In the run-up to 2023, which kicked off unofficially on September 19, 2020 when the renewed Ebeano platform installed Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as its leader, many PDPites now expect the gubernatorial mantle to return to Enugu East. Simple, right? Not by a long short. Two issues pop up. On one hand, while one camp fights to secure the turn of Enugu East, other camps fight for intra-zoning in Enugu East, spanning Enugwu Ngwo through Enugu Urban to Nkanuland and on to Isi Uzo LGA.
Complicated? Yes, but one thing is apparently settled: Like his predecessors, it will be the almost singular decision of Governor Ugwuanyi. Senator Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu East), and former governor (1999-2007) said that much in his speech:
“I was governor from 1999 to 2007. When it was time to hand over, I named the zone that will produce my successor and from that zone named my successor in Sullivan Chime, who of course, is a member of Ebeano political family. After eight years that Chime served, he also named his successor to come from Enugu north. That was in 2015 and that is why we have the present governor, who is the leader of the Ebeano as governor. So, after eight years, it is within your right to name the zone that will succeed you. Whether it is Udi, Nsukka or Enugu East and whoever you name will become the governor.”
As is, therefore, it is foolish to count chickens before they hatch. Good hunters do not share the game before they set out to hunt. Senator Nnamani, Ebeano Himself, found a diplomatic way to reshape the debate: Why fight for a farmland when you have no yam seedlings? Someone with yams could be planting as brethren butcher themselves over land. So, who is he that has so much yams and ready to sow yams in a disputed land, someone who could make the Akwata “gwongworo” back up to Coal Camp?
Soon after the overwhelming fourth win of his senate seat last year, Senator Ike Ekweremadu (Ikeoha) surprisingly declared that he would not run for the seat again. He will voluntarily withdraw from the Senate in 2023. In addition, it is on record that he considered the zoning arrangement nonexistent. He may be right but, be it an agreement or a coincidence, the fact is that PDP rotates its political offices between the senatorial zones, as explained by Senator Nnamani. It has worked well for the party.
Ikeoha has not announced his political plans for 2023. He could make a run for Aso Rock, especially after the successful outing in Edo State on same September 19, 2020. He could even retire to become a statesman or a professor in America. Whatever happens by 2023, the governorship race does not occupy the time of the former Deputy Senate President. Ikeoha, as he is fondly called, is more focused on staying safe and strong, that we all survive the pestilence. Life is the essence of our existence: “Ndu bu isi.” When it is lost, every existential earthly event evaporates. All talks about zoning to XYZ village becomes irrelevant. Did we not lose four prominent politicians from Nsukka within weeks? Life is too short for all the aggravations and altercations.
Let us take the worst-case scenario: Ikéọha or some out-of-zone heavyweight decides to make a run for the Lion Building. His or her argument falls flat on the governor’s ears. This person decamps to APC and deploys the no-zoning argument. Lose or win, s/he will be stuck in the party. What crime has anyone committed? None. It is all political jiggery pokery. The best outcomes could be a strong opposition in Enugu State, which will be music to many ears. The practical one-party system in Enugu State has not favored the people. PDP has taken so much for granted, especially in the nonperformance of many local government chairpersons. It will take a strong opposition to keep PDP in check and bring out the best in the party.
Does APC have a zoning policy? The only time that the party addressed zoning was in 2019. Then APC elders [featuring Jim Nwobodo (now back in PDP), Ken Nnamani (still strong in APC), Sullivan Chime (ex-governor warming back to Ebeano), Emperor Baywood, Okey Ezea, Ben Nwoye (state chairman), etc.] settled that the gubernatorial ticket should go to the North (from when Ezea had ran in every election since 2003) Thus, Senator Ayogu Eze got the blessing, but not without an APCite from the East presenting a formidable political and legal opposition that weakened the party.
In the end, the more disciplined state PDP and the power of Ugwuanyi incumbency dissolved all APC efforts. It was predictable. The internal distractions in APC persist to this day. It makes any discussion about APC in 2023 gubernatorial race very premature and, sincerely speaking, a waste of time. Enugu remains a PDP state. Unless an extraordinary political tsunami erupts, the buck stops at Governor Ugwuanyi’s table.
THE ECHO 