Since all politics are local, as it is often said, it is the men who control party structures at the grassroots and who equally have a network of contacts beyond their domains that call the shots in national politics. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI examines the rising profile of three of such men currently within the political space
Within the context of Nigerian politics, attention is often focused on the occupant of the presidential seat, while state governors who control party structures in their domain and also have the capacity to build bridges across party lines in the country are usually ignored. But, since all politics are local, it is the men who control the structures at the grassroots that hold the power when it comes to winning elections. This may apply to all governors, but it is in their second terms or late in their first tenures that governors are usually in full control politically.
When governors are saddled with additional responsibilities, such as chairmen of a forum of fellow governors, it gives them an opportunity of creating enduring relationships with their peers elsewhere in the country. With the emergence of Kwara State’s Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde as his vice, the duo may have positioned themselves as power brokers within the elite group of governors. Abdulrazaq who was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has just been sworn in for his second term. Makinde, elected on the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), has also just taken his oath of office for his second term.
Similarly, Imo State’s Governor Hope Uzodimma, who also emerged recently as the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), the umbrella body of governors elected on the platform of the APC, is also a rising star within the political arena. By occupying such positions, three governors are positioning themselves as power brokers within their political parties and beyond. Aside from the National Assembly, the NGF is another very important platform that is central to the affairs of the nation. Occupants of such key positions in the NGF, the PGF and the PDP Governors’ Forum play important roles in times of elections both within and outside their parties.
Since the formation of the NGF during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003, the governors have always chosen their chairmen through consensus, rather than through balloting of any sort. However, the tradition was broken once in the twilight of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when the election of the NGF chairman polarised and politicised the 36 state governors, ahead of the 2015 general election.
Incidentally, it was the crack within the NGF then, led by former Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, which signalled the defeat of Goodluck Jonathan in that election. It was also the division within the group then that eventually led to the formation of the PDP Governors Forum and later the Progressives Governors Forum for the APC.
Abdulrazaq:
The manner through which Abdulrazaq and Makinde emerged suggests that they have the backing of very powerful persons within the group. Before the valedictory meeting of the NGF where Abdulrazaq emerged as chairman of the group, plans had almost been concluded for Nasarawa State’s Governor Abdullahi Sule to become the new chairman. But the plot thickened in the 11th hour when the Kwara State governor, backed by some powerful APC governors indicated interest to contest for the coveted office. Sule had been pencilled down as the successor to the then outgoing chairman, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who was then Sokoto State governor because of the Nasarawa governor’s genial disposition and his private sector background. Both Sule and his Kwara counterpart are eminently qualified for the position, which is based on ranking or seniority and from the party that has the highest number of governors in the forum.
The fact that the Kwara governor eventually got the nod of his colleagues to emerge as the NGF chairman speaks volumes about his acceptance within the elite group. The position had already been zoned to the North Central, to compensate the zone for being marginalized in other areas. But, given the role Governor Abdulrazaq played during the recent general election by not only winning the presidential election in the state for his party with a landslide but also delivering all the National Assembly seats for the ruling party, it is not surprising that he got the backing of the party for the plum job. Before the general election, Abdulrazaq had mobilised 100 per cent delegate support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the primary which was a period of uncertainty for Asiwaju who eventually went on to win not only the primary but also the general election. Kwara State has therefore never been in doubt as to its direction from the beginning.
Governor Abdulrazaq was propelled to power in 2019 by the “O to ge” revolution, which broke the stranglehold of the Saraki dynasty and the PDP on Kwara politics. “O to ge”, the Yoruba equivalent of “Enough is enough”, was the battle cry for the 2019 election in Kwara. In the past, any party aligned with the Sarakis produced the governor and the winners of most elective positions, both national and local. This has been the case since 1979, when the patriarch of the family, Abubakar Olusola Saraki, a medical doctor, emerged as the godfather of state politics, which covered parts of today’s Kogi and Niger states. Although Saraki the father died in 2012 aged 79, Kwara still always went where Saraki the son went — until 2019. It looked like a mission impossible but by the time the elections were over, Saraki had lost all his political influence and power, including his seat in the Senate.
Today, Governor Abdulrazaq is the undisputed king of Kwara politics. Like other state governors, he controls the APC structures in the North Central state. But, after the 2019 election victory, the coalition that sent the PDP packing had collapsed, as the governor was pitched against political heavyweights like the immediate past Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. The governor appears to have triumphed in the end, with several party members in the minister’s camp seeking refuge in smaller parties like the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Young Peoples’ Party (YPP) and the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) before the recent general elections. Going by the result of that election (both the presidential, as well as the National Assembly), one may say that the Abdulrazaq-led APC has a firm grip on the state.
Born in Zaria, Kaduna State, into the family that produced the first lawyer from the defunct Northern Region, Abdulrazaq joined politics in 1999 following the country’s return to civil rule. Abdulrazaq who speaks Yoruba, English, and Hausa languages fluently first contested for the governorship of Kwara State in 2011 on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Later, he vied to represent Kwara Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly on the platform of the PDP. Though he failed on both attempts, he persisted.
Makinde:
Going by the convention of the NGF, the vice chairmanship position is reserved for the party with the second largest number of governors in the group, which is the PDP. Makinde emerged by consensus during the valedictory session of the group held in Abuja about three weeks ago. It was the crisis in the opposition party and the role he played in the last general election that threw Makinde up as a key player in regional and national politics. Ordinarily, Makinde is the most qualified candidate for the position of NGF vice chairman. Aside from the Oyo governor, the other second-term governor from the South is Governor Godwin Obaseki (Edo), but since his tenure will be expiring next year Makinde stands a better chance.
Sources in the PDP said the party had reluctantly settled for Obaseki to punish the Oyo governor for the role he played in the just concluded election, as a member of the G-5, a splinter group within the opposition party that worked against the presidential bid of the party’s candidate in the recent election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. The G-5 governors had argued that since Atiku is a northerner, as the party’s recently sacked National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, the latter should resign to allow a southerner to assume the position of national chairman. But Dr Ayu, with the support of Alhaji Atiku, refused to comply. Observers, including members of the PDP, believe that was the biggest factor that contributed to the party’s failure at the presidential polls.
In the height of the crisis in the opposition party late last year, Makinde had been named as the new chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, to replace Tambuwal despite being one of the G-5 Governors. But, the Oyo governor rejected the offer because it was a ploy to weaken the opposition of the G-5 governors to the party’s national leadership. The Oyo governor said he did not consider himself the right person to occupy the position. In his view, former Governor Ikpeazu, in his capacity as the deputy chairman, was the right person to take over the place of Tambuwal. His words: “Even if they give it to me, I will not accept it because there must be order. Ikpeazu is the deputy chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum. If the chairman resigns, the deputy chairman ought to take over the position. This is how to have an order in the process.”
It was against this background that the PDP leadership foreclosed the idea of the Oyo governor getting that same position he rejected last year or the recent one he got as the vice chairman of the NGF. But, with the backing of APC governors, he was able to clinch the NGF position.
The second governor, after the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi, to get a second term, Makinde’s influence in Oyo politics has grown considerably partly because of his performance in his first tenure. He secured his re-election recently without the backing of the core power brokers in the state. He relied solely on his performance in office and the affinity he had developed with the people. The Makinde administration now aims to attract more industries to Oyo State, Nigeria by improving power supply, delivering more road projects, and improving healthcare, security, solid minerals exploitation, and tourism.
Before the 2015 governorship election in Oyo State, previous governors in the state had failed to secure a second term. The late Ajimobi was the first to get re-elected for a second term in 2015. Due to factors such as the truncation of democratic rule and the apparent reluctance of the people to renew the mandates of previous governors, nobody at that time had gotten a renewed mandate. Ajimobi broke the jinx with a combination of shrewd politicking and the hurricane Buhari factor, which propelled him to defeat Senator Teslim Folarin of the PDP to return to Agodi Government House for another term. Makinde accomplished the same feat in the just concluded election when he defeated the same Senator Folarin in the race.
Born December 25, 1967, Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde is an engineer by profession, a businessman and a politician. He had contested the 2015 Oyo State governorship election on the platform of the SDP but lost.
Uzodimma:
Governor Uzodimma, who is facing re-election in November, got the nod of all the former governors and the new governors to serve a four-year term as the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum. He replaced the immediate past Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu, who left office on May 29. The newly inaugurated Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani was chosen as the vice-chairman of the forum. From relative obscurity in the last governorship election in Imo State, where he came fourth, Uzodimma emerged winner of the election after a judicial interpretation of what transpired during the election.
But, the man who is derisively called “the Supreme Court governor” by his political opponents has today emerged as a rising star not only in Imo State politics but in the country as a whole. Based on his antecedents, observers believe the Imo State governor deserves the recognition of his colleagues within the ruling party, which his emergence as the chairman of the Progressives Governors’ Forum suggests. It is an indication, for instance, that he is in a pole position to secure his re-election in November.
Uzodimma has picked a female lawyer, Nnedinma Ekomaru, as his running mate for the forthcoming governorship election. A women’s group within the party, led by the Ondo State governor’s wife, Mrs Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, had urged Uzodimma to pick a woman as his running mate. Mrs. Ekomaru is married to fellow lawyer, Chief Chukwuma Ekomaru, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). She hails from the Umunoha community in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area and has practised law for over 20 years.
Those who know Governor Imo governor well say he is a team player, a competent man and a firm believer in the ideals of his party, the APC. One such observer who does not want his name in print told our reporter: “Governor Uzodimma has capacity. He has displayed capacity in most of the assignments the party assigned to him under the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“The governor is also a team player, going by the way he has handled the affairs of the party in Imo State; he has carried the stakeholders along and this has contributed in no small way to the stability in the chapter. He is also a strong character and a firm believer in the ideals of the APC. If you recall, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, he was a constant visitor to Aso Rock Villa, the presidential seat of power.”
