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Some second term governors on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party have assumed position of godfathers and dictating who get nominated to contest elections in their various states in violation of real democratic practices
| By Olu Ojewale | Nov. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THIS, indeed, is the season for the gale of endorsement for Nigerian politicians. Through the instrumentality of endorsement process some governors elected on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have assumed position of godfathers by anointing their successors and those who should represent their states at other level of government. In their political wisdom and calculation, the governors in concert with members of the party hierarchy, first of all smoothened their path by adopting President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s consensus candidate to contest the next presidential election in February.
The move seems to be working for governors as both the president and the party hierarchy appear to show little interest in how the governors get their successors. Nevertheless, it is also difficult for the party hierarchy to ignore controversies ravaging a number of PDP states over the emergence of some consensus candidates. The development, it was learnt, forced Jonathan to hold a meeting with the governors and PDP leaders in Aso Villa, on Sunday, October 19. At the meeting, the president who already has the backing of the governors for the party ticket, was said to have tacitly approved the quest by the governors to endorse their successors, but warned them not to field unpopular candidates to succeed them. While also urging the governors not to impose candidates on their various states, the president enjoined them to allow due process to take place in the emergence of their preferred candidates as the governorship candidates. “It is expected that there should be a level-playing field in and during the governorship election. There should be no restriction, everyone who is interested in contesting the governorship election should be allowed to do so and a governor has the right to support any aspirant, but this must be a popular person, fit and proper to govern the affairs of a state,” a source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, said the meeting was essentially based on how to ensure hitch-free primaries of the party. On his part, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, said: “We discussed our party and the primaries that will soon come. We looked at how to fortify our party to avoid rancour or infighting to enable us do very well both in the primaries and general election in 2015.”
The governor said that the reported clash between PDP governors and the party’s national leadership over endorsement of candidates at the state chapters did not come up for discussion. He assured that the party’s governorship candidates would emerge through free and transparent primaries contrary to reports of endorsements in the media.
But observers said Orji’s assurance was not likely to undo the action the governors had taken regarding their successors and other elective positions in their states. In fact, one of the PDP governors recently argued that since the governors endorsed Jonathan as the sole presidential candidate of the party, the party hierarchy should allow them to pick their successors.
The contentious endorsement by Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State is one of the burning issues tearing the party apart in his state. In fact, since Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Udenu/Igboeze North, emerged the anointed successor in Enugu State amidst protest from other stakeholders, the tide of political development has not subsided in the state. Trouble started on Friday, October 10, when Chime called a meeting of aspirants and stakeholders from Enugu North senatorial zone at the government house and ensured that Ugwuanyi was picked as the consensus governorship candidate.
Some aspirants who attended the meeting described it as ‘political ambush’ on the ground that its agenda was never made known to them, adding that those who claimed to have stepped down for Ugwuanyi were not aspirants. They insisted that Vita Abba, state chairman of the PDP, who was to preside over the meeting as ‘umpire’ was used to scuttle democratic process that should have allowed the people, choose their leader from the aspirants.
Nevertheless, the process has provided a platform for another round of endorsements in the state. A coalition of Academics and Allied Professionals, ESCAAP, in the state has endorsed the decisions and asked the PDP governorship aspirants in the state to accept the outcome of the stakeholders meeting in the interest of the state. In a statement released at the end of their meeting and signed by its leaders from the three senatorial zones of the state, the group further asked aspirants who are aggrieved with the arrangement to go about it without casting aspersions or instigating hatred and animosity among the various cleavages of the state. “We equally considered reports from the various zones of the state and found out that his emergence was indeed based on superior argument. In view of the foregoing and as custodians of intellectualism, who cannot shy away from events or feign passivity over events that would eventually tell on all of us, we the members of the Enugu State Coalition of Academics and Allied Professionals resolve to salute the maturity of all the people involved and endorse the emergence of Ugwuanyi, as the consensus candidate for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Enugu state,” the group said in a statement.
But it has also shown that the state is also divided. In its reaction, the Leagues of Enugu Voters for Governance, LEVG, kicked against Ugwuanyi’s endorsement, saying it did not emerge from popular party primaries. According to the group, the endorsement was a ‘desecration of democratic norms of internal democracy’, and urged the people of the state to reject the PDP in the forthcoming general elections. In a statement signed by Robinson Chukwuemeka and Manifest Obioma, chairman and secretary, respectively, read in part: “The so-called consensus option has forced other well-meaning aspirants on the party platform to shut up their mouth and resign to fate, albeit man-made. The result is that the larger people of Enugu State are forced with a choice made by one of three senatorial zones. While there is no question as to the right of Nsukka Zone to produce the next governor of Enugu State in 2015, that right does not extend to imposing an aspirant on the other two zones. The presentation to Enugu East Zonal Caucus on Wednesday, October 1, and Enugu West Zonal Caucus held yesterday do not and cannot validate the otherwise undemocratic methodology already adopted by the PDP.”
Besides, the PDP in Enugu State is further polarised by the perceived ambition of Chime to contest the Enugu West senatorial seat being occupied by Ike Ekweremadu, deputy president of the Senate. Chime who will be completing his second term in office as governor of the state in 2015 is interested in the position occupied by Ekweremadu. His argument is that Ekweremadu has served for about 12 years, and should vacate the seat. To get his way, the governor has reportedly used exalted position in the state to get massive endorsements from various stakeholders and segments of the state to replace the serving senator. The endorsements for Chime range from visits by communities, individuals and groups as well as paid advertorials in the print and electronic media. Some strategic places in the city are also adorned with campaign billboards with varied inscription in support of the governor’s desire.
The development has raised the political atmosphere of the state between supporters of Chime and Ekweremadu, causing division in communities and among different groups. For instance, leaders of some segments were said to have been made to come to Government House to deny endorsing Ekweremadu for the senatorial seat. Some of them who showed dissent have been made to get the wrath.
One of them was Uche Ogbodo, PDP council chairman for Udi Local Government, who was removed from office recently on allegations of anti-party activities. But Ogbodo revealed that his removal was caused by his relationship with Ekweremadu. Another suspected victim of Chime’s power play is Hayford Agana, former Igwe of Amandi-Olo community in Ezeagu Council. His 12-year-old reign, which started in 2002, was truncated after it was allegedly discovered that his loyalty was to Ekweremadu and not Chime. First, he was humiliated when the state government initially dissolved his leadership of the Enugu West Traditional council, where he was the chairman and suspended him as the monarch of his community. Few days later, his certificate was withdrawn as a royal father. In his place, another person who would do the governor’s bidding was appointed as a successor.
In the same vein, it is believed that main reason for the removal of Sunday Onyebuchi as deputy governor, recently was his support for Ekweremadu. Besides, when it became apparent that some traditional rulers in Enugu West senatorial zone had planned a grand reception for Ekweremadu to confer on him a chieftaincy title and in appreciation of his good works for the zone, the Chime government quickly sent a letter to the leadership of the traditional institution ordering the suspension of conferment of titles until further notice.
However, to increase his support base, Ekweremadu has been courting the support of those who have fallen out with Chime and getting their endorsements. Besides, his teeming supporters are also scaling up their campaigns that he must return to the Senate. Observers, however, said that if endorsements were to be the only requirements to win the senatorial seat, Chime would get it.
The governor is also believed to be interested in replacing Gilbert Nnaji, senator representing Enugu East, with Ifeoma Nwobodo, his chief of staff. Nwobodo has also been moving about receiving endorsements from communities and groups for her senatorial ambition and to upstage Nnaji. Her efforts are said to be paying off as she now has the endorsement of the Women group in the state as well as several other organisations and groups in the zone to boost her chances. Using the machinery of the state, it is feared that Nwobodo may, indeed, replace Nnaji as the PDP candidate for Enugu East.
In Akwa Ibom State, there is no much difference in the succession battle between Governor Godswill Akpabio and some powerful stakeholders in the state. The governor is believed to have a favoured successor in Udom Emmanuel, secretary to the state government, but opponents of the governor in this respect are also up in arms to thwart his efforts. In the past two years or thereabout, Akpabio has forced some of his political appointees to leave the government because of their ambition to succeed him in office. In fact, tension started to mount in the state when Nsima Ekere, immediate past deputy governor, was forced to resign over his alleged ambition to contest the 2015 governorship election. Umana Okon, immediate past secretary to the state government, SSG, was similarly forced to resign because of his governorship ambition. Following the train was Bassey Albert, erstwhile commissioner for Finance, and Effiong Abia, former commissioner for Urban and Rural Development, all fell by the wayside over their unwillingness to drop their governorship aspirations.
Until recently, Akpabio had kept his cards close to his chest, as his succession preferences remained unknown because he had encouraged people from within and outside his cabinet to aspire. Observers said it had become evident in recent days that the governor would want to single-handedly install Udom Emmanuel, his current SSG, as his successor. This, expectedly, has been heating up politics in the state because a lot of people are said to be perplexed by the governor’s preference for Emmanuel. First, the current SSG, who is about a year in office, is seen as new in government and politics of the state. Two, it is being argued that Akpabio should have picked from the array of politicians who had worked and spent their resources to ensure Akpabio succeeded during the battles for his first and second terms.
But the governor appears to be sticking to his game plan. To pursue his agenda, the governor was said to have floated town hall meetings across the 10 federal constituencies in the state. At those meetings, elders and stakeholders critical of the governor and his government were reportedly sidelined while those who supported him were well recognised during the town hall meetings. Apart from other affairs of the state, participants at the town hall meetings were, reportedly, encouraged to support, adopt and endorse zoning of the governorship position to Eket senatorial district, apparently, to favour Emmanuel. Soon after the town hall meetings, the state executive committee of the PDP met and formally announced the zoning of the governorship ticket to the Eket senatorial district.
Obong Paul Ekpo, state chairman of the PDP, in a communiqué issued at the end of the meetings explained that the decision to zone the governorship to Eket senatorial district was in line with section 7(3) of the party’s constitution. The section, Ekpo explained, stipulates adherence to the “policy of the rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness,” adding: “This is without prejudice to the right of any other person from other senatorial districts to contest for the governorship seat in 2015.”
But elders in the state have since distanced themselves from the decisions and the resolutions reached at the town hall meetings and those of the party. After their own formal meeting, some PDP elders and stakeholders met and demanded that the party should allow open contest among the aspirants for the governorship ticket for the 2015 general elections. The elders said they resolved to hold the meeting because of the recent decision of the party in the state to exclude many important stakeholders and elders, including the founding members and very important statutory delegates and opinion leaders of the party, from the activities of the party in the state. A communiqué issued by them said in part: “We reject, as it is totally alien to the provisions of the constitution and tradition of our great party, the use of stage-managed ‘Town Hall Meetings’ as the platform for the adoption of the party’s flag-bearers for the 2015 general elections. The so-called town hall meetings are seen by party members and the generality of Akwa Ibom people as a thinly-veiled ruse to exclude certain people and segments from participation in the political process and will cost the party dearly at the polls.”
The party elders and stakeholders advocated open primaries at all levels to give members of the party the opportunity to select only the best, most acceptable flag-bearers to represent PDP at the 2015 elections. Many of them believed that if Akpabio had been sincere in zoning the governorship to Eket senatorial district, the party would have picked someone from the Oron nation. It is believed the zoning to Oron would complete the rotation across the three tripod that makes up Akwa Ibom, namely, Ibibio, the largest ethnic group in Uyo senatorial district; Annang, the second largest group in Ikot Ekpene senatorial district; and Oron, the third largest group in the Eket senatorial district. But Akpabio seems to be comfortable with making Emmanuel, an Ibibio from Eket senatorial district, as his successor. Perhaps, because Emmanuel is an Ibiobio man, he would command general acceptability among his Ibibio kinsmen who are spread across the three senatorial districts in the state.
Nevertheless, Akpabio’s brinkmanship has seriously divided the state, which he himself acknowledged recently when he welcomed Adamu Mu’azu, national chairman of the PDP, to the state. “Those who have betrayed the governor of Akwa Ibom State will not enter the Government House. If it was good with Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ then it will be good with them. You empower your children so that they will become a pride to you, you don’t empower them to come and betray you. I am assuring the president and the game changer (national chairman of PDP) that those who want to take power through the back door will die, they will die and the PDP will continue. In Akwa Ibom State those who are supposed to be political children will end up like Absalom in the Bible. But if they change their mind, then they will obtain favour from the side of God,” he said.
But in apparent reply to Akpabio, Umana, one of the aspirants in the governorship position who once served under the governor as an SSG, said the choice of a new governor should be the decision of all and not that of an individual. “Nobody can claim that he owns this state because when one man is saying that it is his right to produce the governor for the five million people of Akwa Ibom State, then that man is trying to play God. He cannot be correct, because who becomes the governor should be the decision of the people of the state; it is not an appointment. The governor can nominate somebody to become a minister, he can appoint a commissioner, but it is for the people to decide who should be their governor,” Umana said.
Apart from Umana, Ekere, Albert, and Abia, Ekpenyong Ntekim, attorney general and commissioner for justice, recently signified his intention to contest the governorship poll. Many of those kicking against the governor’s choice said Emmanuel has no chance of winning in a free and fair primary election. Ita Awak, a former commissioner in the state, described Akpabio’s attempt to install a successor as self-serving. “How can you unilaterally want to impose a political neophyte on the generality of the state? He is dishonest, that is why he is desperate and coming with the zoning agenda. He has a pathological hatred for Oro nation,” Awak said.
The succession battle appears to have brought out another concern: rampant allegations of threat to life, kidnapping, and assassination. In 2006 and 2011 elections, the issue of kidnapping and assassination was so rampant that insecurity tended to overshadow the elections in political discussions. Ahead of 2015, security issues and threats to the lives of aspirants have continued to raise concern. For instance, Umana, an aspirant in the governorship race and Don Etiebet, a member of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, BoT, were reportedly to have separately petitioned the Presidency and security operatives at the state and federal levels over alleged threat to their lives and those of their supporters.
For now, a lot of people fear that the confusion in the PDP in Akwa Ibom State may cause the party the governorship race if Akpabio should be allowed to have his way. The anxiety is further compounded by the fact that opposition to the governor seems to come mainly from the Ibibio, the largest ethnic group in the state and Oron, the third largest group. The combined force of these groups may spell doom for the PDP. Akpabio, who is serving his second term in office, is from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district. He had emerged in 2007 through the zoning arrangement.
If Governor Martins Elechi of Ebonyi State has his way Onyebuchi Chukwu, former minister of health, would be next governor of the state in 2015. Since Elechi made his choice of Chukwu public on Tuesday, October 14, the state has been witnessing diverse reactions with some persons questioning the rationale behind Chukwu’s emergence.
Anoke Nwali, a PDP chieftain in the state, said that the governor had told party members that he would like the governorship slot of the party to rotate to the southern part of the state, a proposal a majority of the people of the state admitted to be morally right. But he said they were surprised as to how the governor suddenly came up with a consensus ahead of the primaries of the party. Nwali said though the governor had the right to support a candidate of his choice he did not possess the authority to impose any person on the party or the state. “We have many of our sons and daughters who have interest in contesting the governorship election, so how could anyone of us stand down all the others, closing the doors against them to freely try their fate at the polls?” he queried, adding: “we are surprised that the likes of Engineer Dave Umahi, the deputy governor, Engineer Paul Okorie, Igwe Aja Nwachukwu, Mazi Bden Akpa, Barrister Timothy Odah, most of them contributed immensely to the emergence of Elechi as governor in 2007 and consequently to his second tenure in 2011 were so systematically selected for humiliation and to be edged out of the governorship race in 2015.” Nwali warned that such tactics could cause trouble and put the PDP at the risk of losing elections in the state. Observers of the unfolding scenario seem to think of Umahi as the target. The deputy governor is perceived to have built a strong structure to run a successful election campaign in the state. Conversely, the Umahi camp tends to have been strengthened by the sympathy it has garnered from their supporters and those who see the situation as betrayal of confidence.
In any case, various groups have since been advancing varied reasons for their support of either Umahi or Chukwu. For instance, the Ebonyi Youth Assembly said the success of Chukwu in containing the dreaded Ebloa virus was a pointer to how much he could improve the lot of Ebonyi State. In supporting Umahi, the Ebonyi State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, EBMATA, said they would want Umahi to succeed Elechi because his demonstration of loyalty and cordial relationship with the governor had brought peace and harmony to the state.
“Having led the ruling Peoples Democratic Party as the State chairman in such a manner that generated peaceful and truly democratic political party, leaving behind the edifice we have as the party secretariat, we believe he will replicate that in other affairs as a governor. Umahi has always left good marks wherever he had gone through as confirmed even in his office as a deputy governor where he has changed for the better both the structure and administration of the office to enviable status. If as a private citizen he could give out full scholarship to over 750 undergraduates from year one to final year since 2009 to date, as a governor he might give scholarship to all Ebonyians,” EBMATA said in a statement. But from the situation on ground, Elechi seems to have won the ticket for Chukwu, who on Monday, October 20, resigned his ministerial appointment to contest for the party ticket.
Contrary to the general belief, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State said he had not endorsed any person for the 2015 governorship in the state. A statement by Ugochukwu Emezue, special adviser to the governor on electronic media, on Tuesday, October 21, said all governorship aspirants in the state had the blessing of the governor. Emezue said that the governor would ensure that a level playing ground in the primaries.
What the statement did not say is that the governor has endorsed the zoning of the governorship ticket to Ukwa/Ngwa people who dominate the Abia South senatorial zone in the state. “No section will be marginalised in Abia. Ukwa/Ngwa have never been governor, what is wrong in allowing them produce a governor? A lot of people from other zones have come to me to say, I want to be governor and I will tell them straight away this is my stand…. What we know is Ukwa/Ngwa. It is open for you; go and contest. Any person who emerges as the guber candidate of our party from this zone, we are going to support that person. People should not be afraid because this is something that involves contest; you have to put in your best, your finances and everything you have. We have made a statement and it is in the best interest of the state,” Orji was said to have argued. That declaration was said to have encouraged, several aspirants to emerge from Abia South in pursuit of the PDP ticket. Among the frontline aspirants to have declared are Enyinninya Abaribe, a serving senator and former deputy governor. Abaribe, a trained economist and a two-term senator, once spearheaded the ‘Otu-Onu’ or one term, slogan, which was the great struggle to stop Governor Orji Uzor Kalu from having a second term in 2003. He is credited with the political consciousness of Ngwa people and was at one time seen as the undisputed leader of the Ngwa people. And because of his long political battles in the state, Abaribe is believed to have built one of the strongest political structures in the state. But his relationship with Governor Orji is believed to tepid and that the governor could not trust him with the affairs of the state.
However, Abaribe is said to be counting on his relationship with President Jonathan to provide a level playing field with which he could achieve his goal. But he would find a formidable opponent in Wogu, who is believed to be Governor Orji’s preferred person for the governorship seat. Until his resignation Wogu was, perhaps, the only one among several possible contestants who had not formally declared. That notwithstanding, he is believed to be one of the most formidable on ground with a network and structure that only compares favourably with that of Abaribe.
While it appears that Orji is not playing god with his own kind of successor, he is believed to working tirelessly underground to ensure that no candidate of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, his predecessor clinches the party ticket.
However, Governor Gabriel Suswam is ending his second term in office with the aim of replacing Barnabas Gemade, a former national chairman of the PDP, in the Senate. Raising the political atmosphere in the state the governor recently declared that he would run for the Benue North East Senatorial seat aka Zone “A” which is currently occupied by Gemade.
In the same vein, political ripples has also started gaining ground in the Benue South Senatorial District, otherwise refers to as Zone “C” where David Mark, president of the Senate, has already been endorsed by several groups and PDP stakeholders in the zone to run for the Senate seat for the fifth time in 2015.
But it is the Benue North East district, where Suswam wants to displace Gemade that seems to be dividing the party. According to sources, the governor has even turned down a ministerial position as being insinuated to allow Gemade have a second term in the Senate. Gemade, due to his quality representation at the Senate shown by his numerous projects in the zone as well as donation of several welfare packages to the people is a strong force in the zone. The former PDP boss at a recent interaction with journalists in Makurdi, Benue State capital, said he was not scared by Suswam’s intention to contest for the senate seat. The governor’s insistence to run for the Senate is believed to have polarised the party. Investigation, however. has revealed that the political situation in the state ahead of the party primaries would not be palatable. This is evidenced by the sponsored endorsements spearheaded by principal political actors who are exhibiting a show of desperation to win their party tickets at all cost.
This was evidently the type of situation that forced the PDP to caution state governors about their bloated ambitions. A statement by Wale Oladipo, national secretary of the PDP, said in part: “The National Working Committee, NWC, at its meeting today, Thursday, October 9, 2014 noted that some elected officers of our great Party at the state level have continued to engage in processes aimed at endorsing candidates for the 2015 general elections despite warnings from the national leadership that they, as unbiased umpires should not be involved in such.
“The NWC strongly frowns at this development and issues this as a final warning to all elected party officials and chapters at all levels, and shall not hesitate to sanction such erring officers or chapters.
“The sanctity of our nomination processes must be protected at all times. We therefore wish to assure all party members that there shall be a level playing ground for all aspirants intending to participate in the nomination processes. Consequently, the NWC will not hesitate to protect any of our members who in any way stands to be short-changed, cheated or victimised by such endorsements.
“The NWC charges all our members and supporters therefore to disregard all such endorsements as the PDP will conduct primaries to duly elect our flag bearers in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act and the constitution of our great party.”
But not many people would want to believe the party, more so because the governors who are obviously pursuing their own interests have the powers to scuttle the president’s aspiration for a second term. Hence, political observers say the best sane thing to do would be to handle the governors with care so that they don’t upset the apple cart. The PDP governors, had in the past, shown their strength when former President Olusegun Obasanjo almost lost to his former deputy, Atiku Abubakar. It is believed that they can still do it again for another candidate if the president does not support their ambition.
Interestingly, since the endorsement of the president as the sole candidate of the party only Abdul Jhali Tafawa-Balewa, a nuclear scientist and son of the late Tafawa Balewa, Nigerian first prime minister, has publicly declared his intension to challenge Jonathan for the ticket ahead of the party primaries slated for November 29. He said recently: “The consensus arrangement is very shameful. We used to blame the APC (All Progressives Congress) for not having internal democracy but we that have it, if you look at the people who gave the consensus, they have loads of baggage behind them. Consensus is not in the constitution of the party. I have been a member of the PDP since 1998 in USA. I am not going to any other party. I will rather insist on growing democratic principles in the party.” But with the backing of the PDP governors, it is generally believed that Tafawa-Balewa has as much a chance to win the party primary as a lone man to survive in the desert.
Worried about the gale of consensus candidates, in its editorial of Wednesday, October 22, the Guardian newspaper warned that: “The wind of undemocratic imposition currently blowing across the country has the capacity to generate bad blood in the parties, destroy their cohesion and unity and ultimately splinter them. In all, the country’s democracy suffers. Imposition is antithetical to the tenets of liberal democracy as it undermines character audit and ultimately the sovereignty of the people even at the political party level. If the country professes to be running a democracy, the people should at all times decide. Imposition presupposes shutting off the democratic space. This is bad for democracy and prevents the people from having the real and last say.” But will the PDP governors who have practically turned themselves to demigods agree and allow democracy to take roots in their domain? Only time will tell.
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