EBONYI 2015: Issues, Persons Fueling Current Political Ferment In The State anyim-pius-anyimEBONYI State is set to fit its billing as an unpredictable political cauldron. That the state may boil over does not have much to do with the rivalry between the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). The unease is palpable and tension is mounting. This is traceable to the fact that the major political actors in the PDP are desperate to hijack or control the various structures of the party. Then the desperation by some elected representatives to thwart traditional power sharing arrangement in their constituencies brings its share of tension and confusion. Is It about People, Democracy or Power (PDP)? Preparatory to virtually every election, PDP is always enmeshed in divisive squabbles. It is something that begun at the tail end of Dr. Sam Egwu’s administration. During that time the attempt by the then State chairman, Chief Joe Obinna Ogba, to run for governor created a temporary vacuum in the party. When Ogba wanted to regain his position another state chairman in the person of Chief Okeagu Ogada had already been elected. And so the squabble as to who was the authentic state chairman polarized the party until a caretaker committee led by Chief Dave Umahi was set up. There was nothing to suggest that the mandate of the Umahi-led caretaker committee included a review of party membership but much secrecy attended the activities of the party. Shortly after, the Caretaker committee transited to substantive State Working Committee in the disputed congress of 2008. As it turned out, the newly inaugurated Chief Martin Elechi governorship, was trying to have a firm control of the party structure. But as time wore on, virtually all the playmakers during the Egwu era were systematically sidelined. The excision of certain members continued such that at the build up to the 2011 election, the estranged political actors, otherwise called the Egwu Boys, constituted themselves into Eminent PDP Stakeholders Forum. Efforts by the group to get the national Working Committee, (NWC) led by Dr. Okwy Nwodo, to look into the glaring instances of exclusion in the running of the party could have led to the dissolution of the state working committee led by Umahi. But through a combined influence, an alleged N150 million ‘donation’ caused a change of heart. The mutual distrust continued. However, shortly before the 2011 election, the Eminent PDP Stakeholders defected to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), where they supported Senator Julius Ali Ucha in his governorship contest. That impetus leveraged the opposition such that it was able to deny PDP of one House of Representatives and two House of Assembly seats. At the end of the day, Umahi under whom the ‘reformation’ of Ebonyi PDP begun was nominated by Governor Elechi to be his running mate for the 2011 governorship. In his place, the former Vice Chairman, Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone, Prince Ugorji Ama-Oti, became the Acting State Chairman. Ugorji and his other colleagues in the State Working Committee, were endorsed unopposed during the March 2012 state congress. However, the Ugorji-led SWC lived under the suspicion that it was a mere extension of the Umahi administration the members were part of. Moreover the perception that Umahi was angling for the governorship was pervasive. Despite this negative profiling, the Ugorji SWC tried to instill decorum in the party. It began the process of public enlightenment on the achievements of the Elechi administration and published for the first time, a compendium of projects embarked by PDP governments at both the local and state levels. Build up to 2015 THE party seems to be replaying the same old history that led to the formation of the Umahi caretaker committee. At a meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) of the PDP, the State chairman, Prince Ama-Oti was permitted to pursue his political progression by contesting the Afikpo North/South Federal Constituency seat. Though from all indications the gesture appeared to be in recognition and or reward for his innovations and preservation of peace in the party, many party faithful believed it was apparently to get Ama-Oti out of the way to provide a safe ground for the governor to perfect his succession plan. Ama-Oti was a contemporary of the incumbent member representing Afikpo North/South federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Christopher Omo Isu, in the state House of Assembly from 1999 through 2007. But while Omo-Isu progressed to the House of Representatives, Ama-Oti became the Vice Chairman, for Ebonyi South Senatorial zone of the party. So it looked a perfect arrangement to have the easy going Ama-Oti to replace his friend, Omo-Isu in the Green chamber of the National Assembly. It was therefore imperative that the State Chairman, Ama-Oti had resigned from his post in consonance with the party’s laid down directives. Despite pressures from Umahi on Ama-Oti to resist the window of opportunity to contest for the House of Reps position by SEC, the state chairman resigned. The exit of the State Chairman necessitated another SEC meeting. And it was at the point of trying to select a replacement for Ama-Oti that the division in the party between those loyal to Governor Elechi and his Deputy, Umahi widened. While the Umahi group wanted the Deputy State Chairman, Hon. Joseph Onwe, to scale up as Acting Chairman, Elechi and SEC in their understanding of the new PDP constitution decided to nominate an Acting Chairman from the same senatorial zone as Ama-Oti, Umahi and his group rallied support around Onwe. Elechi’s initial preference for his Commissioner for Poverty Eradication and Economic Empowerment, Chief James Aroh Nweke, was aborted by the alleged rejection of the candidate by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, who was quoted as wondering whether Elechi wants every member of PDP to relocate away from Ebonyi. Consequently, in obvious deference for the sensibilities of Anyim, especially against the background that Nweke hails from the SGF’s Ishiagu community, Elechi went for the former Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Egwu’s administration, Mr. Ben Akpah. Yet the Umahi group supported by Anyim, Egwu, Ogba and Ambassador Frank Ogbuewu continued to reject Akpa’s appointment, choosing instead to identify with Joseph Onwe, as acting state chairman of PDP. Politics of consensus governorship candidate GOVERNOR Martin Elechi, made clear his preference for political power in the state, at the level of governorship to shift to Ebonyi South Senatorial zone. But some politicians in the PDP, especially those from the old Abakaliki bloc comprising Ebonyi North and Central senatorial zones, wanted the contest to be open to all. Some of the candidates that expressed interest to run for the governorship included Senator Paulinus Igwe Nwagu, (Ebonyi Central), Dr. Offia Nwali, (Ebonyi Central) and Senator Tony Agbo, (Ebonyi North). But when it became obvious that the political space in PDP could not allow for an all comers contest for the governorship, Agbo defected to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), stressing that it was the best platform that reflected the Igbo political ideological and philosophy of love and harmonious social relations. It would be recalled that the populous Izzi clan from Ebonyi North Senatorial zone, which had hitherto mobilised to challenge Elechi’s power shift arrangement, decided to back down on the understanding that their political leader, Senator Chris Nwankwo, should return to the Senate for a second term. But after series of consultative meetings with stakeholders from the three senatorial zones and combined meeting of Ebonyi North and Central zones’ stakeholders, Professor C. Onyebuchi Chukwu, was selected as a consensus choice for the governorship. At that point most of the governorship aspirants from Ebonyi South rejected the former Health Minister’s adoption, saying that they were not consulted. Alliance of Strangers THE choice of Prof. Chukwu by the stakeholders and Elechi as consensus candidate became a rallying point for those opposed to the governor. Consequently, the Deputy Governor, Umahi, became a rallying point for strange political alliance of such players like former Governor Egwu, Anyim, Dr. Lawrence Nwuruku and Ambassador Ogbuewu. This alliance, which later metamorphosed to a new Abuja Group, attracted three out of the five PDP members of the Ebonyi caucus in the House of Representatives. The grouse of this anti-Elechi movement is that the governor had systematically sidelined them in the determination of who gets what or goes where politically in 2015. They also accuse the governor of exemplifying political greed by insisting that his in law, Senator Nwankwo and not Egwu goes to the Senate to represent Ebonyi North Senatorial zone. Those sympathetic to Egwu’s ambition to go to the Senate instead of a second term for Senator Chris Nwanko, argue that it does not sit morally right on Elechi to seek a Senate seat and at the same time encourage his wife’s elder brother to enjoy a second term in a zone where nobody has gone to the Senate for two terms. But Elechi’s loyalists insist that Egwu manifested the similar political greed in 2007 when he handed over his zone’s senate ticket to his kinsman, Tony Agbo, in trust, while trying his luck for the presidency and later the national chairmanship of PDP. “When he failed in his desire to become president, vice president and national chairman, the attempt to retrieve the senate ticket from Agbo was rebuffed. Now after eight years in political limbo, Egwu wants to run for senate and cause confusion,” said a party chieftain from Izzi. The intriguing thing about the whole scenario playing out in the current opposition welling against Elechi is that most of those identifying with Umahi’s stout defiance of his principal do not want him to be governor. Even the SGF, who was quoted as describing Elechi’s succession as a kind of madness, does not want to declare his real candidate for the position apart his from open aversion to Prof. Chukwu’s adoption. Most of those opposing the consensus arrangement hold the view that if popularity were to be the guide in the selection, immediate past Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Paul Okorie, would easily command support of the stakeholders across the divide. A Return to Assembly Impeachment Saga ON Monday November 10, 2014, 16 out of the 24 members of the State House of Assembly announced the impeachment of the former Speaker, Hon Chukwuma Nwazunku, for incompetence, corrupt enrichment and gross misconduct, including serial breaches of the constitution. In Nwazunku’s place, Hon. Blaise Orji and Oliver Chukwuka Nwachukwu, was elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively. Spokesman of the House and member representing Afikpo South West Constituency, Hon. Eni Uduma Chima, in a press conference addressed by the 16 legislators explained that since the suspension slammed on the Chief Whip and Nwachukwu, was in contravention of the House Rules, members had to declare it as exercise in futility before going on to carry out the business of the day. Chima disclosed that their group however suspended two members of the Assembly namely, Hon. Odefa Obasi Odefa, (Onicha East) and Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, (Izzi West) in the course of a motion moved by Hon. Ikechukwu Ogbu and seconded by Hon. Princess Lilian Igwe. On the earlier sitting by the House that same day, Chima contended that the rival group wanted to ambush the Assembly by going to sit at plenary before the allotted time, stressing that the impeachment was listed on the order paper that was circulated to members at the weekend. He contended that the impeachment of the former Speaker followed the laid down rules, adding that though the Court had earlier ruled on the maintenance of status quo in the former impeachment, the recent exercise was a different thing altogether with a new set of leaders. However, in marked departure from what played out during the earlier impeachment of Nwazunku, the State government has noted that since the outcome was the collective decision of the majority of the legislators it cannot stand in their way as that would amount to interference. The state government said it would not be forced to join issues with those who speculate that the Speaker’s impeachment was a precursor to the impeachment of the Deputy Governor. Commissioner for Commerce and Industries and supervising Commissioner for Information, Dr. Ifeanyi Ike, who addressed a press conference on the development, said government has received and noted the change in the Assembly leadership. “To us in the executive arm of government, it is purely the business of the 24 members of the legislative arm,” Ike added. Shortly after the change of leadership in the Assembly, youth from different parts of the state numbering close to 1,000 trooped to Abakaliki in solidarity for the new Speaker, Orji, who is also the son of a former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Chief Francis Orji. Speaking on behalf of the youth, Barrister Chibueze Agbo, said the youth mobilised from different communities of the state are demonstrating their support for Orji and their determination to ensure that nobody distracts Governor Martin Elechi or hijacks the PDP in the State. Issues in the Plots THE impeachment of Nwazunku brought to public attention the various intrigues surrounding the adoption of a consensus candidate. As soon as Prof. Chukwu was adopted, some politicians in the state wanted a popular politician from Izzi to be his deputy. The name of the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Augustine Nwankwagu, was severally mentioned and most people expressed happiness with the idea. However, later on based on the senatorial ambition of the former Minister of Mines and Power, Chief Goddy Ogbaga, those close to Senator Chris Nwankwo, took umbrage. And in a bid to undercut the Ogbaga ambition, Mr. Sylvester Ogodo, was thrown up. This brought a revival of the incipient rivalry and schism between Igboejima and Umuera kindred in Izzi. The choice of Ogodo instead of Nwankwagu was therefore seen as a ploy to continue the political emasculation of Umuera. It was therefore this internal disunity in Izzi that the Umahi group capitalized on to attract Nwazunku to join forces with them in the fight against Elechi and his political schemes. Also, former Governor Egwu was said to have sided with the Umahi group, ostensibly to fight Senator Chris Nwankwo’s second term senatorial ambition. Senator Nwankwo, it should be noted, is from Igboejima in the Izzi clan. For the SGF who is said to be providing federal might in the fight, loyalists of Elechi remark that having failed in his plot to dismember Ebonyi State through the agitation for Etiti State, Anyim wants to use the present political situation to get back at Elechi for throwing his weight in support of Adada State. The Guardian also gathered that the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, is joining forces with the Umahi group to call Elechi’s bluff since he shares in their travails on account of a similar scenario playing out in Enugu State. The above combination of factors led to the conflicting positions of the state government and the new Abuja Group over the outcome of the last local government congress. While the congress committee sent from Abuja appeared to be working with the Umahi group, Elechi declared that any attempt to use fraudulent result to organise the primaries would be resisted, since according to him, it was obvious that the exercise could not hold. The governor expressed dismay that the first step of the committee on arriving Abakaliki was to visit the Commissioner of Police, who was suspected to be playing a script written in Abuja (read, SGF). While the mutual suspicion and counterplots from the two groups continue, it is most likely that most of those in the Abuja Group would prefer a harmonization of positions and possibly a compromise candidate where Umahi and Chukwu may be asked to step aside. For instance, while three out of the five members of Ebonyi caucus in the House of Representatives stated that “it is a shock to find out that we had all been collectively ‘retired’ by the state governor” Elechi’s supporters said the same people were part of the decisions taken by SEC during Ama-Oti’s elevation from Zonal Chairman to acting State Chairman, instead of Joseph Onwe, who was by then the Deputy Chairman. What happens in the state in the coming week would indicate whether the real battle is between Elechi and his Deputy, Umahi or actually between Elechi and Anyim, using Umahi as arrowhead!
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 01:41:15 +0000
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