Are you for zoning, and you belong to a registered political party? If yes, this piece is not for you. Are you against zoning, and you do not belong to any political party? Please find something else to read. Do you have the open mind of constructive critics, and or you enjoy reading to know more? Read on!
First, let this sink: “Zoning” does not exist in the Nigerian Constitution. It is illegal to stop any qualified Nigerian from participating in the electoral processes. This, therefore, is a mere academic exercise, especially for non-partisan Nigerians of Enugu State extraction.
Apropos, if you are one of those who parrot “Igbo presidency,” “Southeast presidency” or “president of Igbo extraction,” do us all a favor and stop. No one uses “Fulani,” “Yoruba,” or “Ijaw presidency.” Why “Igbo”? If you qualify to run, and you emerge as a candidate of a political party, you can run for the presidency of Nigeria.
The presidency of Nigeria is not a group project; it is a political party affair. You must be in it to win it. Power is not given; it has never been given to any group just for the asking.
The concept of zoning is a partisan political paradigm protecting parochial interests, a deliberate device to, as they say, “carry everyone along.”
It has become a Nigerian political tradition that when the head of an electoral ticket emerges, someone from farther away, of different ethnicity or religion, is considered as a deputy. Other positions are similarly shared. It does not always work out well, but people understand good efforts at diversity or, as stipulated in the constitution, “federal character.”
All politics being local, the practice has different strokes in different states, especially at statewide gubernatorial elections. In PDP-controlled Ebonyi, Enugu, and Abia States, zoning works. In Imo State, despite the so-called “Equity Agreement,” North zone allowed East one term, teased West for a few months before taking it back.
In Anambra State, the North cried for equity; the last governor heard and helped. Anambra is now quietly injecting the nonexistent “zoning” debate into next year’s gubernatorial race!
Three full years ahead of 2023, nowhere else is the zoning debate in the open as in Enugu State. The major force driving the debate comes from the pits of political posturing and social media conversations that foster fake news and propagate them as gospel.
The elites of Enugu State, men and women of goodwill, must not inflame the discussion by lending credence to unsubstantiated submissions from the rumor mills.
Let us playback how we got here:
By 1998, the gubernatorial race was an open-field affair, notably: Nweke Gbazuagu, Silas Iloh (a Jim Nwobodo protégé), and Nduka Agu (a Nwodo acolyte) rose from the West; Godsmark Ugwu (North); and Chimaroke Nnamani (East). Dr. Nnamani forged a formidable political camp that cut across the zones. He prevailed. Ebeano was born, with Nnamani as capo de tutti capi! The rest you know.
Dr. Nnamani ceded the crown to West by endorsing Sullivan Chime in 2007, a move that blindsided his many ardent supporters. He could have chosen a successor from anywhere, but he went West. Pundits then assumed that North would be next after Chime.
It looked proper, since we have had Jim Nwobodo (E), C.C. Onoh (W), and Okwesilieze Nwodo (N)though neither was zoned nor planned by their different party formations. Plus, matter-of-factly, Onoh was from the East zone. It just looked like the gods had shared the meat in the common soup equitably.
By 2015, Chime had weakened the Ebeano family by marginalizing his ex-boss, Nnamani. The national influence DSP Ike Ekweremadu (Ikéoha), the de facto senate president, grew geometrically with the absence of Chimaroke Nnamani from the state PDP. Enugu North elites feared that Ikéoha might overturn the Nsukka-bound ‘gwongworo’ and deny them ‘their turn.’ A pro-North glossy magazine did what decent denizens do: Ask the DSP directly.
His response still resonates: He declared emphatically that, although he had no interest in being the governor and that he would support any qualified person from the North, there was no zoning in PDP. He challenged anyone to prove him wrong.
DSP Ekweremadu had the aces in 2015. From all indications, he would have let Chime choose his successor from wherever. However, when ill-advised Chime threatened to take Ekweremadu’s senate seat for himself, he crossed the line. Ikéoha took the fight of his political life to the sitting governor. He won. He almost took it all. For a man who did not believe in zoning, Ekweremadu’s choice candidate for governor was from North, and he was set to be the next governor.
Chime backpedaled by withdrawing from the senate race, which he was not going to win anyway. He also withdrew his candidate for the senate race in Enugu East. Ekweremadu’s choice for the Senate from the East prevailed.
Probably for the sake of peace and or party unity, Ekweremadu withdrew his own good-to-go candidate for governor. The setting allowed incumbent Governor Chime to deploy his magic of incumbency in fixing his preferred successor with a self-styled Solomonic selection process. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi emerged.
The rest is history in the making.
THE ECHO 