When Enugu State was created on August 27, 1991, it was carved out from the old Anambra State with Herbert Eze, as its first military governor, as the country was then under military rule. Upon return of the country to democratic rule, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo became its first civilian governor from January 1992 to 1993, when the military again sacked the democratic government. Nwodo, who hails from Ukehe, in Enugu North Zone of the state, had ruled the state under the National Republican Convention (NRC). Indeed, the coming of Nwodo had followed a conscious effort by the political leaders of the state, after it was created, who ensured that its governance would not be dominated by one zone but rotated on the tripod of Enugu North, Enugu East and Enugu West. This unwritten agreement has been followed in producing the governor of the state till date. Mr. Josef Onoh, son of Wawa legend and governor of old Anambra State, the late Christian C. Onoh, told Daily Sun that as soon as Enugu State was created in 1991, the leaders and statesmen of the state convened a meeting where how the governorship of the state would be rotated was put on the front burner. His words: “Not long after Enugu State was created on August 27, 1991 than the issue of governance came up and an emergency meeting was called on September 3, 1991 in the late Igwe Charles Abangwu’s house. All the elders of Enugu State were there and the issue of who becomes the governor came up. Igwe Nara Onataeze stood up and said Jim Nwobodo, you were governor, and Jim said yes, but it was in Anambra State, and he said no difference, that he came from Enugu East zone. C. C. Onoh, you were governor and you came from Enugu West; now we have a new state, how do we move forward? “In that same meeting, it was agreed that Enugu North Senatorial zone goes and that was why, even when Joe Nwodo was disqualified, they still went back and brought Okwesilieze Nwodo to keep that accord that has guided Enugu State till date. After Nwodo left, the elections came again in 1999 and they said that the first governor would come from Enugu East, the second from the West and the third from the North. And they decided to go back again from where it started and that was how it went to Enugu East again and Chimaroke Nnamani was picked. As at that time Hyde Onuaguluchi, from the West, was also running and gave a stiff run for the election yet because of the same accord most of those elders supported Chimaroke and he became governor. No matter how erratic they said Nnamani was, he kept to the same accord and brought Sullivan Chime from the West and the time to move again has come and the greatest fairness is that we have to get it back to Nsukka zone.” Onoh may not be alone in this thinking, as most political leaders in the state also have it at the back of their minds. No wonder, Governor Chime got a standing ovation at a town hall meeting on May 29, 2011, when he declared that it was the turn of the Enugu North (Nsukka zone) to produce the governor after him in 2015. Since Enugu is predominantly a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state, Chime’s proclamation in 2011, immediately set fire in the minds of those who had governorship ambition in the PDP, as they started to oil their political machines. In the forefront of the PDP stalwarts, who indicated early interest in the race was the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Odoh. He was later joined by Senator Ayogu Eze; former state Chairman of the PDP, Engr. Vita Abba and former Managing Director of the state’s Housing Corporation and now PDP chairman, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, all of them from Enugu North. Also on the background were the names of Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of House of Representatives, former Deputy Governor, Okechukwu Itanyi and Commissioner for Information, Chuks Ugwoke, as those nursing the ambition to replace Chime, using the platform of the PDP. However, the PDP aspirants from the Nsukka zone were not alone in getting ready for the plum job. Other aspirants, whose parties took a cue from the PDP to also zone their governorship slots to Enugu North, started emerging from the zone. This made political activities in the Nsukka zone to pick up, as stakeholders and elders from the area started putting their heads together, with a view to making sure that the slot did not elude their zone. Then on September 26, last year, Chime pushed his declaration in 2011 a notch higher when he invited all the PDP aspirants and other stakeholders from Nsukka zone to a meeting at the Government House. Prior to the meeting, the governor had been playing host to all the aspirants from Nsukka in the PDP, who came to him to declare their interest to run for the coveted seat and he gave them one advice: “Go back and convince your people.” At the Government House meeting, Chime told the aspirants to choose among themselves one person who would be the standard bearer of the party so as to reduce rancour and bitterness among them, as well as to ensure a smooth transition for the party. At that point, the state chairman of the party, who was also an aspirant, Engr. Abba, voluntarily opted to step down for Hon. Ugwuanyi who, he said, was the most suitable for the job. Also, nine other aspirants, out of the 13 in the meeting, followed suit and backed down for Ugwuanyi, who was declared, at the end of the caucus meeting, the consensus candidate for the zone. However, Speaker Odoh and Senator Eze did not step down like the others, as they said they were going home to consult with their people and supporters. The next day, Ugwuanyi took off to hold meetings with Odoh and Senator Eze on the need for all of them to close ranks as good party men to forge ahead as brothers from one zone and same party. But their meetings did not yield much fruit, as the duo of Odoh and Eze later purchased forms to contest the party primaries. However, while the Speaker crashed out at the primary election, Eze went to court, where he was until January 9, when the PDP gave its flag to Ugwuanyi to represent the party in the February gubernatorial election in the state. Before then, there was tension in the state PDP, as Senator Ike Ekweremadu, deputy Senate president, battled fiercely Governor Chime who wanted to dislodge him from the Enugu West senatorial seat. Ekweremadu had, at the heat of his political battle with Chime, thrown up Chinedu Onuh and Chief Anayo Onwuegbu, another habitual governorship aspirant, to join the gubernatorial fray. He later called Onuh and Onwuegbu to step down for Ugwuanyi as soon as he reconciled with Chime. As the PDP was trying to sort out the fallout of its consensus arrangement and the dust created, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in state started oiling its machines with Chief Okey Ezea, who left the Labour Party to join the APC and Dr. Ifeanyi Asogwa, declaring to slug it out with the PDP candidate. According to Asogwa, his party had then planned to take advantage of the adoption of a consensus candidate by the PDP to take over the state, believing that the crisis thrown up by the PDP consensus arrangement would not abate. Asogwa was partially right, as the crisis that dogged the PDP in Enugu persisted until the National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, handed over the party’s flag to Ugwuanyi at the flag off of the presidential campaign in the state on January 9. But Asogwa could not reap from the PDP crisis, as anticipated. Ezea defeated him to emerge the APC state governorship standard bearer. Ezea, a lawyer and shipping magnet, popularly known as Ideke, is not new in the governorship contest of Enugu State, having taken a shot at it in 2003 and 2011. For him, the governorship race is a familiar terrain, which he hopes he would actualise this time, basking in the strength of his new political platform, APC and years of experience on the guber turf. Reacting to a report that he should step down for PDP’s Ugwuanyi, since two of them come from the same zone, Ezea retorted: “Who is Gburugburu ? Is it in terms of education or personal achievement in life, under what pedigree? Yes, I have not gone to the House of Reps and I have not stolen any government money. But I hold my head high and I know that in the comparison of persons in the committee of honest and reasonable persons, nobody in PDP will say he’s a better candidate than Okey Ezea.” Also, the APC candidate had, at the unveiling and presentation of his party’s manifesto on January 6, 2015, told his supporters why he wanted to be governor, saying that the poverty level in Enugu was debilitating, with 57 per cent of the citizens of the state rated as poor, just as basic amenities: potable water, electricity and shelter, were lacking in the state. He, therefore, said he wanted to be governor to make the economy of the state become robust and strong enough to make the people put food on their table, attend good schools, and have good health facilities. Said he: “There are some countries in Africa that are smaller than Enugu State. The problem with our economy is corruption, unaccountability on the part of those who govern and also problem of people who are in charge of our affairs not having ideas on how to generate wealth and how to reduce poverty among our people in Enugu State. “Enugu State, if well harnessed, has the capacity to be one of the agricultural areas in Nigeria. In our blueprint, you will find out that we have divided Enugu State into areas capable of producing different food crops, cash crops, fruits and so on.” Well said, but the albatross of Ezea is his kinsman, Ugwuanyi, whose goodwill is overwhelming in the state. Ugwuanyi, who is not given to too many words, was thankful to Ezea for holding forth the Nsukka interest by contesting for the governorship over the years, saying that if the governorship slot had not been zoned to Nsukka, he would not have had the opportunity to step out to contest. He promised to visit his brother – Ezea – to thank him for this and at the same time ask him to step aside for him not to face disgrace at the polls. Ugwuanyi believes that if Ezea had not continued to vie for the position, probably, their zone would not have sustained the effort. He, however, pointed out that God and the people of the state have now taken a decision that is beyond Ezea. Indeed, analysts in the state say that though Ugwuanyi had not, in the past, indicated interest to be governor, his goodwill, which saw him through to the House of Representatives for three consecutive terms, is still with him and has even increased, as he came out to contest the governorship of the state. Observers pointed out that Ezea, who asked who Ugwuanyi was, should know that he is his boss, as he sits as chairman of the committee on marine transport of the House of Representatives, as well as other maritime bodies, where Ezea operates as a shipper. For many in the state, it would be very difficult for any candidate to face Ugwuanyi, who has three different master’s degree, at the polls because of his wide acceptance and popularity among all segments of the people of the state, coupled with his home-grown humility. One of them pointed out that Ugwuanyi had cut his teeth as a philanthropist while he was growing up, as he gave freely to his peers in need and honed this when he joined the Rotary Club. Besides, analysts see Ezea to be banking on his sole efforts and pocket to upstage the ruling PDP whose incumbent governor, Chime, had endeared himself to the hearts of the people by the transformation of the state. To them, the good works of Chime, which Ugwuanyi has promised to sustain and even surpass and the governor’s support would make it an uphill task for Ezea to overcome on his ride to the Lion Building. Chime had pledged, when Ugwuanyi emerged as the PDP consensus candidate, that it had become his burden to see him through in the governorship race. Enugu-based lawyer and politician, Humphrey Nwodo, told Daily Sun that though Ezea may not be easily wished away in the contest, it would, however, be difficult for him to beat Ugwuanyi. His words: “Okey Ezea cannot easily be ruled out in the politics of Enugu North; it is a factor to be reckoned with in the zone, but in the present political time, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has a very big edge over Ezea, going by some factors, such as his unbeatable outreach propensity, his reaching out to the poor, lower class, middle class, upper class coupled with the position he is occupying in the House of Representatives, as chairman of marine transport.” Nwodo said that Ezea had been contesting for the governorship of the state in the past does not add to his credentials, as he had not won the seat. He also saw Ezea as not being a core politician, saying that he comes around only in the season of governorship contest and returns to his business thereafter, while Ugwuanyi has been consistent in politics and in the National Assembly for 12 unbroken years. These notwithstanding, there are still some in the state who say that Ezea may make a good showing in the February guber election, going by the growing popularity the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, enjoys in the state, which was evidenced on January 10, when the General drew out a large crowd on the flag-off of his campaign in the state. Beyond that, pundits believe that Ugwuanyi would be a hard nut to crack by Ezea, as the House of Representatives member has stole the heart of the people, who had turned volunteers for his campaigns unsolicited. As time ticks for the two brothers from Nsukka zone to go into final battle of who would occupy the Lion Building on May 29, head or tail, the Nsukka zone stands to gain, either in Ideke or Gburugburu .
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 09:00:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015