By Ozo Udene-Gbarajinobi
It is quite amusing watching or reading claims, theatricals and near-hysteria as contenders to arenas of power employ every conceivable tactic to rupture the ‘zoning’ political tradition as practiced in Enugu State in the last 23 years.
Indeed, the most voiced word today is ‘zoning.’ While the voices that matter say vociferously that there is a ‘zoning’ political tradition, quite a number revolving around a contender insist that there is no ‘zoning.’ The anchor of the nay-sayers is that there is no such document signed as the agreement of the people to any zoning arrangement in Enugu State. But, in so saying, they forget that such a document could ever have been produced to satisfy office seekers across the entire political parties. And they pretend not to understand that having such an agreement in writing does not give it any more weight than being accepted and practiced over time, as has been the case in the last 23 years.
Anyway, first step first. What is ‘zoning’?
In fact, cries for ‘zoning’ of political offices did not start today in Nigeria. It was a political lexicon conceptualized through the Second Republic National Party of Nigeria (NPN). Remember the slim book, Zoning to Unzone, by the cerebral Chuba Okadigbo, PhD, of President Shehu Shagari’s office? It was followed by another work, Zoning in NPN. While one strictly situated ‘zoning’ as ‘rotation of political offices’ and taken from models of political philosophy, the other largely speculated on representative sharing of political offices in order to minimize mass demand of the same office/s at the same time. In all, the objective was to assuage the thirst of politicians for power and blunting of the edges of greed, chicanery and hate promoted by power-seekers who anchor their drives in ethnic or tribal considerations.
In an interview with this writer in 1997, Okadigbo stated that “Zoning is an exercise in partitioning of the geographical sections of a polity with a view to determining the succession patterns and the timing of allocation of offices, especially the highly prized offices of the President.”
According to him, “this translates to getting the approval of other geographical sections on the promise of the same office being ceded to them in future. The design was to reduce unnecessary bickering, harsh competition and social distractions.”
He further explained that zoning was of overriding importance for a formative state as Nigeria, or regions of Nigeria where social and political blending were far from crystalising, to infuse the common standard of relationships existing in otherwise fully formed nation states.
Political economist, Nnamdi Eziechi, offered a different reason for the necessity of zoning and rotation of offices for an evolving social organisation as Nigeria.
“We Africans are yet to appreciate the principles of resource management based on reality. But we are adept at the old pattern based on recourse to clans and cleavages. We are yet to appreciate our neighbours as established by the new groupings in states, local governments or anywhere beyond our common clans. Consequently, sharing among Africans is not always guided by common principles more than we are inclined to pay more, and undeserving, attention to where we come from. So, in the political economy sense, to give each man a sense of belonging, or to remove marginalization and oppression, every part of the state should have its day for a shot on top seat.”
So, whatever was the design zoning had ignited in the consciousness of Nigerians, there was even a consequent official stamp in the constitutive federal and state character principles.
But if the statute-backed federal and state character principles are having somewhat easy carriage, it is not the same with elective offices, where values of sharing and principles of equity are forced into insignificance by personal ambition and pecuniary interests.
Founded on the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic, Enugu State, like the others, is divided into three geopolitical zones called senatorial zones. These are collections of local government areas, commonly believed to share in closer native values and native interests. Yet, these are, at best, inchoate and the hope is high that they would eventually “blend into a common political character” in Nigeria’s journey of evolution.
Now, the question, is the gap of myriads or tapestry of sub-cultures what some Enugu men and women seek to exploit, and for what purpose? Contrary to claims commonly bandied, there is not yet a single zone or district in Enugu State, or perhaps elsewhere, which has achieved any clear commonality of sub-culture or sameness of political tradition, much as they seem to be the same.
For instance, contrary to the claims of common subscription of the entire people of Enugu North (Nsukka) to the dominant Nsukka sub-culture, they are not entirely a people of completely erased social demarcations in forms and practice. There are more than five sub-cultures in the zone. In ethno-geographical texture, the Ukehe people, where the first civilian governor of Enugu State, Dr. Okwy Nwodo, came from, were never Nsukka in origin. They belonged to the Ojebeogene clan and were of the old Agbaja sub-nationality. The secret of the political success of Ukehe/Nwodo in Nsukka was that the day their forebears rebelled against the Warrant Chiefdom of Onyeama of Agbaja, they adopted Nsukka in name, dialect, food, manners and every facet of life. They took their women in marriage and gave their own daughters in marriage in return. They lived among them, participated in their cultural affairs and contributed to the fine motley of traditional gestures culminating in the ultimate Nsukka social and political culture. They never wore the garb of sojourners, foreigners or learners. They thought it, and they were equal partakers.
The same can be said of the Uzo Uwani areas of the same Enugu North whose sub-ethnic pedigrees are as varied as the uncountable ethnic and tribal stocks in Nigeria. Some are of Agbaja origin; some of core Nsukka and many are of Igala (Kogi State) origin.
Yet, somehow, they have so commendably played their politics of inclusion not because they sought to pursue that which illustrated their dissimilarities but because they lived and promoted that which would pronounce, and which accentuated, their common Nsukka heritage.
In the more northerly areas of Enugu North zone, there are other ethnic stocks, including but not limited to Ette, Igga, Ogurugu, etc, which are well blended Igala linguistic and cultural areas.
In Enugu East Zone, the same variety of sub-cultures prevails. But whereas the areas now commonly called the Nkanu areas have recorded successes at blending into a common culture, it was understood – though not illustrated – as not so a couple of decades ago. It used to be known as a region of three major sub-cultural zones, vis, Nkanu (Nkanu East and Nkanu West Local Government Areas), Ntuegbenese (Akegbe and Awkunanaw confederacy) and Nike federation. Whereas the core Nkanu areas previously displayed a good dose of the characteristics of the more eastern Igbo – Ezilo, Onicha and Ohaozara, the Ntuegbe clan was a potpourri of varied traditions, some verging on the east with Nike clans while others loosely cuddled the textures of Awgu and Umuneke-Ngwo-Udi clans. The Nikes, a merry-go subculture actually still romanticized links with the Ugwunye clan of Agbaja sub-nationality. Standing or sitting atop the hill on the western-most side of Enugu East zone is the Ngwo clan, whose warrior ancestors had elbowed their way into the Agabaja territories where they dug in as unfazed buffer-combatants against marauding predators and enslavers of the era, far gone. Although they have not been Nkanunised (if they will be), they make no pretences about being of Enugu East geopolical zone, despite being more culturally related to the Agbaja stock.
It was the injection of the Isi Uzo division, formerly of the old Nsukka zone that the room for political manipulation arises. Isi-Uzo is a stock forming the local government area where some of the leaders never hid their dislike for the inclusion of the area in the Enugu East senatorial zone. Yet, it was not one which joined the Enugu East, instead of Enugu North, at the behest of any foreign power.
The snag is that present political players in this area have, for speculative reasons, refused to pick up the Nwodo-Ukehe-model of socio-political blending. At a time in 2003, and at the instance of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, one of their sons was elected the President of the then newly formed Nkanu Peoples Assembly, NPA. Yet, somehow, or by the manipulation of outside factors, they opted out and have continued to pursue an unrealistic programme of being spoon fed as cast-away orphans of Nsukka sub-ethnic stock. This has not helped them. Fact is that they cannot play the Nsukka zonal politics since they are not of the zone, and they appear fixated on their dislike of the Enugu East zone to which they belong, by the laws of Nigeria. They cannot be a child of two worlds! Of course, historically, all of Isi Uzo was never even Nsukka but an ethnic Nkanu which was never of the Okwoga Division to which Nsukka belonged up till 1912. It was the following political delineation in which Nsukka was excised from Okwoga that they were carved in.
But if just a few of the elements of Enugu North (Nsukka) and Enugu East (Nkanu) zones have deliberately missed some points in blending and charting the desired common political sameness, it is in the Enugu West geopolitical zone, of unconsecrated memory, that the tragedy of political provincialism and ravages of personal ambition delivered their blows of backwardness and blindness.
This is now snowballing into a devastating ascription of vaunting power greed riding the cymbals of rampaging, political bullying and intimidation.
By the way, Enugu West Zone is made of five local government areas, the least in number in Enugu State. These are Udi, Ezeagu, Aninri, Awgu and Oji River. The first two are of the nucleus of the Agbaja Empire, and homestead of Warrant Chief Onyeama, whose instant reception to British colonial introduction saw to the establishment of the first Catholic church, St. Paul’s, Eke, in 1909, which was quickly capped with a school. These gave his people the head start in English man’s education and other westernizing influence over the entire Wawa land (Enugu and Ebonyi States). Indeed, for a long time, every area of the present Enugu State, present Nsukka areas excepted, were carved under an old Udi Division. So, when you read about General Ojukwu serving as an Assistant District Officer, ADO, in Udi, it was in Agbani where the District Office under Udi Division was located. Also, what political players today call the greater Awgu was a District so named under the old Udi Division.
Now, in the ensuing zoning tradition since 1999, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, from Enugu East zone decided to promote the election of Sullivan Chime from Udi, (Enugu West Zone), as his successor. This was hugely hailed as healthy power shift from the Enugu East to another zone. In the twilight of his administration, Chime was said to have called a meeting of Enugu leaders, irrespective of political party affiliations, to formalize the process commenced by Governor Nnamani, his immediate predecessor. A couple of days ago, surviving Enugu’s political leaders, such as former governors Sullivan Chime and Dr. Okwy Nwodo, as well as Collins ndu, among others, have already confirmed this much in recent statements and declarations. It was the consequence of the agreement that that Chime effortlessly ceded power to Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi from Orba, Udenu Local Government Area in Enugu North Zone.
But something curious is developing, especially from the Enugu West zone where a falsely promoted argument has arisen on assumed sense of equity based on sub-cultural zones. The argument as pushed by some players is that since Chime was, so it seemed an Agbaja man, it would be assumed that the old Awgu District or sub-zone had a right to occupy the stool in equal zest and time, so soon after. Of course, there couldn’t have been any reason to ever think that a time would not come when a non-Agbaja, representing Enugu West Zone would take the reins of office in Enugu State.
Indeed, every Awgu man or woman, and for that matter, every Enugu man or woman, has a right to aspire to the position of the governor of the State. It is on the marble that the person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the chief promoter of the Awgu distinct politico-cultural zone, is a highly capable man to occupy the office. He has in his kitty a 23-year unremitting office experiences, variously, as chief of staff, and later, Secretary to the government of Chimaroke Nnamani, totaling four years. He followed it seamlessly as a Senator of the Federal Republic, running non-stop to cumulative 20 year reign if in 2023. His pedigree is intimidating, just as he has also done very well for himself – I mean the other way round. Y’know!!!
But in raising so much dust, as it were, promoting the distinctiveness of Greater Awgu sub-culture in the Enugu West Zone, he appears to admit that even with these number years of experiences, with the attendant intimidating personal resources attached, he must have ignored the necessity of blending and crystalising of his sub-zone. Or was he keeping it as a trump card which he is currently waving across every face that turns in his direction?
Well, he misses some points. First, the zoning arrangement, albeit the rotation principle, as commenced by Chimaroke Nnamani, has deeply situated the trend as an unimpeachable political culture trending in the common sense of sharing based on the constitutionality of the senatorial zones. It was never contemplated to run on primordial sentiments which, as now the case, are easily manipulated for personal political aggrandizement. As they say, the train has left the station and the triangular sharing trend has long been instituted. The first of the tripod was the Enugu East Zone (Nnamani) who passed it West (Chime), who in turn played it off to the North zone, bringing to an end the edifying full edition with Ugwuanyi. Now, would a crystal ball be needed to say that it is healthier for the State and her people to run a second edition commencing another zoning regime where it started? No!
Secondly, in resorting to sub-cultural exclusivity or an argument in promotion of a Greater Awgu cultural claims, what fairness would there be in ignoring the cultural distinctiveness of other peoples in the other zones – the Iggas, the Ogurugus, the Ettes, the Agbajas, etc, in Enugu North Zone? What about the Ngwos in Enugu East Zones? And are we not even supposed to remember that being a democracy, however we zone or unzone, the candidate must command the following of majority of the people, first within the party from the zone and ultimately, in the State?
Now, for the sake of argument and attendant entertainment, let us assume the possibility of a Greater Awgu cultural zone. We put it through the furnace of facts of history and reality of our time.
This writer reached out to a social scientist. (‘Leave my name out,’ he bellowed). ‘This Greater Awgu dream is a healthy project for the future, but that which is yet to take off beyond shouts and the yelling at political rallies. However, it is possible that many, including some exponents of the Awgu cultural zone, do not know,’ he said at length. According to him, ‘the fact is that Awgu is not any existing mono-cultural society. Just take a look at Oji River area, particularly the Achi/Inyi zones who are sometimes not even happy to be called Wawa. And in truth, what is Agbenu (Anambra) in the Ufuma or Ogbunka man (Orumba North Local Government area of Anambra State), which is not in the Inyi or Achi man? The food delicacies are the same. The Igbo dialect is the same. The traditional worship system is the same. They fetch in the same common rivers and streams, etc? What is Abia or Imo in some Isuochi and Mbano communities respectively which is not in the Awlaw and Inyi (Oji River LGA) man? Largely, they tend to these areas more than they do to any Awgu.’
From historical perspective, a forth in which this writer has healthily peeped into, Aninri is situated as the bread basket of the vanished Ujele civilization. Blessed with excellently rich soil, healthy ecosystem – rivers and streams, valleys, and the ultimate good climate – it was a passage way for throngs of sojourners – settler-farmers, settler-traders, settler-slave merchants, brimming as well as weakened-Ohafia warriors, Nkanu political fugitives and Ntuegbenese refugees. It is one place you can call the microcosm of the Igbo cultural diversity and the melting pot of traditions. It was also the museum of enduring cultural survivals. The Okpanku man, so close to the Mpu (Ekweremadu’s community) sees himself not at one with an Mpu man, but with an Ohaozara man (of Ebonyi State). Same are the cases with the settled Aro men of Mgbidi, Agbudu, Mgbowo, etc, in Awgu LGA, who are only Greater Awgu in name and not in any core social texture.
So, whereas the healthy wish to establish and run on a Greater Awgu sub-culture or one to rival the Agbaja cultural zone is healthy, the great political players, especially in the hue of Ekweremadu or his well-heeled media handlers, appear to give more vent to what should come later after what is expected to be built now or in the future.
In review of the fabulous Ukehe/Nwodo-into-Nsukka model in blending and cultural assimilation, the Greater Awgu dream ought not to be a project in harvesting from a non-existent farm estate. Rather, it should be a creative thought process in embarking on either of the following two courses: use the influences of long tenure at Senate of the Federal Republic, with the intimidating level of connections and personal resources, to make Greater Awgu the fourth Senatorial Zone in Enugu State or alternatively, walk the talk and work to, first, achieve a blending of the motley of traditions and cleavages in the Greater Awgu to form a substantive and not speculative sub-culture. Following up to the later would be to blend same with the Agbaja behemoth to sit as he pleases in the zone..
Here, I find the words of Dr. Umaru Dikko, to this writer in 1998, quite useful. ‘If you want to travel, you first get to the train station and buy the ticket to the specific destination, not just any ticket. And you must wait for the train going in the direction of your destination. You do not buy any ticket, and you do not board any train. So, right ticket, at the right time and right train to the right destination. Otherwise, you miss your way.’
•Udene-Gbarajinobi, a Lagos based media entrepreneur, is the Akpati-Nsiegbe of Amani-Ogwugwu Aja Kingdom, Enugu State.