The governorship aspiration of a former deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, has stirred a raging controversy in Enugu State ahead of the 2023 general elections, RAPHAEL EDE writes
On March 11, 2022, a former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, appeared to have stirred up the hornets’ nest when he declared that he would contest the governorship seat of Enugu State in 2023, saying the argument about zoning/rotation of the position among the three senatorial districts of the state was never discussed.
Ekweremadu, while responding to a barrage of questions from journalists over the zoning arrangement for the governorship seat, which will become constitutionally vacant next year, said there was never any zoning agreement in Enugu, whether written or in the form of a gentleman’s agreement, insisting that it was a mere elite conspiracy to snatch power, because each of the promoters of zoning had someone in mind they wanted to put in the Lion Building (Enugu State Government House) or someone they wanted to stop.
He stated, “If you are talking about zoning, you are talking about the interest of the entire people of Enugu State – men, women, traditional rulers, town union presidents, representatives and the ordinary people. Then someone is telling you that he and a few people sat down in one place and discussed zoning. Which party were they representing? That is the thing.
“I heard that narrative; someone said it was in the Banquet Hall of the Government House during Sullivan’s (Chime) regime. If you and a few people decided to visit the governor and had some food and drinks and then had a conversation, does that mean you should wake up and say you discussed or agreed? So, there is no such thing like zoning.
“Which organ of government or party were they representing? If you go to the PDP constitution, I think Article 6 or thereabouts, dealing with local government and state organs; we have the caucus, State Working Committee, State Executive Committee and State Elders’ Committee. There is no organ of the state party machinery in that PDP constitution that empowers anybody to go and zone the governorship.
“So, I don’t know the meeting they were having. It doesn’t make sense. Now, they said it was in 2013; so, what happened to Sullivan? How did he emerge? How then did Chimaroke (Nnamani) emerge? So, they were no longer products of zoning as earlier claimed?”
Ekweremadu, who hails from the Aninir Local Government Area and currently represents the Enugu West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, challenged whoever said there was an agreement to zone the position of the governor to come out and say where the discussion was held. He maintained that Chimaroke, Chime and the incumbent governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, were not products of zoning, stressing that it would be treachery of politics for anybody to talk about zoning now that he came out with the intention to lead the people of the state.
The lawmaker, who has been in the Senate for close to 20 years, said, “I challenge anybody who says that there was a zoning arrangement to come and say where the discussion and the agreement took place. I was the campaign manager for Senator Chimaroke Nnamani during his first term and he was not a product of zoning. Sullivan Chime was not a product of zoning and I was not a product of zoning either. If I was, I wouldn’t have been in the Senate for five consecutive terms.”
But a political pressure group from Ekweremadu’s Enugu senatorial zone, known as Ifeemelumma, while addressing journalists on March 16, 2022, displayed a document showing that zoning was discussed at a PDP caucus meeting in 2013. The group said the former deputy president of the Senate signed the zoning agreement. The leader of the group, Senator Ben Ndu, said at a well-attended meeting in 2013 that the state caucus agreed on the rotation of the governorship position and it was signed by over 50 stakeholders, including Ekweremadu.
According to Ndu, the motion for the zoning and rotation of the governorship position was moved by Chief Dubem Onyia and seconded by himself after an amendment by Chief Charles Egumgbe.
He said, “The motion was adopted and signed by more than 50 participants, including among others, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo; Senator Ike Ekweremadu; Eugene Odo, a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly; and Vitta Abba. I wonder why my brother and friend, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who was physically present at the caucus meeting, and who is a Christian, last Saturday on Solid FM, during the Lenten period, told a big lie that there was no zoning in Enugu State.
“For record purposes and to avoid any doubt, there is a written zoning and rotation of the governorship position in Enugu State.”
While displaying the document showing the resolution at the said 2013 meeting and the signatories, he called on “all peace-loving citizens of Enugu West senatorial zone and indeed Enugu State to disregard these lies by my brother and friend, Senator Ekweremadu, since the zoning and rotation of governorship seat and other positions in Enugu State have brought enormous peace and progress to the state. I urge my brother and senator, Ike Ekweremadu, to maintain his 2013 commitment in support of a rotational zoning arrangement so as to ensure continuous peace in our dear state.”
But speaking in an interview, a former National Auditor of the PDP, Ray Nnaji, criticised Ekweremadu, explaining that the former Senate President wanted to rock the zoning boat by 2031 when the Enugu East Senatorial District would have completed its term, adding that he would not have been relevant politically to contest the governorship.
Nnaji, who is Ekweremadu’s political contemporary, said though zoning/rotation of the governorship seat, might not have expressly been stated in a document, providence had brought zoning to the state.
“So, Ekweremadu’s argument on no zoning is because he believes quite well that after eight years, he would not be politically relevant to contest the position anymore. That’s why he wants to rock the boat by saying there’s no zoning principle,” Nnaji added.
He wondered why Ekweremadu would want to rock the boat because of his ambition to be governor since 2007, which led to the irreconcilable differences between him and his boss, former governor Nnamani.
Nnaji, a legal practitioner and former commissioner, said the PDP’s constitution was sacrosanct in determining zoning since they belonged to the same party.
“The first section of the PDP Constitution (2017) makes it clear that everybody is subject to the provisions of the constitution subject to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That same Section 1 says the provision of the constitution is binding on everybody. Section 7(3c) states that rotation of public offices is compulsory. It says that adhering to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices is in pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness.
“Ekweremadu is aware of this provision because he cannot pretend not to be aware. If not for any other thing, he’s a lawyer. The party puts this in the constitution to give room for fairness and equity.
“I want to tell him clearly that it is not true that zoning was never discussed anywhere in the state. It has been a convention that the governorship position rotates among the three senatorial districts. It has come to stay since it took effect in 1999. Chimaroke Nnamani was not a product of zoning. But he started the issue of rotation.
“I knew quite well that at that point in time, he had the capacity to retain the governorship position in Nkanu (Enugu East) in 2007. But for the issue of equity, justice and fairness, he decided that power should shift to another zone. The question then was, between Enugu West and Enugu North, which would take first?
“Enugu East that started the zoning has been out of power for 16 years and should take its turn immediately. Obviously, after Enugu East, it will be the turn of Enugu West, where Ekweremadu comes from. I will have to tell you that even if there is zoning, when the party comes out to announce where the position is going based on our constitution, it’s not going to foreclose other people who have interest. You can go and buy the form and enter the race; if you succeed, fine and good.”
Meanwhile, in 2021, at one of the Ifeemelumma’s Enugu West rally, which was one of the three organised to drum up support for zoning the governorship seat to Enugu East, a veteran politician and former gubernatorial candidate, Senator Hyde Onuagullichi, had lashed out at proponents of zoning, telling Ugwuanyi, who attended the rally in person, that those were political jobbers out to deceive and obtain money from him.
Mounting the podium, Onuaguluchi stated, “Don’t mind those, who are after their own pockets and trying to mislead by claiming that there is zoning in Enugu State. It has never been so. In 1990/1991, when I contested for the governorship, there was no zoning. In 1999, when Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East, Victor Nduka Agu from Enugu West and Gbazueagu, also from Enugu West contested, there was no zoning.
“In 2003, Fidel Ayogu from Enugu North; Ugochukwu Agballah, Anayo Onwuegbu and Alex Obiechina, all from Enugu West, contested against the then incumbent, Chimaroke Nnamani. There was no zoning. In 2007, it was Okey Ezea from Enugu North versus Sullivan Chime and Ugochukwu Agballah from Enugu West. In 2011, it was Okey Ezea from Enugu North and then incumbent, Sullivan Chime, from Enugu West. It has always been so. My father was a major political player and he was not aware of such. I have been involved in Enugu governorship politics before any of you here.”
Looking straight into the eyes of each of the chief conveners, the elder statesman said, “Ben Collins Ndu, I was the one who made it possible for you to go to the Senate. Ozomgbachi, but for me, you would not have even become a councillor in your ward. Madam (deputy governor), you are just a lucky fellow. You were not even involved before now.”
All the former governors and some elders in the state have publicly supported power rotation. Former governors, Nnamani, Chime, Nwodo and Jim Nwobodo, have voiced their support for the rotation of the governorship seat between the three senatorial zones, whether there was a zoning agreement or not.
Meanwhile, the Ikoha Campaign Organisation has faulted the document by Ifeemelumma, which showed that Ekweremadu signed the zoning agreement, describing it as forged.
The campaign organisation, in a statement issued by its Director-General, Ogbonna Asogwa, said, “We have noted the forgery and manipulation of the minutes of the PDP state caucus meeting, which took the makers over two years to produce since they boasted about it. We unequivocally state, for the avoidance of doubt, that it is not the business of the caucus, under the PDP constitution, to zone elective offices.
“But we want to assure Enugu people that no amount of lies, forgery, intimidation and purchased press statements will distract or stop Senator Ike Ekweremadu from vying for the governorship of Enugu State in 2023.”
In its intervention, the Enugu Rescue Group, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Ejike Ilo-Tasie, stated, “All these years, they claimed that the founding fathers of Enugu State laid down the zoning formula. Suddenly, last year, they shifted that the zoning was done during Sullivan Chime’s era. Unfortunately for them, even Chime has repeatedly held that there is no formal zoning arrangement in the state and that Enugu has never agreed on power rotation.
“Besides, how come a motion on an important decision of power rotation in the entire Enugu was moved by Chief Dubem Onyia from Udi (Agbaja clan), amended by Chief C. C. Egumgbe from Udi (Agbaja clan), seconded by Senator Ben Collins Ndu from Ezeagu (Agbaja clan), and presided over by Sullivan Chime (Agbaja)? Was that supposed to be a family get-together?”
Also speaking, a former House of Representatives member, who represented the Udenu/Igboeze North Federal Constituency, Dennis Amadi, said it was insulting to say that the governorship was zoned to Enugu North in 2015.
He stated, “I personally do not like this reference being made to a certain meeting in 2013 held ostensibly to zone the governorship to Enugu North then. Why was a zoning meeting required for Enugu North to take its turn even when the other zones had already taken their turns from 1999 to 2015? Could any other zone have wanted to retain the position by 2015?
“Besides, power has gone round in Enugu State and in searching for the next governor, especially at such a critical time as this when states, not only Enugu, are facing serious security, economic and indeed multifarious challenges, we need to go for our best among the available choices.
“In fact, with Prof Charles Soludo recently sworn in as governor of Anambra State, it could be said that God had preserved his coming for a time like this. Coming to our Enugu, it is only right that we move with the time. It is only proper and in our best interest that we ascribe value to capacity and track record of performance when we choose leaders. As many leadership scholars have taught the world several times, leadership recruitment should go above petty sentiments. You don’t even need to like a leader. No, you hire him or her to do a job, because he has the capacity to do that job, which serves a higher ideal than liking or not liking him or her.”
Other contenders have also referred to Chime’s interview in November 2018, where he said there was no zoning arrangement in the state.
To be very sure, the reporters asked him “So, the people of Enugu never sat down at any time to agree on zoning of positions?” Chime retorted, “Which people? I was the leader and I made a decision.”
There are also accusations of duplicity as well as selfish interests in the entire zoning saga. For instance, some promoters of zoning stated explicitly a few years back that there was no zoning arrangement in the state. One of those accused then was Chief Anayo Onwuegbu.
In a November 5, 2018 interview, Onwuegbu declared, “We have not had zoning in Enugu State; there has never been any zoning.” But a few days ago, he convened a meeting of some leaders of greater Awgu and insisted that the zoning agreement be respected.
Some of the governorship aspirants being promoted by some of the key power brokers in the state are said to be either their former personal aides, in-laws, cousins, or close blood relations.
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