Sylva, the journey to political wilderness

On Tuesday February 7, 2012 the Supreme Court put a final lid on the long-running bid by former Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva to contest the last governorship election in the state. Though the final judgement was not given in the case, the court’s decision to adjourn --in a curious way--was a substantive decision in itself. Or how else does one interpret the Court’s decision that it will tell Sylva next April whether or not he can participate in a gubernatorial election that would have been concluded on February 11? It is therefore, the climax of the dogged battle for his political life–fruitless as it turned out to be. Indeed, for Sylva, what started out like a political career full of prospects may well be headed for an inelegant end, going by the turn of events, and many will readily attribute it to the plethora of needless fights with his state’s political leaders

In many states across the country, sitting governors are hardly on talking terms with their predecessors, most of who facilitated their emergence in the first place.This is even more pronounced in states where the previous and present governors belong to the same political party. Quarrels usually break out when former governors forget they have left the saddle and would want to breathe down the neck of the new men, especially on issues to do with money, government’s policy direction and allocation of political offices.However, it is a different story in Bayelsa as none of these was the bone of contention between Timipre Sylva and President Goodluck Jonathan whom he succeeded. Sylva never complained about any attempt to control him remotely from Abuja, yet for some inexplicable reasons Bayelsa is one state where the division was most pronounced. While there appears to be no substantial reasons why Sylva would not leverage the President for the benefit of the state, it rankles that the animosity between both men may have lasted for every day that he was at the helm in Creek Haven.

The unnecessary bickering invariably led him to clash with many of the President’s foot soldiers that abound in Bayelsa where he had served, first as deputy governor, then governor before assuming the position of Vice President, then President of the Federal Republic. It was an ugly scenario for Jonathan –coming from the home front –but it embarrassed other Bayelsans to no end. Needless to say, the quarrels with the president which were not founded on solid disagreements, turned into self-inflicted distractions which ultimately weighed in negatively on Sylva’s performance. Earlier this month at the inauguration of Mr. Seriake Dickson as PDP candidate for the February 11 governorship election in the state, the quarrel literally boiled over. The President had openly criticized Sylva’s attitude, saying it accounted for his poor performance while in office. Jonathan was obviously angry that after five years in office Sylva could not initiate meaningful projects for the state and also failed to complete the ones he met on ground. Rather than responding to the issues, Sylva had as usual descended to his crude mien, calling the President a liar.

From the beginning, Sylva had always been on the offensive. He had ruffled feathers among leaders of his party shortly after being sworn in in 2007 by unilaterally dismantling the Bayelsa state PDP structure he inherited from Jonathan on the suspicion that it would not be loyal to him. There was little basis for that suspicion from a man who was gifted—some say undeservedly -- with the state governorship ticket following the elevation of Jonathan from the state governorship to the nation’s Vice Presidency. The then VP must have felt humiliated therefore that his entreaties and those of other Bayelsa leaders were spurned. Such acts continued into the Yar’adua presidency; Sylva had related with the first family in a manner that denigrated his kinsman, and gave the wrong impression that he had no solid political support back home. Sylva would serially visit the nation’s seat of power without looking in to pay simple courtesies to the VP. In just one year, Sylva had so maligned notable leaders of the party in Bayelsa that the nullification of his election in 2008 presented an opportunity for Jonathan to take his pound of flesh. Not only did Jonathan forgive him this most discourteous attitude, he threw his weight behind him for the 2008 re-run elections, and prevailed on the others to give him a second chance. Many had criticized Jonathan as naïve, since he knew Sylva was an avowed traducer who had clearly barred his fangs.

As if these were not deep enough cuts, the struggle to install Jonathan as President following the long absence due to illness of Umaru Yar’adua was quite revealing. Not only did the former governor refuse to speak out courageously on behalf of his predecessor, he is believed to have been one of the major sponsors of the cabal that stood between Jonathan and the presidency. An issue was made of a governor who quartered a certain vocal member of the cabal at the state governor’s lodge in Abuja in the thick of the succession controversy.However, with the eventual resolution of the logjam and Jonathan’s ascension to the Presidency in May, 2010, a repentant Sylva had returned, aware that his second term ticket that would be determined less than 8 months away was seriously at risk. For the second time, however, Jonathan played the forgiving father and insisted that he would not block Sylva’s chances for re-election in 2011. Many Bayelsans were indeed confounded that he chose to repay those serial acts of effrontery with goodwill, and allowed Sylva an easy stroll to clinch the party’s governorship ticket early last year.

From every indication, Sylva would still have returned to his seat if not for his recklessness. With the PDP ticket in his kitty, he had returned to his cantankerous self, strangely believing that his second tenure was a settled issue, especially since the President who was battling for his own election would not be prepared to upset the apple-cart by taking him on. The governor who refused to appreciate Jonathan’s gestures of altruism would still go about making crude remarks and acting in a manner that was at best, impertinent towards the President, and boast that as the garrison commander in Bayelsa, he helds the key to the state’s politics. He was right, except that he did not reckon with the deep-seated anger of the people against him, and the fact that many were prepared to defy the President on the score of his candidature. For those Bayelsa leaders massed against him, the Supreme Court’s extension of his tenure and those of four other governors provided enough time and impetus for them to convince the President to dump Sylva who had clearly become a political liability. The rest, as they say, is history, especially with the recent election and eventual inauguration of Seriake Dickson as Bayelsa governor

Sylva’s fall into the depth of political irrelevance is therefore as predictable as it was self-inflicted. Whether or not he accepts it, his poor performance and style of leadership made his claim for a second term ticket clearly undeserving. Rather than reading the hand-writing on the wall he had claimed, in usual gawky manner, that the incident in which angry Bayelsans hurled stones at him was designed by opponents to embarrass him. As he commences his journey into the political wilderness, he will go down in history as a politician who consciously truncated his otherwise promising career. For a man who proved unable to choose his fights and regularly resorted to uncouth language and vulgarity, his tenure will linger –like a foul odour -- in the minds of Bayelsans.

Gaps in the Subsidy Removal Plan

The frustrations of Nigerians over government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy are understandable. It is one proposal they would rather not hear, at least for now, because of the negative spiral effects it would visit on the average Nigerian. The uproar it generated when President Goodluck Jonathan indicated, in a letter to the National Assembly, that subsidy on petroleum products would go from the 2012 fiscal year, was therefore expected. Government’s promise to cushion its harsh effects by injecting the savings into provision of critical infrastructure has also made little impression. Such a promise is anything but new; it is one of those promises they regard as empty and which will be, as has been the case in the past, observed in the breach.

The rationale for the new policy as marshaled by the President is plausible, even if hapless Nigerians have heard it all before. The Government spends a large amount of its resources on oil subsidy, the bulk of which ends up benefitting only a few shylock businessmen who hold the sector by the jugular. This time, the policy of fiscal consolidation is expected to free up about N1.2 trillion in savings. And since the action usually triggers a series of harsh economic effects especially on the poor, government promises to utilize the funds for the provision of safety nets for them.

These may be soothing words, but many believe that gaps still exist in the Jonathan proposal. The closing of such gaps may well be the key to understanding – and probably accepting – the subsidy removal proposal. The pessimism of Nigerians must be understood from the series of bureaucratic rigmarole over the years, on the subsidy issue. No people have had a more pathetic story to tell on their petroleum sector. They have not forgotten that several times in the past, they were subjected to brazen deceit by their leaders who have successively failed on their promises to properly address the rot in the oil sector, arguably the nation’s economic mainstay.

The gaping hole is in the details. Why has the President been unable to break down, in as much detail as possible, the specific projects he intends to invest the savings in? Nigerians have heard of “investments in critical infrastructure” so much that it has since lost efficacy. They have not forgotten that after Nigeria exited the Paris and London club of creditors towards the end of the Obasanjo regime, they were promised that savings from the debt servicing would be invested in critical sectors of the economy such as infrastructural development. Five years down the road, the huge savings has not translated into any major development in the nation’s social infrastructure. The Obama jobs plan, all of a thousand odd pages of written detail, is a good example on how government should present an argument. For Jonathan, however, something like that may be a tall order, but a plan he still needs to provide.

Since the revelation was made, opposition has increasingly mounted against it, for good reasons.  Labour leaders, opposition parties, prominent citizens have come down hard on the plan, which many describe as ill-advised.  Former Petroleum Minister Prof Tam David-West, even questioned the existence of any subsidy on fuel, calling the proposal a lie and a fraud. The National Publicity Secretary of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) Osita Okechukwu tied the decision to Jonathan’s inability to fight corruption, which many believe, is at the centre of the issue of oil subsidy. Why should the world’s seventh largest oil producer with over two million barrels of crude oil production per day, import 80% of the finished petroleum products? Why should the country’s four refineries that have, between 1999 and 2010, gulped over $2 billion on rehabilitation alone, still run below 40% of installed capacity? Why should the rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries become a conduit pipe to siphon public funds?

However, for having the nerve to take on this issue at all, President Jonathan deserves some commendation, knowing that the popular mood is tilted against it. He jolly well could have sat out his tenure, allowing sleeping dogs to lie. His handlers must have warned that he risks discrediting his record of having stabilized the oil sector, if this new policy runs into a fiasco. Yes, he deserves commendation for this hard, seemingly unpopular decision and one must appreciate the passion and purposefulness with which he pursues this plan. For one, any discerning Nigerian or even a lay economist knows that the economy cannot sustain the present regime of fraud and waste that oil subsidy connotes. That this practice has been sustained over time does little to justify its continuation at this critical moment, but again it depends on whether government keeps its promise. Anything short of following this promise to the letter would definitely inflict more economic grief on the people, and threaten the political stability of the nation. As someone has said, the consequences of failure on the President’s part will far outweigh whatever economic gains in the new policy.

As has been pointed out, one thing still lacking in the plan is a graphic detail –call it a road map if you will – of how the savings will be utilized. After years of deceitful promises, any Nigerian leader needs more than mere words to convince a pessimistic populace. To this end, therefore, Jonathan without a clear road map spelling out the whats, hows, and the wheres the savings will go makes this policy, however plausible, harder to believe. Even Abacha of a military regime that supposedly owes the people little explanation, had to detail how his oil savings would be spent. The Presidential Task Force which he set up to utilize them, has since become a reference point in successful government intervention. At this time, that model comes highly recommended.

Jonathan: A Mandate and its Challenges

In a few days, Goodluck Jonathan will make history in many ways. Although his bag is already filled with records of previous incidents in which the ‘hand of God’ decided his climb on the political ladder, May 29, 2011 will even be more significant. On that day, when he is sworn in as Nigeria’s President, he will be the first from the oil-producing Niger Delta to be so democratically installed. The first such succession in Nigeria’s history by a former Vice President, the May 29 event will indeed put the icing on Jonathan’s political cake.
However, the road to a full tenure for him was not laid with roses. The campaigns that preceded the presidential election on April 16, was perhaps the country’s most bitter. His entry into the contest on September 18, 2010 had elicited strong resistance from certain Northern politicians who believed that it was a negation of the zoning arrangement in the Peoples Democratic Party. Coming four months after he assumed presidential powers following the death of President Umaru Yar’adua, a Northerner, their argument was that another Northerner should have been allowed to pick the PDP ticket.
If the issue of zoning of the PDP presidential ticket was rancorous, the extent to which his credential for the position was questioned, was downright ridiculous. To his critics, Jonathan’s candidacy was driven more by sentiments than reason. The president had done nothing on record to support his aspiration. Even his comportment was was an issue more important that what he represents, or has the potential to achieve.

Of course, such critics' opinions were far from objective. The period spent by the President after taking over the mantle, was too short for any meaningful achievement or a fundamental departure from what he inheritated. Even at that, any rational analysis should reveal that he had taken some decisive steps in the critical areas of power, electoral reform, education, anti-corruption and the Niger Delta. In any case, he went ahead to run an issue-based campaign across the length and breadth of the country based on well articulated programmes. His campaign, devoid of subterfuge, muck-raking and distractive name-calling was a departure from the 'norm'.
On April 16, his programs and his Pan Nigerian disposition were convincing enough for the electorate. In a country well known for divisive national politics, Jonathan’s triumph in the presidential poll, made a profound statement about the new Nigeria that is evolving: one in which the spirit of national reawakening has become pervasive. Never before had a presidential election broken all regional, ethnic, traditional and religious boundaries in the search for a common goal. Perhaps for the first time in recent history, Nigerians were bequeathing in one man, a mandate that was not only truly national, it came close to fulfilling the long-cherished dream of national oneness and purpose.
Beyond history making, however, the Jonathan mandate comes with unique challenges. The economy, in spite of government disputations to the contrary, is anything but healthy. The real sector on which a great majority of the citizens survive, is comatose while unemployment is on a record high. Power supply which drives every modern economy may have improved marginally in the past year, but it is still nowhere near the people’s expectations. The power production level is neither commensurate with the huge funding of the past three years, nor what he promised while unveiling the road map for the sector in the last quarter of 2010.

The political sector is not too different, even if it is an area the administration has made the most noticeable impact. Jonathan’s appointment of Dr Attahiru Jega as head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the unprecedented independence and adequate funding granted the electoral body have all paid off well and vindicated him, going by the rating of Elections 2011. However, the promise of full electoral reform is still far from delivered.
The president’s decision to set up nine new universities is a bold move to address the deficit in that sector, but this is just salutary. Like roads and other public infrastructure, the decay in Nigeria’s educational system goes down to the elementary. The rot in our tertiary education system is deep indeed, so much that almost all the indices that qualify them as institutions of higher learning are preponderantly negative.

Of course the huge budgetary provisions for tackling these problems hardly translate to any meaningful impact due to the endemic issue of corruption in our public life. Any government that must succeed, must do more than pay lip service to the issue of tackling corruption. So far, President Jonathan has ensured that the nation’s anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) enjoys a free hand in fighting crime, but that may not count for much if Nigerians are not convinced that corrupt public officers are effectively brought to book.There must be the political will to do this, beyond the limits of the EFCC.
Key to the successful implementation of those lofty programmes he enumerated during the campaigns is the appointment of a capable team to assist him. Over the years, the assembly of political appointees easily indicates how far-reaching an incoming government’s performance will be. So far, several suggestions have gone out to the President on the choice of his aides. People expect that the President would put round pegs to man the round holes. More voices appear to favour technocrats and knowledgeable Nigerians for the ministries and government parastatals, especially those that are key for driving national development. Whether he can get the key stakeholders, mainly his party leaders and state governors to endorse the preference for technocrats against the old practice of rewarding political foot soldiers, is yet to be seen. Already, the President is facing fire from South East zone stakeholders over the arrangement adopted by the PDP for sharing of top political positions in the incoming federal administration among the six geo-political zones.
The formula, which allocates the post of Secretary to the Federal Government to the zone, is adjudged unfair to the Igbo. They insist that the zone deserves better, either as compensation for their whole-hearted support of Jonathan in the April election, or for the fact that Igbo is one of the Big Three ethnic groupings that form the tripod on which Nigeria stands. They have, with enough justification, voiced their dissatisfaction with the SGF offer on the ground that the position is least among those of the five other zones in the national order of protocol.
As the next few days unfold, the world will watch Jonathan more keenly, on how he tackles those challenges.The task of addressing the national problems begging for attention, is as important as restoring confidence in a polity suffering from bruises of divisive politicking. However, the President’s mandate is unequivocal about whose duty it is. So much has been given and Nigerians are justified in expecting from him, more than they ever did with his predecessors. Jonathan must hit the ground running on May 29.

Note: This article was first published in Thisday newspaper, just before the President was sworn in on May 29, 2011

The National Chairman PDP Deserves

Since January 20, 2011 when its elected Chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo resigned under controversial circumstances, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has literally been adrift. The party which went into the national elections under the leadership of Alhaji Bello Halliru Mohammed as Acting National Chairman may have won the April presidential elections but its overall electoral performance slided down the scale. Following the appointment of Alhaji Mohammed into the Federal cabinet by President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, its National Secretary, assumed duty as the party’s second acting National Chairman in six months. The need for a full term leadership has never been more urgent.

A lot has been written about the qualities expected of the new leader which from every indication, the North East zone will produce. The party’s decision to concede the position to the zone had quickly produced a motley crowd of aspirants, ranging from Bamanga Tukur to Hassan Adamu (Wakili Adamawa), from Architect Ibrahim Bunu to Dr Shettima Mustapha and Alhaji Gambo Lawan. At this defining moment when the PDP – Nigeria’s foremost political party -- stands the chance to either reinvent itself through a new leadership, or risk being relegated to the background, it is important to look deeply at the men jostling for the post.

Of the lot, Alhaji Gambo Lawan clearly stands out, the major reason that this piece focuses primarily on him. Not only does he belong to the younger generation that many have advocated should mount the leadership of the party at this crucial moment, he is probably the only one with a solid national party leadership record. While the others are eminently qualified for the job in their own rights, there is no gainsaying the fact that the PDP is a sick party in desperate need of young, focused, energetic leadership. Alhaji Lawan who has exhibited the desire and capacity to reconcile its aggrieved membership, appears fully primed for the task of re-launching the party to its leading position.

The charismatic former Chairman of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council under the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and former Deputy National Chairman of the National Conference of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria (now ALGON),  has over the years risen from grassroots political leadership to national prominence. His profile had risen steadily within the state as well as within the defunct SDP that in 1993 he was appointed member of the National Campaign Committee for the Moshood Abiola- Babagana Kingibe Presidential ticket, playing a commendable role in the campaign that resulted in the impressive showing of the party in the entire North East zone.

On the death of Abiola and the formation of five political parties by the Sani Abacha regime, it came as little surprise that Alhaji Lawan chose to join the Grassroots Democratic Movement, (GDM) for which he was later elected its National Chairman from 1995-1998. It was a befitting position for a political strategist famed for his organizational skill as well as his reach to the grassroots. In just three years, Alhaji Lawan was able to reposition the GDM, considered the weakest of the five political parties on inception. His policies resonated well with Nigerians at every level, and from an initial position of weakness, the party made appreciable inroads in states and constituencies across the country in the local and national elections of 1996-1998. Little wonder that in recognition of his sterling leadership qualities, all the five registered political parties of that era (GDM, UNCP, CNC, NCPN and DPN) chose him as Chairman/Leader of their joint forum.

 A foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party and member of its Borno State and North East Zonal caucus, Alhaji Gambo Lawan is a veteran of national political campaigns where his grassroots mobilization efforts and political negotiating skills are found useful. He was one of the arrowheads that campaigned for Barnabas Gemade’s emergence as National Chairman of the PDP. As Chairman of the Publicity Committee of the Campaign, he traversed every nook and cranny of the country to sell the Gemade candidature to party leaders and members across Nigeria.  On Gemade’s eventual victory, he was made his Special Adviser on National Assembly matters. Subsequently, when the PDP decided to bring on a new national leadership in 2001, the lot also fell on Alhaji Lawan to lead the campaign for Chief Audu Ogbe as Chairman /Director-General of his Unity Team Campaign Organisation.

He has repeatedly been called upon to bring his wealth of political experience to bear on the party’s successive presidential electioneering campaigns, as member of the Campaign Committee of Obasanjo-Atiku tickets of 1999 and 2003, the Presidential Campaign Committee for Yar’adua-Goodluck ticket of 2007 as well as the trail-blazing Presidential Campaign Committee of Goodluck- Sambo ticket for the April 2011 elections. Though his party has never produced the governor of his Borno state, he has remained steadfast and loyal, even as little patronage has come his way. Apart from the period between January 2001and 2003 when the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him Chairman of the Board of Directors, Warri Refining and Petro-Chemical Company, Alhaji Lawan has remained in private business. He sits on the boards of several going concerns ranging from multinational corporations to the media. He has won several awards among which is Nigeria’s Local Government Chairman of the Year (1991), and has been honoured with the keys to the City of Kansas, an honour that only a few non-US citizens are privileged to receive.

Surely, if Alhaji Lawan’s antecedents are considered, the search for the PDP national chairman will be clearer. Not only will he bring integrity into the party leadership, he will bring his wealth of experience as an organizer to bear on its national politics. His choice will also correct the imbalance in the North East, in which Borno has consistently been relegated when national positions allocated to the zone are to be filled. For a man well known as a stickler for rules and procedure, he will bring about the much-needed party discipline, unity and internal democracy that majority of PDP members yearn for, in the running of its affairs.

Chime, Nnamani and Battle for Ebeano

Since 2007 when things fell apart between ex-governor of Enugu state, Dr Chimaroke Nnamani and his political godson and successor in office, Sullivan Chime, very little has come from either camp by way of altercations. Even when in 2008, Chime drew the first blood by declaring in a newspaper interview that contrary to his predecessor’s slogan, Enugu never worked, Nnamani  took the hit in his strides and maintained a deafening silence.

Political watchers believe Nnamani was either too shocked by the turn of events to join issues with a man he installed governor, or his silence was for tactical reasons. Even at the senate where he represents Enugu East, he has literally been in political oblivion, his voice hardly rising beyond a whimper, occasionally. Speculations were that he would either take the Abuja route to an early political retirement, or he would stage a last stand -- using the 2011 elections -- to salvage the ‘Ebeano’ political dynasty he created and nurtured during his 8-year tenure.

Nnamani may have opted for the later. Suddenly regaining his voice in the past few weeks, he has announced his ‘return’ as eloquently as ever, firing from all cylinders against critics of his tenure and those who compare his administration with that of Chime. More importantly, he has made it clear he would prove wrong, those who had earlier declared ‘Ebeano,’ his formidable political machinery dead. He may have avoided calling names, but it is obvious who the arrow is pointed to. Characteristically, Nnamani goes down memory lane to reel out the much rehearsed developmental landmarks of his tenure.

It is hard not to acknowledge the many strides he made in his eventful eight years: ESUT teaching hospital, the Ebeano tunnel, ESUT permanent site, the International Conference Centre, dualisation of several roads in the metropolis, the law school at Agbani and so on. Evidence of his human capital development abounds too in the several men and women he raised from obscurity, many of whom form the core of the Chime government till date. Added to the towering political profile he pulled across the nation in his time, it is difficult to find a basis for such a comparison. However, whether Nnamani admits it or not, the state of insecurity that pervaded his tenure as well as the high-handed tactics he applied to extract political loyalty from subordinates, very nearly obliterates what is otherwise a laudable tenure. Those were the issues that would appear to define the period, and they are the ones opponents would readily remind the electorates about.

After what many consider to be an eventful – even if controversial -- tenure, largely defined by Nnamani’s propensity for stepping on toes, Chime’s three and a half years have offered a sharp contrast in leadership style. To many in Enugu, the period has been like fresh air and Chime’s aides seem to be building the 2011 campaign around issues of insecurity that appear to be Nnamani’s weakest points. But are they not pursuing shadows? Nnamani may be the arrowhead of the intra-party opposition to Chime, but he is definitely not a candidate for the state governorship. Rather than address tangible issues of the governor’s performance, there is so much obsession for Nnamani’s head.  Are they not playing into a decoy?

Though Chime may have departed from Nnamani’s brand of messianic zealotry, many readily adjudge his performance to be less than average while his leadership style has raised serious questions on its own. Beyond his claims on infrastructural renewal, opinions are divided on whether or not he can actually take credit for those roads he rehabilitated. His critics are quick to point out that a preponderance of the roads resurfaced in the capital city were not started from scratch but belong to Nnamani and previous administrations. While he needs to correct that perception, such a controversy does not however, exist on rural roads. Chime can lay claim, and rightly so, to the transformation of a large part of the rural areas of the state.  The development of rural roads is one area many people seem to agree that Chime has indeed made a mark in.

A bad patch in that rural development map would however be his native Udi local government area where many indigenes view the rural transformation issue with mixed feelings. While the Eke-Akpakwume road has received a major facelift, the Ninth Mile-Oji River road has remained one of the worst in the entire South East. The road which traverses over 12 communities in Udi LGA alone and connects several more in Oji River, has for decades, been a factor in the economic life of the rural populace in the areas in particular and the state in general. The argument that Chime ignored the road because he was avoiding being labeled selfish, smacks of timidity. Are Udi and Oji River no longer part of Enugu state? What can be more selfish than his decision to first rehabilitate the Ozalla -Udi road (which terminates in his home town) instead of the Ninth Mile – Oji road that would have benefitted about 20 other communities?

Many people believe that Chime’s leadership has been less than inspiring. His near-reclusive nature raises questions of how much grip he has on the politics of the state and how much of his own imprint he brings to bear on the policies that drive the administration. It may be wrong, but the perception is strong in Enugu that the few powerful men around Chime have hijacked the government for their own ends. Fewer and fewer people have access to the governor, whose political standing on major issues affecting the state which prides itself as the heartbeat of the South  East, has not matched his towering frame. One can accuse Nnamani of too much theatrics in his days but as Enugu governor, there is no denying that he connected well with the people, and possessed the ability to inspire. Whether the issue was regional or national, he may not always toe the popular line, but he would ensure he was not dwarfed, and that his voice was heard loudly.

In the battle for the soul of Enugu, the personality and leadership style of both men will definitely be important factors. The otherwise simple duty of defining what used to be their common political platforms has since 2007 become somewhat knotty. The awesome Ebeano machinery to which most mainstream political actors in Enugu belonged and which produced 100% of elected public office holders of that era, has since been disowned by Chime. In what may yet be a tactical blunder, Chime talks about ‘Ebeano’ as if it were an item you could simply decree out of existence or a piece of clothing that you could command people to pull over their heads into the waste bin. In a clime where political platforms are stronger rallying points than the shifting loyalties to political parties, what alternative platform has he built?

It may provide a peep into Chime’s sense of judgment -- fatal as it may be -- that Ebeano, like the snake with a bruised head, is considered dead and lying dangerously under the bed. Paradoxically, Chime is still surrounded on all sides by his co-travellers since the Nnamani days and it is likely that deep down, many may not share his view on Ebeano, for the simple reason that the position is not logical.

The questions on everybody’s lips are: Can Nnamani, the Ebeano philosopher-king still roar the cranky political machinery back to life at Chime’s expense? Will Chime whose deft manouvres have brought all past opponents under his wings, still prevail in the ensuing debacle? The answers lie in the weeks ahead.

This article was first published in THISDAY newspaper on Sunday October 10, 2010

Zoning, Jonathan and the Igbo Dilemma

Anyone who chooses to write on the zoning debate from a sectional perspective runs the risk of being labelled an ethnic jingoist, so I should start by making it clear that I am not one.

No topic has engaged Nigerians in recent times more than the issue of zoning, the possible entry of President Goodluck Jonathan into the 2011 presidential contest and the implication of the latter to the North, especially. While the debate rages with strong arguments in favour for or against, the South-East which will largely share in its implication either way (as next in the Southern queue), has remained indifferent.

It is pertinent to state however, that the debate as it is being conducted misses the point about the actual concept of zoning. Most people who jump on the bandwagon freely juxtapose zoning for the concept of power rotation.
As a pragmatic idea of power sharing since the First Republic, zoning has been observed in various degrees and in different dispensations in recognition of Nigeria's complex and heterogeneous composition. For that purpose, it has served Nigeria well and the federal character principle enshrined in section 14 of our constitution, gives full expression to that principle.
Power rotation on the other hand, is a concept that rotates (mainly) presidential office between the northern and southern parts of the country. Though it was first mooted in the NPN of the Second Republic, it is today an internal arrangement within the ruling PDP. Two polar positions have become dominant in the debate: support for zoning as a necessary concept that gives all sections of the country a sense of belonging, and support for its abrogation in favour of what is called 'merit'.

Behind the argument is an unfortunate fixation that power rotation to the North at this period, benefits General Ibrahim Babangida's presidential ambition, while a PDP re-election ticket for Jonathan equates 'merit'. In this debate, very few have paused to consider a middle line: Is the PDP zoning arrangement and a Jonathan re-election ticket mutually exclusive? My answer is a resounding no!

What has caused the eruption in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and which has engulfed Nigeria arises from suggestions that the party's agreement on power rotation between the North and South should be dropped entirely for the incumbent to mount the party's platform. What may not work for the party is any attempt to shout the North down. With deft political arrangement, akin to the doctrine of necessity that brought in Jonathan as Acting President earlier this year, the resolution of this matter is not far-fetched.
From the ridiculous to the sublime, arguments have surfaced in certain quarters for or against zoning and power rotation! The pro-zoning debaters make their case on the need to sustain the country's unity and national cohesion based on the sense of belonging that the concept gives each component of Nigeria's diverse federation.

On the other hand, only the power rotation arrangement guarantees that one section does not dominate the nation's political leadership, ensuring that ethnic minorities (and majority back-benchers like the Igbo) get the opportunity to take real shots at the nation's presidency. Equally passionate debaters posit that zoning (and perhaps power rotation), has become unfashionable.

To me, the arguments in favour of Jonathan are strong enough on their own without PDP having to shoot down its arrangement on power rotation. For one, it rarely happens in developed democracies which we copy, that a sitting president is denied re-election ticket by his own party.
If re-election tickets for incumbent presidents are generally accepted as the convention worldwide, I don't see why Jonathan should be denied. The unfortunate incidents leading to his emergence as the president were after all, beyond us all. Secondly, there is no sacrifice too much for other parts of Nigeria to make in appeasing the Niger-Delta that has borne the brunt of our collective development as a nation since independence.
Thirdly, the picture aptly painted by Alhaji Muktar Shagari, deputy Governor of Sokoto State, should particularly appeal to Northerners. Shagari stated the obvious when he told his kinsmen that Jonathan deserves their support because the South-South zone where he hails from has over the years, been the North's vote garden in Southern Nigeria.

Zoning, just like the federal character principle, cannot totally be wished away in Nigeria because it is at the epicenter of our national stability. Neither the North, nor indeed the South-East, appears prepared to fall for that hoodwink. They conveniently forget the legion of examples of sitting presidents who don't scale the hurdle of re-election even with the party's ticket in the bag.

Even for the simple reasons of our ethnic diversity, our unique history and heterogeneous nature, merit can only succeed if it is embedded in any form or arrangement that recognises power rotation. It is therefore myopic, especially for the Igbo, to assume that after an incumbent Jonathan has crossed the river on the bridge of so-called 'merit', the same argument will sustain the plank for them to use thereafter.
So far, governors of the South-East have met, and declared support for President Jonathan to contest in 2011.Though they are not lacking support from politicians like Senator Arthur Nzeribe, the oracle of Oguta, they have equally been strongly criticised for their "timidity and political short-sightedness". Only a few Igbo leaders understand that with a Jonathan bowler hat in the ring, their immediate presidential aspiration will be in jeopardy.
Come to think of it, the argument for merit should ordinarily interest the Igbo, who are not in short supply of leaders of quality, but the power rotation agreement - written or not - does not have to be repudiated. The consequences, both for Jonathan and the entire nation are grave, moreso for the Igbo. And, like I have argued, a PDP ticket for Jonathan and retention of the principle of power rotation, are not mutually exclusive. The South-East leaders ought to emphasise this correlation to strengthen the zone's political interest in the long run.
Fifty years down the road of independence, the Igbo is the only one - among Nigeria's big three nationalities - yet to taste executive power in real terms, at the country's topmost hierarchy. Indeed, it has been discussed elsewhere that 2015 would have been the turn of Igbos, if the Yar'Adua presidency had run its full course. A Jonathan re-election will definitely push that prospect forward by at least four years, but without an in-built arrangement for power rotation thereafter, it could remain in the North for as many as 50 years if the prediction by erudite scholar and elder Yoruba statesman, Professor Aluko is anything to go by.

This piece was first published in SUNDAY TRUST newspaper of Nigeria on 08 August 2010 .

Uto Nsude, Utology and the Origin of Igba-Nkwa

He who has no gun should sell his mother and buy one...     Sounds barbaric, doesn’t it?   Well, not for the average Nsude man, especially during the period of Nkwa festival, the famous celebration of the town’s legendary exploits in warfare centuries ago, and it is a tradition that survives till today.   Once every two years, Nsude and its brother communities that make up the Oshie-Anugwu clan of Enugu State, converge in the Eke-Uto square in Nsude, Udi Local Government Area, for the historical ceremony performed in remembrance of Uto, one of the greatest war generals in Igbo history.     Nkwa festival, like a magnet, draws people from all corners of the globe to pay symbolic respects to Uto. This celebration and remembrance of his glorious past, has become a tradition that has survived and defied the vociferous onslaught of Christianity and modernity, and has become one of the greatest celebrations of valour in lgboland. But for government’s lack of interest in developing its potential in tourism, it would have rivaled the popular Zulu war festival in South Africa.   Because of the symbolic essence of Nkwa, guns, machetes and battle gears are integral parts of the celebration: in fact, the most important since they are the most essential instruments of war. Even as I write, my mind’s ear picks the booms of long dane gun-shots that reverberate across the length and breath of Nsude as the festival is celebrated.   Looking back into time, I remember as a young man how I spent hours with my friends before the actual celebration day, carving guns out of wood. For a male son of Nsude, nay Oshieland,  celebrating Nkwa without a ‘gun’ is like not taking part at all, and as one grows older, one graduates from wooden to real dane guns. The older still, the longer the barrel of the gun. And those who cannot afford to acquire one are advised to sell their mothers in order to buy one, or otherwise hide under their mothers’ beds to avoid the shame of facing their peers, empty-handed on that day that valour is celebrated.   Anyway, that is to underscore the importance of guns, not that any one has ever sold his mother for that reason.   The Concept of Utology Simply put, Utology is the concept of being one’s brother’s keeper. Utology translates to onye aghana nwanne ya, which Uto demonstrated by being fiercely protective of his kith and kin in times past. The concept derives from that selflessness and valour. Apart from waging wars in defence of his native Nsude, Uto is recorded as having led the Oshie clan (a cluster of five communities) successfully in 36 battles across Iboland, up to Igalaland in present-day Kogi state to the North and Benin Kingdom in present-day Edo state to the West. For a man born and raised in mysterious circumstances, and who obtained the “prestigious” human head at five, he has remained the symbol of bravery and courage for the Oshie clan. In his time, no one dared attack any Oshie clan because he would pursue such aggressors, literally, to the end of the earth. And indeed, for the appreciative Igbos of the Udi highlands, he has since become a deity, just as his former homestead in Nsude has become a Mecca of some spiritual sort. The utological concept of being one’s brother’s keeper has largely become generalised in the entire Igboland. It became in the late 1960s, the inspirational call for Biafrans fighting the Civil War, just as it became the wake up call in the years of rehabilitation thereafter. Many Igbo men and women, but especially the businessmen across the globe, have also become utologists by default. One of the first lessons young Igbos learn in their business is to always be his brother’s keeper. It may be one of the keys to their successes in business. The Mystery of Nkwa Festival   The origin of Nkwa festival is pre-historic. Legends have in recent decades tried to unravel its mystery and how it came to become one of the most intriguing aspects of Oshie tradition and culture. According to Oshie history, Nkwa originated following the death of Uto the warrior and it is celebrated to sustain the memory of his famous conquests.   Like all celebrations in Igboland, Nkwa has also assumed a social dimension. On its day, thousands of people troop to Nsude, the cradle of Oshie clan, from all parts of the country to witness the one-day carnival, families exchange visits and food and drinks are provided in abundance. On the day proper, people wake up as early as 5 a.m. to get ready. Getting ready involves kitting oneself in those traditional costumes and fearful war attires, testing the dane guns and disguising oneself with painting that will make Bill Mascaras look like a joker. Hours later, the jingling noise of the hundreds of iron bells (called ikpo) worn around the waists, dane guns in the right hands and the gun powder bottle on the left, the celebrants will file out in thousands, chanting war songs and gyrating to the Eke-Uto Square where the famous Ikpa music will be reminding everyone who comes to dance, to ensure he brings along a human head.    The procession is conducted village by village, with Umuaka, where Uto’s mother comes from, leading the rest of the villages in Nsude. It is only after all the villages of Nsude have taken their turns that other communities of Oshie (originally Nsude’s siblings) take their turns too, starting with Eke, Oshie’s second son after Nsude.   In centuries gone by, it was abominable to dance to the Ikpa except you are an accomplished warrior who had obtained a human head from one of the several inter-communal battles. Surprisingly, (in fact, it remains one of the mysteries), despite the dangerous weapons employed during the celebrations, rarely are serious accidents recorded.   Another notable thing about Nkwa is that it has also defied the tendencies of foreign religions, especially Christianity. Even though pockets of critics have tried to label it a pagan tradition, it has continued to attract people from all religious persuasions. Little wonder that of all days in the calendar. Nkwa is celebrated only on (Afor) Sundays, preponderantly in the month of November of every leap year.   Another surprise is that despite the significance of the celebration as an activity of a historical and cultural relevance, subsequent state governments in Enugu – even since its days as a regional capital-- have only paid lip service to the promise to internationalize it. Besides being an activity that can be exploited to boost tourism like the Hausas have done with their Sallah Durbars (Hawan Bariki), Nkwa is also unique to the Igboman for the rich historical perspectives it portrays.   Uto’s Death And The origin Of Nkwa   Uto Nsude, in his lifetime was reputed to be the greatest warrior in the entire Oshie clan of the present Enugu State in particular and Igboland in general. His exploits in battles and his near superhuman powers were legendary. He is reputed to have obtained a human head at the age of five, and on his death shortly after in his prime, he had obtained the greatest number of human heads from inter-communal battles.   At a period when there were no wars to engage Uto’s attention, he resorted to being a ‘mercenary’ warrior, travelling far and near to help prosecute one war or the other. In one of those expeditions in the present day Benin , Uto was said to have fallen into a trench dug by a strange medicine man. He fell into it and contracted a strange disease. The disease manifested fully on his return to Nsude, and it was later found out to be ‘omelumma’ (chicken pox) which could not be cured by the local medicine men.   To suffer from such a disease was a curse and to be afflicted with it was abominable at that period. Despite Uto’s standing as the district’s major inspiration, he was still subject to the tradition and custom which demands that those suffering from such cursed diseases are ex-communicated in an isolated place. Uto was consequently carried to the wilderness (iwhe egu) in the outskirts of Nsude, the highest point of the Udi hills and around the ‘Agu Ajali’ where the community has common boundaries with Owa. He had a small thatched hut built for him at a point presently called Akpata Uto and his belongings were carried out to him there. There he died of chicken pox and as custom demanded, he was not given a ceremonious burial befitting his stature.   Consequently upon his death, many mysterious things happened in Nsude and other nearby towns in Oshie clan that were founded by his siblings, and for the first time, they suffered defeats in inter-communal battles. When consulted, native doctors revealed that Uto was angry at the ignominious way he was buried. His son, Ugwu also expressed anger that his father who accomplished so much for Nsude and his Oshie kinsmen, was not accorded a ceremonious burial and was in fact being forgotten so soon.   Thereupon, the Oshie clan consulted with each other and agreed to accord Uto a befitting funeral ceremony and to repeat it every year in his honour and in remembrance of his exploits and valour. It was also to be an occasion where the latest weapons of war as well as human heads brought from recent wars would be displayed and gallant warriors honoured. They agreed to celebrate this every year.   Actually, the promise of a yearly celebration was kept for a number of years. After some years, the yearly honour which had metamorphosed into a festival and a carnival of sorts became too tasking for the people because of the high material cost. After consultations with Uto by his priests, it was agreed that ‘Nkwa’ be held every two years. That agreement is still adhered to and the festival has today become one of the few revered celebrations in Igboland.   It should be noted however, that even though Uto commanded a lot of respect and was even being ‘worshipped’ by some people in his lifetime, Uto actually became a deity few years after his death. The Nkwa festival was the major factor that deified him, as another god of the Igbo people.   This piece was first published in the DAILY SUN newspaper of Nigeria in January, 2010 but updated and adapted for this blog. Reactons are welcome at sheddyozoene@yahoo.com