Enugu 2023: The Ike Ekweremadu Scenario

Thrice Deputy President of the Senate, Dr. Ike Ekweremadu, enters the governorship fray even as the high-octane ‘zoning’ controversy in Enugu State scales up – challenging the extant transition model and projecting a new vision of governance. Louis Achi weighs the new scenario

Today, Enugu State, the South-East region and Nigeria at large stand on the brink of significant disruption – and of substantial opportunity – as new political leadership models enter the fray to disrupt conventional governance playbooks and challenge traditional templates. As it were, only tested pathfinders with vision, knowledge and courage can provide the critical and inclusive leadership to ensure both stability and progression.

The position of a state chief executive carries considerable weight, especially in charting the course of bold engagements with the critical elements in a democratic mix and pushing astute governance. This requires political and organisational transformation, especially in a political space that has long been driven by traditional and often parochial metrics. More, it requires bold, game-changing leadership.

It is against this backdrop that thrice Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate and five-term Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial Zone of Enugu State, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has his political radar locked unto the state’s governorship saddle come the 2023.

On Friday, March 11, 2022, Ekweremadu formally announced his entrance into the Enugu 2023 governorship race, shredding several months of speculations on his interest in the state’s number one political perch and upending conventional permutations. With a decisiveness that has come to define his political trajectory, he named a former lawmaker and Commissioner for Housing in the State, Hon. Ogbo Asogwa, as his campaign coordinator.

Journey and Vision

In an impassioned position surprisingly devoid of hubris, Ekweremadu declared that Enugu State has given him huge opportunities of service. He spoke at a recent consultative meeting with the media and unveiling of his development blueprint for the state.

Some of these opportunities include being -“ the pioneer Council Chairman of Aninri Local Government Area, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Secretary to the State Government, five-term Senator, three-term Deputy President of the Senate, Deputy Speaker and Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament” and critical global exposure.

He brings more clarity and insight into his journey. “In the course of this journey, I have met world leaders, business leaders, and made friends in both the private and public sectors of the national and global economies. I have had the opportunity to understand how states and nations are transformed. A good example is a city like Dubai, the UAE, which was a desert, but has now become the world most digitalised city and a global investment hub. I have an insight into the economic transformation taking place in Rwanda and Ghana.

“As a Senator, I worked hard to put forward necessary bills and motions on constitutional amendments, security, education, economy, health and electoral reform, that have impacted and are still impacting positively on the well-being of our people. I have initiated and completed many life-changing projects in our communities, beyond my constituency, in the very important areas of water, road, educational infrastructure, health, power, and many more.

“I am limited to what I could mobilise as a legislator in developmental projects and programmes. At this point, therefore, I believe it is time to focus on Enugu State and Enugu people without whom I would not be who and what I am today. The governorship of Enugu State will offer me a good platform to serve our dear state more and better.

“If elected Governor, I will utilise all the experience, friendship, partnership, and global contact acquired over the years to transform Enugu State to a model state”.

Then in a compelling 14-point development agenda, “A Pathway to New Enugu State,” Ekweremadu put forward his blueprint to change the Enugu narrative for good and set the stage for a larger South-East regional development revolution. This traversed critical turfs as Industrialization, Road Infrastructure, Special Cities, Good Governance, Housing and Urban Renewal, Education, Youth Employment and Empowerment, Security, Health, Water, Energy Sufficiency, Tourism, Agriculture

Ekweremadu hails from Mpu, in Aninri Local Government Area of the state. Significantly, his compelling grass-to-grace story largely mimics ex-US President Barack Obama’s.

Currently, he is representing Enugu West Senatorial Zone and the larger state/geo-political region since 2003. Interestingly, the strength of reactions from top-draw politicians from other Senatorial zones in the state who apparently oppose Senator Ekweremadu’s ambition is perhaps indicative of the federal lawmaker’s unsettling clout and political chutzpa. There is more.

The ‘Rotation’ Brouhaha

In a period of disruption, states and countries live or die by their ability to envision new order, manage and adapt to change. In Enugu State’s case today, disruption, change/diversity management and transition are unquestionably central, dominant themes.

With INEC’s rescheduling of governorship election for March 11, 2023, following the recent presidential assent birthing a new electoral law, multi-party jostling – both overt and covert – of who will succeed Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi eventually is gaining considerable momentum.

Not unexpectedly, the issue of zoning/power rotation in the state is taking center stage with often self-serving logic and contrived conceptual fog being generated to befuddle the conversation. Leaders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are at loggerheads over the debate surrounding zoning of the state’s 2023 governorship ticket. The zoning ‘dispute’ has pitted ex-governor and senator representing Enugu East, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, against Senator Ekweremadu who represents Enugu West in the Senate.

Nnamani, who was not a product of zoning in his two-term gubernatorial excursion, as confirmed by his successor ex-Governor Sullivan Chime, has reportedly rallied key PDP leaders in the state to back the zoning of the ticket to Enugu East, a move Ekweremadu countered as a “gang up” against Enugu West.

The Nnamani group insists the decision to zone the 2023 governorship ticket to Enugu East was based on a subsisting theoretical rotational zoning arrangement put in place since 1999.

But according to Ekweremadu, the notion of the existence of a zoning formula for elective political offices in Enugu State is false; the electorate should support candidates who have capacity to provide good governance. Insisting there was no zoning, he provided an often less discussed but nonetheless significant perspective.  

His words: “Let it be said that Enugu State is based on four cultural zones.  We have the Nsukka people; we have the Nkanu people, we have the Udi people, and we have the Awgu people. I am sure, if there was any discussion on zoning that would have factored in these four cultural zones.  But there was none. I am sure that you know the cultural zone that has not produced a governor.  But that’s not the matter for today….

 “Some people have accused me of being a product of zoning, but I was never a product of zoning both in the senate and the state. If there was zoning, I won’t be in the senate for five terms.”

Former governor of Old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo; ex-Enugu State governor, Sullivan Chime; former Senate President, Ken Nnamani; and former PDP National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo are reportedly backing Senator Nnamani. The pro-Enugu East zoning leaders are also said to have secured the buy-in of the incumbent governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on the project.

Increasingly, the rotation clamour in some quarters is being rightly or wrongly seen as an elite power-grab conspiracy seeking to deny Ndi-Enugu quality governance as in reality, there actually is no political document that anchors the much-bandied zoning principle.

In an important sense, the idea of governorship rotation and its quasi codification as a guiding equation has run its course in the state’s three senatorial zones: ‘beginning’ with Enugu East (1999-2007); Enugu West (2007-2015) and currently Enugu North (from 2015- terminating 2023).

In the unfolding ding-dong, dapper former Governor Sullivan Chime provided a graphic insight on the subject matter in an interview he granted to The SUN newspaper in 2018, to clarify the zoning homily. His words: “When Chimaroke Nnamani became governor, it wasn’t zoned to Nkanu. He won against somebody from the West, even in his re-election bid. When I contested, it was free for everybody; people from the North, from the East, from the West, the same thing during my re-election…the people of Enugu never sat down at any time to agree on zoning of positions.

“We zoned it to the North, not that there was any agreement. It was common sense to reduce problems. I was the leader and I took that decision.”

Development

From emerging consensus, the core reason fueling the clamour for rotational governorship is development. It would appear that governors who mount the saddle prioritise their zones, in terms of development policies during their tenures. For instance, this theory aligns with the perceived infrastructure developmental footing of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi administration as the Nsukka Zone (Enugu North) he hails from is seen to have taken the lion share of the development cake.

To break this alleged narrow-visioned template of democratic governance in Enugu State, and ease the state into the 21st Century, new, broader-minded and inclusive leadership that should also impact the region is imperative. Many believe that Michael Okpara’s vision of development which put the defunct Eastern Nigeria ahead of the current Asian Tigers in the ‘60s is the governance model Enugu State badly needs.

Today, justice and inclusivity allegedly still remain Enugu State’s most powerful idea, but the struggle is far from over. At his political leadership level, Ekweremadu’s backers believe he has provided clear, pragmatic leadership at a period of self-doubt by a citizenry under political siege and that hence he can do the same for his home state.  

According to renowned Austrian-American management sage Peter Drucker, “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence – it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” The choice is Ndi-Enugu’s to make.