Category: Politics

Former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, may still have his eyes on the plum seat which he lost last year to Owella Rochas Okorocha, if the latest report reaching Ripples is anything to go by. One incident that fuelled this assumption is the visit last week of the former governor to the camp of the victims recently affected by flood in some parts of Imo State.

Ohakim, accompanied by his running mate in the 2011 elections, Professor Violet Onwuliri (now the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs), sympathised with the people, while assuring them of his support and assistance.

Not a few politicians in Imo State are reading meanings to Ohakim’s gesture, which they contend, is a calculated move towards the 2015 governorship race.

Chukwuma Azikiwe (Owelle of Onitsha) is the eldest son of Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Great Zik of Africa. At the peak of preparations for this year’s annual Zik’s Lecture, he revealed to members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra State council, some aspects of his late father not known to many. Odogwu Emeka Odogwu was there. Excerpts

As the head of Zik’s family, how has life been without him?

Of course, we miss our father very much. We wish he was around. Certain things happen and you wish you could discuss it with him or discuss it with people who will discuss it with him. But you know, life is finite. We will all accept the will of God. And we thank God for his life – the life He gave him and the opportunity for us to be his family.

Why have you kept your distance from active politics over the years and why have you not accepted any political appointment like others whose fathers dominated the First and Second Republics?

There are different angles to answer your question. One, there was a general feeling among us in the family that our father had contributed quite a lot.

Also, he was somebody who believed in building up others to join the national struggle for independence and so on. And we thought may be, we should let others contribute their own quota. There’s always time for us to come in. And also, as some people observed, in this part, some people would say, after their father now they want to come.

And personally, I also believe that being a good follower is also very important. I am somebody who is used to working in the background and going on errands. Like when my father was campaigning and things like that, we will do the work from behind and go to make contacts too while the show goes on.

Also, we were looking at a situation where we saw, sometimes, very unhealthy, the developments in Nigerian politics. This is very important. May be I should have started with it. Nigerian politics, as we saw in our father and his other colleagues and compatriots who worked for the independence of our country; it was for service. They really believed in rendering service to the country and also improving the lives of the people. But we started seeing a situation where politics was for self aggrandisement or for power.

A lot of people were going into politics in the unhealthy way. Mind you, there are still a lot of good people too who are going in with the right spirits to render service and help. But, perhaps, you will agree with me that it was becoming like a do-or-die thing and like a business. You know, very unhealthy. So, you really have to pause and study the situation before you get involved in that type of quagmire. I might say that some people have quietly talked with me about political appointments, but what was discussed, that looked very good on the surface, was actually, in the final analysis, booby traps.

It is not in a way that I can render service purely. It looked like a juicy thing. And that’s not what our family tradition should be. But by and large, some of the political actors are really building themselves up. If they come to me they are really trying to use you and not to make you contribute. So, you look at these things and you are careful and studying the situation. And that may guide you on what to do.

So you decided to keep away from active politics.

Well, for the time being. We have our feelings, we know what to support. But time will tell. This is not the type of politics our fathers and their colleagues craved for Nigeria. Theirs was about service, sacrifice and so on. And they cared for the poor people.

There were so many myths about your father and some even said he was into mysticism, or occultism, etc. How would you describe your late father?

I will say he was a God-fearing man, a Christian in a practical way. I don’t know about magic. I will tell you a story about magic and Zik. It is a good thing that our brother from Nsukka is here.

I believe it was in 1945 or 46. There was an assassination attempt; there was an alleged plot by the colonial authorities to have Zik assassinated. So Zik disappeared; he ran away. In this particular occasion, using an indirect way and going away from where he was headed, he ultimately landed in Onitsha. He was hidden in a basement of a friend’s house, at old Market Road. Sir Louis Mbanefo was staying there. Sir Louis’ nephews, the twins – Odigwe whom we buried three weeks ago and his twin brother, Nwakibie, who we thank God is still alive, they were taking food secretly to him.

Sir Louis’ elder brother, Chief Isaac, who was a UAC produce buyer along the Anambra Basin, using his contacts reached Chief Ukwuta of Igah in Nsukka, who was also in the same produce business. In those days, there were really no great roads, river was very important. So, between these two people, they smuggled Zik into a thick bush at Nsukka and the place at that time was outside Nsukka town where Tailor Eze was before he died. And it was Ukwuta’s wife and some people who were preparing food and taking to Zik. The colonial authorities were looking for Zik all over the place.

And because when he was coming to Onitsha, he had moved West and North, it was logical to look for him through the East. But the thing was that these people risked their lives and shielded him effectively. Zik was looked for all over the place, he could not be found. That was how the story came about that time that the colonial people came to look for Zik to kill him but he changed into a fly, disappeared! (Laughs). That’s one story about the magic. To the best of my knowledge, he was a good Christian and a decent person, very courageous; he wanted “treat others as you would like yourself to be treated.” He disliked oppression or injustice. And he would always fight and defend the right of others.

Would you say the Federal Government is fair to your late father with regards to the construction of the mausoleum?

Well, that’s a many sided question. The government has surely taken a decision to honour him by building the mausoleum. They are the one who decided for it. But the problem is the implementation. You can see that from the time of Yar’Adua (the late president) for example, every amount the presidency had asked for the project in the budget, the National Assembly had always approved intact. So, there’s a great support for it in the legislative arm, and, presumably in the Executive arm which sends the bills.

But as one delay led to the other, you can see the storm of protests cutting across Nigeria which means that it is a project that people believe in and want to see completed. The main problem is the execution; this could be the fault of those asked to do it; it could also be the officials that are supposed to supervise the work. After all, you don’t expect the senators and members of the House of Representatives who passed that Appropriation Bill to troop down to Zik’s compound to come and build the mausoleum and supervise it, neither do you expect President Jonathan or late President Yar’Adua to do that.

We believe that may be, a task force of the federal government and the ministry might help to isolate this thing from certain bureaucratic problems. Some of you were here when the previous minister, Chief Ntuesen Esien, came here. He was very sincere and he went ahead to try to implement it but, it’s unbelievable. A defective contract was awarded without the knowledge of the minister by some officials.

Some of the workmen you see here are trying to rectify the bad job that was done. It was a bad job. We have a new minister, Ama Pepple. I hear she is very committed to this project. She sent down her top officials. We are hopeful but also take cognisance that majority of Nigerians have lost patience. From what we know, I think there is unanimity of mind to go forward.

It appears you are enjoying the life of solitude you are living since the death of your father?

Thank you. It is the way I regulate my life and my time. Actually, I learnt that from my father. My father always spoke about Agro who died very early. He said Africans kill their leaders by pestering them all the time. So, my father used to regulate his time. In fact, there’s a time you won’t see the Great Zik unless at a properly planned schedule.

That way, my father was able to calm his life. He saw people that he needed to see but didn’t allow himself to be harassed. I have imbibed that. Also, I like solitude.

What has the governors of Eastern Nigeria done for the memory of your father?

I agree with one of you who said earlier that Zik was a national figure and Zik of Africa. It is not clear to me that it is right that the Eastern states should be saddled with the responsibility of the mausoleum project. Their proper role will be to find out from us where there is problem and join in urging the federal government to do things that are necessary in order to realise the project.

But significantly, something was done around 2001, 2002. Governors in the South-East showed a certain commitment on some matter which, unfortunately, we have not seen any result in spite of the effort. I don’t know if you people heard of the attempt to make a Zik Centre at Enugu. It was promoted at that time by Anyim Pius Anyim, the then Senate President. Many people had their reservations; many people were skeptical because they were saying, look, why don’t we finish the mausoleum and go on to Zungeru project which is also abandoned for now in spite of the enthusiasm and resources made available by the Babangida administration.

Well, that time, we were persuaded. We all went to Enugu for the launching of this Zik’s Centre. People like Pius Anyim Pius, he also had Anya O. Anya as one of the organisers. And virtually all the governors of the South East were there and they came in for N25million which was initial. I think they said they were trying to raise N2billion. People gave.

The present governor of Imo State, Rochas, also donated half a million (naira) in Ojukwu’s name. Ojukwu was there. He said he would put down cash. So people were quite enthusiastically pursuing that project. The South Eastern governors really rallied round in 2001. And they had their local governments and different contacts and so on. Well, at the end of the day, nothing. It was one day, C.C. Onoh came here, forget the politics of ’78, ’79, C.C Onoh was very close to my father.

With three years away to the expiration of the tenure of Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio, intense jostling over his successor have begun in earnest. In this report, Remi Adelowo presents the issues at play, the major players to watch and the shape of things to come

In recent months, the recurring topic of discussion among major political stakeholders in Akwa Ibom State, particularly top government officials, is the individual likely to succeed Governor Godswill Akpabio in 2015.

Notwithstanding reports that the incumbent governor has allegedly settled for one of his key aides as his preferred successor, others interested in the exalted seat are, however, not willing to be caught napping once the whistle signaling the commencement of the race is blown sometime next year.

Issues at play

Will the Eket Senatorial Zone produce Akpabio’s successor in 2015? This million-naira question has become very pertinent taking into consideration the zoning formula that has been used to elect the helmsmen of the state from 1999 till date.

The oil-rich state is split into three major zones: Ikot Ekpene, where the current governor hails from; Uyo, where the immediate past governor, Obong Victor Attah comes from, and Eket, which is yet to produce the governor since the advent of the present political dispensation in 1999.

Presently, not a few politicians from the Eket zone, where the current Deputy Governor, Obong Nsima Ekere, hails from are agitating that, in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice, the zone should produce Akpabio’s successor come 2015.

Not all politicians in the state are buying into this argument. This school of thought, according to findings by The Nation, posit that from the days of Obong Akpan Isemin, who ruled the state from 1991 to 1993, to Architect Victor Attah (1999-2007), to the current governor, the field had always been thrown open for interested aspirants from all the three senatorial zones, and that the same principle should apply in the countdown to the 2015 race.

In their counter-argument, proponents of the zoning policy, though agreed that aspirants from the three senatorial zones participated in the governorship primaries of the PDP, the contest was deliberately skewed to conform to the zoning policy of the party.

Candidates in contention

The three major political parties expected to field strong candidates in the 2015 elections are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). But the real battle will play out in the PDP, which has produced the governors of the state since 1999.

Leading the pack of contenders in the PDP is Obong Umana Okon Umana, the Secretary to the State Government. A tested technocrat, described as fiercely loyal to Akpabio, Umana was the Commissioner for Finance during the Attah administration and has been the SSG since the incumbent governor came on board in 2007.

A first and second degree holder in Economics from the University of Calabar and Port Harcourt respectively, Umana is also an alumnus of the prestigious Columbia University Graduate School of Business, New York and London Business School. He is believed to boast a wide network of political structure and large followership across the three senatorial districts.

An unconfirmed speculation has it that the incumbent governor, barring any last minute change of plan, has allegedly penciled Umana as his successor.

Next in line is the Deputy Governor, Nsima Ekere, from Ikot Abasi in Eket Senatorial District. A graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ekere has been in politics since 1997 and was the Chairman of AKIPOC, the state investment agency during the first term of Akpabio, who picked him as his running mate in 2011.

If the unwritten zoning policy is adhered to, Ekere is strongly favoured to clinch the governorship ticket of the PDP, even as his boss’ disposition to his candidacy cannot be ascertained at least for now.

Other names being bandied within the political circles of the state include the current Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Effiong Abia, and a former Senator who represented Eket Senatorial Zone at the National Assembly from 1999 to 2003, Udoma Udo Udoma.

If he eventually throws his hat into the ring as it is being speculated, Udoma’s pedigree and stature will serve as his unique selling points. Highly principled, Udoma, a graduate of the London School of Economics, was a big player in the private sector before he dabbled into politics in 1999.

A partner in the law firm of Udo Udoma & Osagie, he is currently the chairman of the governing board of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). Described as highly principled, Udoma had turned down an offer of a junior ministerial appointment from the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, which he termed as ‘demeaning’.

In the ACN, which has emerged as the major opposition party in the state, the race on who picks the party’s governorship ticket still appears hazy.

For now, the party’s governorship candidate in the 2011 general elections, Akpan Udoedehe, has not given any hint of his political plans in 2015. But sources revealed that the former senator from Uyo Senatorial Zone still nurses ambition to rule the state.

Who will Attah support?

Though out of power since 2007, Obog Victor Attah, remains a respected political figure in the state. His reported fallout with Governor Akpabio, and the attendant acrimony it generated in the politics of the state, according to sources, is yet unresolved.

The former governor, it would be recalled, threw his weight behind Udoedehe in the 2011 elections, and even though his anointed candidate lost, there are strong indications that he is still determined to take his pound of flesh from Akpabio over what his associates call a ‘betrayal of trust’.

Will Attah back Udoedehe again in 2015? That remains a matter of conjecture, but The Nation gathered that a new young, popular and uncontroversial candidate may get Attah and ACN’s nod for the next governorship elections.

The ANPP in Akwa Ibom State, according to sources, is presently in near comatose. Activities in the party have been virtually non-existent despite the fact that it posted a relatively good showing in the 1999 and 2003 elections.

The countdown has indeed begun.

In this group interview, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Calabar, Rt. Rev. Tunde Adeleye, spoke on many national issues. Nicholas Kalu reports.

In corruption in the country

There is hardly anything more to say about corruption in Nigeria. We live in it and live with it. No one learns how to be corrupt in our country. We are so corrupt that our children grow up to think that it is part of normal life. It may look as if these expressions are too gloomy but all of us here know that corruption in Nigeria has affected all parts of the socio-political and economic life of the country. It has eaten deep into every part of our country.

So, what can we do now? We have to pray more while we continue to preach against it; punish offenders of corruption at all levels under the relevant laws; reward people who refuse, like Daniel in the Bible, to be corrupted; and adhere strictly to all laws about corruption. The issue of declaration of assets by public officers should be taken seriously. Those who get rich and suddenly have large scale property beyond their incomes should be investigated.

On the call for state police

This is probably one of the most recently discussed issues in the country. The argument has been whether to have a state Police or not. Some individuals have declared that the nation is not ripe, as at now, for a state police. The President, from some public reactions, seems to be in agreement with that submission.

To be candid, what is more disturbing to us is that one wonders why operational arrangements, which work all over the world would not work in Nigeria. Here, it will either not work or will be seen as not workable. State policing is working all over the world without problems. Over there, state and federal policing operate without clash of interest or purpose. But, here, even before we start operating it, the clash is made obvious. The main reason it will not work in Nigeria is because of corruption and abuse of power which is inherent here. One of the best ways of addressing the security problem in Nigeria would have been to involve the community through the state police; but, truly, it will be abused and it will not work here.

We fully support the formation of state police. It will go a long way to solving our community violence, restiveness, crime and all forms of fraud. We even recommend local government police in addition to that. Our recommendation is that this should not be put in place until and unless the operational conditions are well spelt out and conditions for preventing its abuse are also properly spelt out. Their operational areas and job description should properly be outlined to avoid clashes.

On rising spate of kidnapping

We understand that kidnapping is gradually coming back in full force again. Recently, some newspapers reported that this is becoming frequent again in certain states in the eastern part of the country. Did I hear that there is kidnapping in Calabar now? We wish to suggest to government to involve the community vigilante in the security of their areas, to reduce this menace. This is an area where the local or community policing would have been very helpful. These kidnappers live in places and operate in locations where other people live. They do not operate in the air. They live with people and our people know them.

On high rate of unemployment

The happiest news anyone can receive in Nigeria now is creation of jobs for the teeming jobless people in the country. One of the reasons most Nigerians voted for the present head of state was his promise to create jobs. That was a very comforting promise for anyone, any day. Our children are jobless and millions of our graduates are roaming around the towns looking for work.

Many of them, out of frustration, have resorted to robbery, including internet robbery, with other ills in the society. We therefore request that the federal government should make haste to create more jobs as they have promised. Also, the curricula of our tertiary institutions should include basic training in trade and craft so that the graduates can leave the school knowing some trade which they could start as they graduate. Our economy will improve if we have graduates who are equally printers, photographers, mechanics, (without being called engineers), tailors, masons, painters, farmers, drivers, carpenters, designers, cooks and so on.

The Federal Government should provide money (loans) for such graduates to set up their own businesses, if they desire to start something. We recognize that these schemes are already available in different parts of country with different names. The latest is YOUWIN for the women directly. We thank the government for this and want it to continue.

On the Niger Delta

We have always held the view that some of the matters arising in the Niger Delta are also pending. We commend the federal government for steps already taken to address some of the experiences which are peculiar to Niger Delta. But we still think that since this part of the country lays the golden egg, it should not be allowed to perish while laying the eggs and they should get more than what they are getting from the federal share.

National Secretary of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Olagunsoye Oyinlola, this week declared that the party will stick to its zoning policy in picking its presidential candidate in 2015. Sam Egburonu captures the reactions of some stakeholders and reports that the declaration has only added more fuel to the raging controversy

When the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, gave fresh reasons this week, why the party will stick to the zoning arrangement in picking candidates for the 2015 general election, many thought the official position would put paid to the age old debate. But reactions from political stakeholders show that it has only added fuel to the raging controversy.

According to Oyinlola, “What has endeared the PDP to Nigerians is the zoning arrangement, which has given minority groups the hope of realising their political aspirations in the country.” This being the case, he said, the party will retain the zoning policy for the 2015 presidential election primaries.

Genesis of the controversy:

PDP’s zoning policy attracted public attention soon after Dr. Alex Ekwueme and other strong candidates lost out in a peculiar, rather controversial circumstance during the primaries for the 1999 presidential election. It was a development that generated bad blood within the party and set tongues wagging. So, the grand drama, which led to the emergence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the convention, soon became subject of public debate within the party and outside.

The debate, however, gathered steam ahead of 2003 elections, when some other zones interested in the presidential ticket requested for a shift. It was then made public that zoning policy has been enshrined in Article 7(2)(c) of the party’s constitution. It says in part: “In pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness, the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”

Instead of facilitating cohesion, it seems this law has, in a way, created more controversies within the party as zones within the country began to demand that it was their turn to produce the party’s presidential candidate.

The controversy peaked and became more complicated after the sudden demise of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, barely a year before the 2011 presidential election. His deputy then, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from the South-South zone, had emerged the Acting President, and eventually got the PDP ticket to contest the election. This had irked some northern PDP stakeholders, who argued it was their turn to rule until 2015.

The anger was not helped by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s reported argument that there was no zoning formula in PDP. This was in sharp contrast with the reported position of the then National Chairman of PDP, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, who was quoted as saying, “We felt that the zoning of the presidency of the party as enshrined in the party’s constitution should be maintained and, therefore, the zoning arrangement in the constitution should hold for the next four years.”

It is instructive that Ogbulafor became the first victim of the fuss over zoning as he was soon forced to resign over an alleged fraud when he served as Minister of Special Duties in 2001.

Explaining how deep the leadership of the party felt over the matter, the next National Chairman, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, told newsmen in 2010, “Yes, I said to BBC and I repeat to you again that zoning in PDP has been jettisoned. There is no zoning on ground right now. Absolutely, there is no zoning. In 1999, there was zoning and only one northerner insisted on his inalienable right in the Nigerian Constitution to contest against the zoning arrangement of the PDP. The PDP put its foot down and I wrote a letter to him and returned his cheque. That is the late Abubakar Rimi of blessed memory.

“In 2003, after four years of Obasanjo, candidates sprang up from across the country. They paid, they canvassed. Nobody returned their money. Nobody wrote them that there was zoning. Nobody! In 2007, there were more candidates from Southern Nigeria than Northern Nigeria and I think if that election was allowed to hold without interference; may be anybody among Peter Odili, Donald Duke or Sam Egwu would have won. They all paid. Nobody returned their money. Nobody stopped them.

“Nobody talked about zoning. They all contested. Why zoning now? Why? We have jettisoned it, but we can revisit it. I’m not afraid about revisiting it. If we think that we need to revisit zoning today, let us revisit zoning. But the one we did in 1999, no, no, no, no, it has been jettisoned by PDP itself.”

After Jonathan won the 2011 elections, the controversy continued and had indeed served as the fuel that fired major political intrigues.

It played out clearly in June 2011, when some radical elements in the House of Representatives in collaboration with some northern caucus of PDP plotted a political ‘coup’ that ignored PDP’s zoning formula and elected Hon. Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker. The party had zoned the position to the South-West and reports had it that Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola was the anointed candidate.

Since that incident,many had indeed concluded that zoning has finally been discarded by the younger elements and the less conservative members of PDP.

But with Oyinlola’s declaration, the matter is again at the front burner. Already, questions are being asked: Does this mean that the South-South zone, where President Goodluck Jonathan hails from, will conclude a second term, irrespective of agitations from the North and the South-East zone? What will happen in the selection of other top public positions at the federal and state levels? How will this development affect the party’s fortunes in 2015 and beyond?

Scepticisms:

Initial reactions to the current declaration of the leadership of PDP have been largely sceptical.

PDP leader and former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for exmple, told The Nation that if the leadership of the party has decided to make amends, it must begin by admitting wrong. As he puts it, “It is a fact that the issue of zoning is still enshrined in the PDP constitution as amended. However, recall that in the run up to the 2011 election, the principle of zoning as enshrined in the party was implemented in breach. If the current leadership wants to right the wrongs of the past, it has to match its intent with action. It can not be that zoning is right for some people and it is abandoned when it comes to others.”

For Mike Okorie, a Lagos based lawyer and former PDP House of Representatives aspirant in Abia State, expressed similar sentiment. He told The Nation: “The statement credited to the Secretary of the party on the vexed issue of zoning in 2015 should ordinarily be seen as the rule than the exceptions, knowing full well the pole position of a secretary in the life of an organisation. But this is PDP! Soon, there will be asertions and denials since the statement did not emanate from the publicity secretary of the party. For more reasons than one, the statement is not conclusive of the matter. Besides, the party is noted for policy shifts, summersault and double standard. Let us not forget in a hurry the events leading up to 2011 presidential elections and even thereafter, when zoning was observed in the breach, if not jettisoned. Now, the trillion naira question is whose turn is it, at least, to produce the next Speaker, House of Representatives not to talk of the President? “

Non PDP observers have been even more sceptical.