By Ken Eluma Asogwa.
On Saturday, 19th September, 2020, Ebeano Family, a political movement birthed by Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, former governor of Enugu State, paid what they termed a “solidarity visit” to the incumbent governor of the State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Dr. Nnamani, who spoke on behalf of the hordes of loyalists that accompanied him, pledged to support the choice of the incumbent governor on the issues of succession to the throne of the Lion Building.
Also, in January, 2021, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu led another delegation of Enugu West people to a political pilgrimage in Enugu Government House. In taking a cue from Ebeano visit, he, on behalf of his group, also pledged support for the governor. Though discussed in shush sounds, an average Joe in the State is aware that the former deputy president of the senate is gearing up to fight for the coveted seat in 2023.
In December 2020, just some few weeks back, Sen. Ekweremadu’s ambition led him all the way to Ovoko, Igbo-Eze South LGA, where he attended the grand finale of a Christmas football tournament he sponsored. Being the hometown of a politician who in turn desires the same beautiful ornament the former deputy senate president covets, report has it that he escaped by whiskers from the wrath of some irate village mob allegedly sympathetic to the cause of their kinsman politician. This is deja vu for Ekweremadu as he was heckled and pelted in faraway Germany in 2019 by a separatist group that felt he has not used his position as deputy president of the senate to canvass support for their agitation for referendum.
Prior to the above Ekweremadu visit to the governor, a group christened Odinma Nsukka had, back in November, 2020 organized a mega rally at Nsukka wherein Governor Ugwuanyi was hosted. Speakers after speakers used the platform to eulogize and reassure the governor of the unwavering support of his kinsmen.
Central in the above moves is the pledge of loyalty by the above groupings. But beyond the loyalty pledge is the desperate scramble and shove for power. Ideally, there is nothing wrong in all of that. Politicians are wont to play politics and politick for power. However, when some of such agitations get laced in schism, with zero altruism, then there is a need for it to be censured.
I sympathize with the present governor of Enugu State. I can imagine the quantum of high wire politics going on around him by now. All manner of opinions must be flying into the ears of the governor at the moment. This is indeed not the best of times to envy the seat of Enugu Government House. In any case, the Governor, I reckon, is equipped with enough political nimbleness to untwine this logjam.
Having highlighted the above, I will fast-track to the gist of the day. Beyond the facade of open declarations of support for the governor, it is actually disconcerting to see some of the politicians who were recalled from sabbaticals by the present governor trumpeting support for the incumbent’s choice of successor as if they had much options available in the matter. When one of such politicians was in power, no one born of a woman dared make suggestions to him on his choice of successor. Fear and trepidation reigned supreme amongst his political acolytes that no one ever had a flicker of courage to raise questions on succession issues. In short, it was said that a particular appointee was on a certain occasion smacked by that very governor for daring to fight his gods. What was his offence? He dared to ask questions on the choice of the governor’s successor, we were told.
Except I am overreading the situation, it is asinine for some yesterday’s men who were emperors of sort in their era to think that they can goad or railroad the incumbent governor into hand-picking a successor for him. All those pilgrimages to the governor are mere veneers. Their real intentions, when unmasked, are more odoriferous than the rosy smells we are being treated to. It is credulous (and I know they know better) to think that the governor who is the political leader of his party in the State would be aloof in the choice of his successor or would allow himself to be dictated to by some political demigods. It is a given that the governor would naturally root for a successor whom he thinks would continue his legacies or whom he thinks has the best credentials for the job. I don’t know if that can be termed godfatherism but it is an acceptable political practice.
Barack Obama was instrumental to the emergence of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate in 2016, even though she lost in the general election to the now-ousted Donald Trump. There is nothing wrong in the incumbent working assiduously to enthrone a successor; what could rather be nauseating is how our departing governors try to work themselves into 3rd term by having narcissistic and exaggerated belief they could dictate to the incumbents. Good enough, it has not worked for any one of them, though, like ostriches, they keep burying their heads in the sand. It hasn’t worked in Enugu; it hasn’t worked elsewhere. They keep installing successors that turn around to backstab them. They will never learn!
My passionate appeal to the governor is to look for a round peg in a round hole while searching for a successor. A reader may ask where I place the choice of the electorate in all of this. The electorate, no doubts, is the ultimate giver of political power. However, that can only happen where you have existence of opposition. Enugu State is the only state in the entire federation where opposition politics is clearly non existent. And nothing is being done to piece them together before 2023. So, realistically speaking, it is elite consensus that will still decide our political fate in 2023.
Politics of Enugu is so funny that if the governor peradventure joins APC today the cataclysmic crises that will befall PDP in the State will be worse than what APC currently faces in the State. This is simply because the entire party apparatchik, and indeed the entire party faithful, will leave with him. That is what you get in a state where the fastest thriving industry is politics. Such a patronage system will always ensure that he who carries the palm fronds continues to dictate the movement of the goats.
I enjoin the governor to deemphasize the politics of “ke eshi emeride” in the choice of his successor. Ke eshi emeride is a retrogressive political philosophy planted and propagated by a former governor of the state and it has not served us well. We can’t keep doing the same thing (ke eshi emeride) over and over again and expect to achieve a different governance result. The governor should jettison our routine leadership selection process and go for someone with a Marshall Plan for the State, irrespective of the person’s zone, creed or cast.
I know that, having been betrayed by the caption of this article, the reader itches to understand my argument on the raging issue of zoning. I think a host of persons who know me and have related closely with me will be disappointed to see me descend into the arena of crude, clannish and medieval politics that places parochialism above competence in the choice of leadership. We must shift attention from cliquish politics and begin to, as a matter of urgency, canvass support for who the cap fits.
If Governor Ugwuanyi finds that competent person in his senatorial zone or elsewhere, he will be supported by the majority of the indigenous people of the state who have been yearning for good leadership. After all, the arguments of the “rotationists” and zoning adherents do not hold water in the face of the governorship seat having gone round the three (3) zones; in any case, a fresh start can begin from any of the zones.
•Asogwa, a lawyer, wrote this piece from Abuja ([email protected]).
(Twitter: @kenelumaasogwa)