Enugu Just Appointed 101 Aides in One Day, and Two of Them Used to Just Be in Movies

Remember when we were joking about a certain political movement having a 59-member campaign council and calling it excessive? Enugu State just heard about that number and decided to more than double it. Governor Peter Mbah approved 101 new aides in one single announcement: seven Special Advisers, six Senior Special Assistants, and a genuinely staggering 88 Special Assistants. That's not a cabinet, that's a small town.

And tucked into that list, two familiar faces: Rachael Okonkwo, forever known to an entire generation as Nkoli Nwa Nsukka, is now the Senior Special Assistant on Film and Creative Industry Development. And veteran actress-turned-evangelist Eucharia Anunobi is now Special Assistant on Women Mobilisation for Enugu-North Zone. So somewhere in Enugu right now, a woman whose entire career was built on playing an unforgettable village girl is filing actual government paperwork about the creative industry, and honestly, who better.

But here's the part that got people talking, and rightfully so: what exactly do you need 88 Special Assistants for? The portfolios cover everything from security intelligence to boundary and land matters to sports to social media to "voter awareness", which, curiously, keeps showing up right as we head into the 2027 campaign season. One Nigerian online put it best: "If you need 101 special advisers as a governor, then it is safe to say you don't know your job." Brutal. Also, unfortunately, a fair question.

Because let's be honest, some of these titles read less like governance and more like a very generously staffed campaign structure that happens to be paid for out of the state purse. "Inter-Party and Mobilisation." "Party Monitoring." Those aren't creative industry jobs, those are 2027 foot soldiers with better business cards.

Still, congratulations to Rachael and Eucharia. From set to state house, and somehow neither one had to change their energy to get there.