In a one-on-one chat with a crew of Home-Truth Magazine, recently, Dr Asogwa exposed all that differentiated him from all other politicians; his drive, passion and takeaways from his near a decade of political participation.
He said, “My name is Emeka Asogwa. I run Wisdom Foundation for Youth Development and I just finished my political apprenticeship under my political boss, His Excellency, the former Governor of Enugu State, Gburugburu, first as SA to the Governor on Youth Affairs and later as SSA on Empowerment and Human Capital Development.
“I championed Gburuism. And, because I understand sustainable development, Gburuism has given birth to Peterism.”
“So that is the much I can say about myself, he said”
The young Doctorate Degree holder who verifiably, has financially supported innumerable individuals, families and groups can rightly be said to have had a wonderful outing in government, sitting through both the first and second terms of the previous adminstration and contributing his fair share in its exploits. When asked what impact would he say his opportunity in government had, had on his life, and what would he say were his takeaways from that experience, the erudite politico-technocrat had this to say, “First, I learnt so much from the man we call Gburugburu. You see, Gburugburu didn’t give me much money. I never asked for money. But I learnt a lot from him.
“About two, three commissioners had told me in the past, how the Governor came to Executive Meeting and used one Emeka Asogwa as an example. For commissioners to tell me that in confidence, what that meant was that Gburus was proud of what we did through Gburuism.
Continuing, he said, “So, I didn’t come to government because of money. I was actually leading Apostle Johnson Sulaiman’s network globally. In fact, Sulaiman you hear about, has over 27 presidents in the world submitting to him. Yet, I started his ministerial network here in Enugu as Emeka Nwa Nsukka. And I had grown it. I was traveling with him to different parts of the world. Suddenly, the man looked at me when I hosted him in Abuja and said, “you are going into politics.” That was how the prophesy came to pass.
“One day, I was traveling and I got a call. I was going for a campus programme and a sitting governor was calling me. That was immediately he assumed office as a Governor. And Gburugburu called me and said, Emeka, come home, I have already appointed you as my Special Assistant on Youths Affairs. Then, I was not part of any political party. I wasn’t even thinking politics. In fact, two persons are in the position to explain that better. I have never talked about them before.”
Clarifying, he continued, “One of them is Dr. Barth Ezugwu. This man knew me when he was SA, Youth or something to former Governor Chime. He used to come to the stadium where I was empowering some youths. He joked that I was going to be his Special Assistant on Youth. I related with him at that level when I was pushing youth empowerment. Then, I was not thinking politics.
“Later, there was another good young man that I have never talked about but I am going to talk about him now. His name is Chinedu Onuh.
Hon. Chinedu Onuh was actually one of the men who discovered me when I returned to Enugu. He discovered me. I was a personal aid to him. In fact, when he was doing a job nationally for Nigerian universities, I was very close to him. He discovered some little capacities in me and he brought me close. He began to mentor me. At a time, he wanted to be a governor and I was with him in inner places. I was assisting him with Chima Obieze and two of us were always with him as his personal aids.
In charge of a media outlet named Enugu Prophet, Emeka Asogwa is known, in virtually all quarters, as a Political Prophet. He has, over the years, crafted for himself a sublime integrity in that regard, having through the Enugu Prophet, carried out several stunning prophesies with razor-sharp accuracies. Dwelling on that rare gift, he said, “One day, I told Chinedu Onuh, sir, I dream dreams; I saw a revelation through what I call Enugu Prophet. It is a media package. I told him, sir, that God told me that Gburugburu will be the Governor.
Continuing, he said, “That time, no one had ever thought Gburugburu would be Governor. I remember talking to one of his brothers about it and he told me no, no, no, that it wasn’t possible. This is because, then, somebody had been anointed.
“I play prophetic politics. That prophetic politics has helped me a great deal. And God showed me in the revelation, the address of Gburugburu.”
Ascribing all his impact in politics to God, the charming personality added, “What impact am I going to talk about without first tracing my success in this political outing to the spiritual grace? It was God that helped me. Do you know what is called Enugu Prophet? In 2012, nobody was talking about Gburugburu going to be the Governor. But by that time, I saw the address of who would be the Governor and once I see like that, I don’t doubt it. I just go for it. As a stubborn person who always stubbornly believes in God, I started looking for the address that God showed me. And when I got there, I told people that the person living there would be the next governor of Enugu State. They told me his name is Gburugburu and that he is from Nsukka. I didn’t know him then. They gave me his phone number and I sent him a text message and I said, “You are the next governor. Start preparing.
“That was three years ahead. And then, one night like that, within two days, I got a foreign call. I picked it and the caller told me, “My name is Gburugburu, I got your text. You said I will be governor, how?
“I said, ‘My name is Emeka Asogwa, you don’t know me, I don’t know you. But my dream is usually 99.9 percent certain.’ In fact, I don’t call it dream, I call it revelation. My brother, that was the foundation of Gburuism.
Going biblical, he continued, “From that point, Gburugburu saved my phone number and he still has it up till today. The Bible says, I know no man after the flesh. So, I started Gburuism in 2013. Of course you know I am a Journalist; a trained journalist. I published in my weekly merit, my media outlet, that Gburugburu will be the next governor. War started. My friends started calling me to say Emeka, you have killed your political career. They told me that his name is not even among those contesting. Do you know that if I mention the names of those who doubted me then, you will see that they later became those who enjoyed Ugwuanyi more. And whenever they see me in Government House they smile. One of them told me then that if Gburugburu becomes the Governor, he would be the Chief of Staff. The guy didn’t even survive the first tenure.
“So, what am I saying? Impact and success in life is about God. Everything about you politically is about God.”
In Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration, Dr. Emeka Asogwa understood clearly what his visions were. He was focused, determined, dedicated and didn’t mince words. Expantiating on that he said, “Gburuism came and focused on value reorientation and skill development. That was my mandate.
“I remember, those eight years, I had tried to resign three times. First, when I contested elections, I resigned. Governor reappointed me. At a time I felt I had done my best, I resigned; the Governor refused. I resigned again when I contested election a second time. So I tried to resign three times but governor refused three times. Such leaders as the former Governor of Enugu State, my boss, are rare. Such leaders are rare.”
Dwelling on his successes within the time under review, he stated, “If you ask me my successes, the first is that God guided us. That is why I talk about God. My life is about God. It is about grace.
“Two, the kind of mentoring that Governor Ugwuanyi gave young people; youth participation. When I came into government, I was like the youngest appointee of the Governor. I was among the first list. I remember one day, my friend Chinedu Nwamba, asking me, how did you come? How did you make it? And I told him, grace brought me. They were all wondering because, they had never heard the name, Emeka Asogwa.
“Gburugburu gave us mentorship that helped us.
“When I came in, I started making impact at once. I visited over three hundred schools. Then, we didn’t have insecurity in the South East like we now do. I was lucky. Immediately after my appointment, my spiritual father, Apostle Sulaiman, seeing what I had done for him, building his network, surprised me one day. He came to Enugu and gave me a clean Toyota jeep; clean! That was the vehicle I used to serve the government during Ugwuanyi’s first tenure. I moved round schools; secondary schools, universities, preaching value orientation to the extent that we made sure that the youths we groomed took over most of the youth and student organisations in the state. Hence, the boom in youth participation in government that happened during the Gburuism era.”
X-raying his high-flying achievements in youth, skill development and online trading, the Ebonyi State University graduand went on, “On skill development, I had long started Enugu Youth Summit. It had been in existence long before I joined Government. I started it during Sullivan Chime’s administration. Gburugburu came in, I came into politics. I continued.
“In 2016, we held the 2016 edition of Enugu Youth Summit. The theme was, ‘Youths Back To Farms.
“When I came in newly, I engaged in value orientation and agricultural trainings. We began to train young people in the area of agriculture. We started Gburuism cucumber, Gburuism cassava, Gburuism this, Gburuism that. We began to invest in agriculture. We began to raise money through my foundation.
“What the former Governor wanted me to do is to come and run the Wisdom Foundation that I was running privately, for Government. That was what the Governor told me. That was why I didn’t bother when people who didn’t understand my vision were fighting.
“Remember that I was coordinating Apostle Sulaiman’s network all over the world. I was the leader. I was among the youngest, leading great men all over the world. I had to hand over to my Deputy in Port Harcourt, to come back to serve after the governor called me. I was not thinking politics. So when some Tobias and Sambalas began to fight, I didn’t bother.
“I remember I served under a commissioner who didn’t understand the Gburuism mandate.”
The story of digital technology can hardly ever be told in Enugu State without the mention of Dr. Emeka Asogwa. This was one vision he brought to bear as a government official and drove with unparalleled passion to the highest of heights among his people. He shouted his voice hoarse like John the Baptist, having seen what many didn’t see on time. Speaking on that, he said, “Then, I began to talk about Digital Technology. I began to shout, ‘let’s go digital; let’s go technology’. They thought I was joking. At that time, Bitcoin was about Two Hundred Thousand Naira. One Bitcoin goes for ₦200,000 that time. That time I was shouting at Nsukka that people should buy Bitcoin; Etherium. They turned deaf ears. Now, as we speak, one Bitcoin is about 27,000 Dollars.
“You can imagine what I passed through trying to pass that message because all they saw was MMM; ponxy schemes. They didn’t see what I saw. But I knew that God has given me the grace of vision. So, I saw the future. In fact, when I came in as SA to Governor, I saw a revelation where I was harvesting cryptocurrency. Remember, that time God showed me who was going to be governor. So, I believed so much and I still believe so much in revelations.
“We started to encourage young people to learn digital technology. At a time, the Nigerian Government started fighting us; closing our accounts; accounts of young people who were trading on crypto. It was tempting. But thank God for people like the former Vice President of Nigeria and Gburugburu too. Gburugburu believed.
Continuing, he added, “There was a day my commissioner reported me to the Governor. His boys were fighting me online because I was talking about cryptocurrency; I was talking about youths developing digital skills. You know, ordinarily, when your colleagues and ‘ogas’ are talking about beer parlour; let’s go and drink, and you are saying a different thing, you will naturally clash with such people. I remember the Governor called us one day; myself, the commissioner and Azikiwe, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s son; three of us were with the Governor for over four hours, sorting out the issues because Enugu became hot. I don’t have the temperament of the former Governor. He is blessed with a wonderful temperament. For me, I am a lion. The former Governor has a phlegmatic, peaceful temperament. I am totally different. I have a choleric temperament. If you fight me on media, I don’t have the grace to start saying God will take care of it. No! I respond media-wise. So when I started responding to the commissioner’s online boys, Enugu became hot.
“The Governor called us and after listening to all of us, the Governor said, Commissioner, from today, allow this boy to do what I called him to do.
“If not for that decision, I would have left the government that time. My plan was to honourably resign after the meeting in Government House if it had turned out otherwise. This is because there was no way I will leave Sulaiman’s global network where I was the leader, flying round the world; and I will leave all that to come and serve my state and then, they will not allow me to display my gift.
“I knew that in Nsukka, we were lacking men; talented men. You know, we have politicians, I will always say it, but we need influential people. We need people who have influence. So, the governor gave me that support and that was how Gburuism moved to the next level.”
The Nsukka LGA-born political activist, also, took time to dissect the bountiful testimonies that flooded in through the digital technology revolution he spearheaded in Enugu State. He said, “Then, testimonies began to flood in. There are so many testimonies. God started blessing us. One Emeka from Udenu bought land in Nsukka worth over a Hundred Million Naira. The other guy in Lagos built about two houses in Lekki. There were so many testimonies; so many.
“In fact, We started exporting Gburuism to other states. Ebonyi State Government started looking for us. Every weekend, I was in Ebonyi State empowering people. I was combining Enugu and Ebonyi.
Continuing, he said, “Anambra State joined. Imo joined, Abuja also. So, one of the most creative achievements of that Gburuism era was that we were exporting Gburuism to other states. We made so much progress that one day, the Governor called me and said he wished I could create an Empowerment Centre in Nsukka.
“I told him, sir, it is going to happen. Today, by the grace of God, we have an empowerment centre in Nsukka.
“Another impact is that we have localised technology. If you visit that centre now, you see young people who can engage in varying skills. One relevant skill can pay a young person for life; especially digital skills. That is what is going on.
“Now, we are talking about Peterism,” he said.
Continuing, he added, “But charity, welfare, student empowerment, when it comes to these areas, I always say God shall tell. How can I explain that God could do what He has done for the poor with just an SSA to the Governor, like me.
“Patients in hospitals who could not pay their hospital bills were helped; families who could not feed were fed; allowances were paid to many. At a time I was even paying some of my colleagues in Government allowances through Gburuism.
“Those things we did because we wanted to serve the government and the good people of Enugu State. Scholarships were given out; people were blessed; supported.
“At a time, we began one-one Million Empowerment programme. I did all I could do to see that our people were supported,” he said.
Speaking on the achievements of the incumbent Executive Chairman of his LGA of Nsukka, Hon. Dr. Barr. Walter Ozioko, the digital technology guru had this to say, “You see, Barr Walter Ozioko is a technocrat. He is my brother. I saw a revelation about Walter a long time ago and I told people that Walter was coming.
“Our job is to support him. He is doing well. You can see roads being constructed in Nsukka at the local level. You can see many other massive projects springing up. That is not ordinary. It is not ordinary. So kudos to him, especially for bringing gentility to governance.
Continuing, he said, “There is this calmness in the political atmosphere that he brought with him and I know that he will continue to grow from one level to another.
“That is my prayer for him,” he concluded.
Credit :HOME-TRUTH MAGAZINE: AUGUST/SEPTEMBER, 2023 EDITION
