Interrogating Zoning in Enugu State

Dennis Agbo

I observe that some mischief makers (I do not know whether or not they are from Enugu State) have been serenading materials purporting to discuss the zoning arrangement in Enugu State. It is clear that these persons are against Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s declared bid for the governorship of Enugu State. These people are actually entitled to hold their political opinion and preferences of candidates in the political contest. What I don’t like is this idea of raising only the issue of zoning in trying to discourage the Distinguished Senator from running.

This handful of persons seems not to care about what the generality of Enugu people want. Otherwise, I would have thought they should allow the candidates to contest for the people’s support instead of drumming up only zoning to silence mass appeal and popular support. They misrepresent the subject of zoning in Enugu State to serve their own interest.

I personally do not like this reference being made to a certain meeting in 2013 held ostensibly to zone the governorship to Enugu North then. Why was a zoning meeting required for Enugu North to take their turn in the governorship, even when the other zones had already taken their turns from 1999 to 2015? Could any of the other two zones have wanted to retain the position by 2015? Why do these people think Enugu North needed a motion by Dubem Onyia, amended by C.C Egumgbe, or supported by Sen. Collins Ndu, (all from one cultural zone) to take their own turn at the Governorship? Which motion did they move and second for Enugu East to have their turn? Which motion did they move or second for Enugu West to have their own turn?

Indeed, if a motion needed to be moved and seconded, it should have been at the onset in 1999, definitely not in 2015 when the other two zones had already taken their turns.

So, to me, the so-called zoning meeting, if there was anything like that, was completely unnecessary. Enugu North is the largest zone in the state; the population of the zone is about the population of the other two zones combined, and having waited to have their turn last did not need anybody to move or second motions.

So, to me, the so-called motion, if at all the hotly contested document is real, was not much about zoning, but more about the amendment, to extract yet another turn of Governorship by the same Enugu East that had had the position for three times. And it was not surprising who had to introduce the amendment – someone from Enugu North LGA, which today falls into Enugu East zone , and tomorrow falls into Enugu West. These things are known !

They would likely retort that the motion became imperative because of Ekweremadu’s alleged governorship ambition in 2015. But I know, just like everyone else can recall, the widely reported statement by Sen. Ekweremadu during an interaction with the press on 3rd June 2013, where he stated repeatedly that he had no governorship ambition for 2015. The internet doesn’t forget and simply searching  “2015: I’ve no governorship ambition” will clear any doubts. So, I maintain that Enugu North needed no motion in that particular governorship contest.

Meanwhile, when they claim that His Excellency, Okwesilieze Nwodo, was in the said meeting, I ask: Nduka Agu, the person Okwesilieze supported for Governorship in 1999, is from which zone? He is from West!

We all know that leaders had decided that for equity and fairness, Enugu West should produce the Governor in 1999 (they were the only zone that had not had a Governor by then). The two front-runners supported by Jim Nwobodo and Okwesilieze Nwodo respectively, were from West. Somehow, they were muscled out and the governorship went to East. Now another muscling is going on in the name of a purported zoning meeting, to deny the same Enugu West the opportunity, but West seem to have a stronger candidate to contend with this time around.

I thrill at political analysis that mixes up statements by politicians from every political party, to make a point that suits. Enugu State is PDP, and so it is suspect to import statements from H/E Sullivan Chime or Sen. Ken Nnamani of APC, to support an argument on zoning in PDP. What we get from all this are nothing but deliberate mischief, half-truths and outright lies.

I conclude that rotation has served Enugu state well, but I know that sincerity, openness and fairness, are embedded in the spirit of rotation. Mischief makers should not pull a wool over our eyes, and carry on as if they were the last wise men that God created.

The truth is that by 2023, the three zones would have had their turns at the Governorship from 1999, and any of the zones can start the second round of rotation. Indeed, by critical appraisal, Enugu North that had the last turn should actually go first in the second round. Or else, Enugu West that has had the governorship only once, (Enugu East, thrice; Enugu North, twice) should take the slot.

As I just stated, after the first round, the second round of rotation can start in any of the zones. And I am not alone in this line of thought. In a recent viral Arise TV interview on rotation/zoning of presidency, granted by Dr. Nwodo, a former National Chairman and National Secretary of the PDP, he stated unequivocally that PDP’s idea of zoning was that the presidential seat should be occupied in turns by each of the six geopolitical zones after which power cold actually head anywhere based on competence. Although he spoke about the presidency, which is yet to go round, the same logic can be stepped down to Enugu State where all the three zones have occupied the Lion Building.

Power has gone round in Enugu State and in searching for the next governor, especially in such a critical time as this when states, not only Enugu, are facing serious security, economic, and indeed multifarious challenges, we need to go for our best among the available choices. In fact, with Prof. Charles Soludo recently sworn in as Governor of Anambra State, it could be said that God had preserved his coming for a time like this when the services of people of tremendous capacity like him are needed.

 That the entire nation stood still to watch; that the entire social media space was dominated by his inauguration; that the international and diplomatic community paid serious attention to the event at Agu Awka, the abode of Anambra Government House, simply tells us that something more than an ordinary Governor has come.

Coming to our Enugu, a neighbouring state to Anambra, it is only right that we move with the times.  It is only proper and in our best interest that we ascribe value to capacity and track record of performance when we choose leaders. As many leadership scholars have taught the world severally, leadership recruitment should go above petty sentiments. You don’t even need to like a leader. No, you hire him or her to do a job because he has the capacity to do that job, which serves a higher ideal than your liking or not liking him or her.

Our present Governor has done well to stabilise the polity of our state in the last eight years. In Enugu, we now need an incoming Governor with capacity, experience, network, contact and reach, to fast-track development in our state into the immediate future, and bring us to our expected destination. This person in my view, is Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Ikeoha.

Hon. Dennis AGBO (FCA), a former Member of the House of Representatives writes from Enugu