By Ben Nnadozie
I was shocked to read in a recent media interview where an APC party stalwart in Enugu State and Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Chief Osita Okechukwu said that the current crisis in Enugu State was not capable of negatively affecting the fortunes of the party in the Coal City.
It will be recalled that about 20 members, including a Senior Special Assistant to the President, Barrister Juliet Ibekaku, were purportedly suspended by the controversial State Chairman, Mr. Ben Nwoye.
Okechukwu was of the view that the suspension of the party men and women was not of any particular import as it could not stop the mass exodus of former PDP members and heavyweights into the APC in the state. In his words, “I don’t think so (that the suspension would have negative impact), because the surge of new entrants will overshadow the suspension of Ibekaku and A.C. Udeh. The party is not wrong. Those 20 persons are infinitesimal; the exodus is too much, even some national assembly members are coming soon. Those who fought us, even in my council area are now with us; so the 20 are infinitesimal.”
What I could make out from the interview and Chief Okechukwu’s assertion is that it seems the people of Enugu in APC, and in fact Nigeria, do not realize why the Nigerian people voted them into power in the 2015 general elections. The truth is that they are not better politicians than PDP members; and do not possess schemers, shrewder strategies and with more advanced political savvy.
They were accepted and voted into power by the masses because people wanted a change and this fresh political serving is enshrined in the person of then presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari. This movement was underpinned in the popular political philosophy some Nigerian writers coined as Buharism. Remove Buhari, and APC becomes just another political contraption designed by opposition leaders to try and wrestle power from the ruling party.
So, if today, Enugu APC boasts of certain political heavy weights rushing into the party from right, left and centre, it is because Buharism gathered so much momentum to take power at the centre; and still retains the promise of mustering enough followership in the South East after its earlier apostles were able to convince the skeptical Ndigbo that Buharism could still serve their overall regional interest. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. However, it would be counterproductive, and in fact suicidal, to sacrifice the essence of the revolution on the altar of expediency. Why do I say so?
The hasty suspension of a credible, dedicated, efficient and personable party-builder like Barrister Juliet Ibekaku is not only suspicious, it is sacrilegious, considering the caliber of personalities that perpetrated the unconstitutional action.
The first thing to be asked is what is the crime of the suspended members? They were alleged to have engaged in anti-party activities and misconduct. However, it is interesting to note that the anti-party activities and misconduct referred to here is the official suspension of the State Party Chairman, Mr. Ben Nwonye on July 3, 2017.
According to Valentine Nnaedozie, a former governorship candidate in Enugu State, Nwonye’s suspension was precipitated by his refusal to attend to summons by a committee set up between the APC national leadership and the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to answer questions regarding the running of the party in the state.
In defiance to the committee and constituted authorities of the party, Nwonye, instead of defending himself, went and set up a committee in Enugu to try those that petitioned him before the national leadership of the party. By doing this, he assumed jurisdiction and became a judge in his own case. Even, to a layman like me, this turns logic on its head.
But the saddest part of the saga is that this questionable development found support among some respectable personalities in the APC in Enugu.
It may be assumed that these otherwise honourable politicians might have been carried away by the mass movement into the APC and therefore neglected the more important task of sticking to democratic best practices in order to build a stronger APC.
In Enugu, former governor, Barrister Sullivan Chime, and other prominent politicians have joined the APC. Even the former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo, has joined. They therefore speculate that others, including current PDP governors, are on their way to the APC.
But that is not how to run a party that will last. Surely, present party malpractices may seem excusable, but they will definitely come to haunt the party in the near future. In fact, the crisis in Enugu State has put a big question mark on the democratic integrity of the APC as a national party.
Take for instance, the fact that one of the accusations against the embattled state chairman is that corruption and professional illegitimacy punctures a big hole in the integrity credentials of the party as enshrined in the Buharism philosophy.
This is a sad commentary on the APC and Buharism, and it is quite troubling that the national leadership of the APC has not decisively waded into this matter in order to return the party in the state to calm and trusted waters.
Buharism is a phenomenon of truth, political justice, socio-economic emancipation and quest towards self-reliance and growth. However discipline assumes a particularly important fulcrum in its entire perception and practice, as nothing adds so much to the stature of the individual as a constructive attitude towards life and a conscious approach to one’s duty to the society, when matching words and deeds becomes the rule of daily lifestyle.
The APC Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, and all the party leaders should not allow the trust Nigerians reposed in them to be taken for granted by unscrupulous elements, and overnight progressives, now threatening to turn party politics on its head in my state, Enugu.
Nnadozie writes from Enugu