Enugu 2023: Ekweremadu and PDP’s Enlightened Interest

The coincidence of this political season with the legal tussles between the PDP and some governors, who defected to the ruling party, APC, with its mandate should serve as a wakeup call to the party in the run up to the 2023 general election, writes Olaoluwakitan Babatunde

The sack of Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, his deputy, and 16 House of Assembly Members, over their defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, with Peoples Democratic Party’s mandate and the ensuing legal tussle is still reverberating in the polity.

But unfortunately for the PDP, the party is still waging war on many fronts, as Umahi isn’t alone. There is Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara. Before Matawalle, was Prof. Ben Ayade of Cross River, who predicated his defection on the President Muhammadu Buhari’s nationalistic dispositions and need to join hands with him to build the nation.

“We need all governors to recognise that it is not party that matters. It is character, it is honour, it is commitment to the vision of this great nation”, Ayade rapped.

You would expect the author of Budget of Deep Vision, Budget of Infinite Transformation, Budget of Kinetic Crystallisation, Budget of Oabalistic Densification, Budget of Olympotic Meristemasis, Budget of Blush and Bliss, and recently, Budget of Conjugated Agglutination in 2022 to know better that betraying one’s party isn’t a mark of honour.

Meanwhile, the likes of Senators Bello Tukur, Ahmed Barata, and Jonathan Zwingina; former Minister, Idi Hong; and Sadiq Haske couldn’t even wait for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to handover before defecting to the APC on 8th April 2015. By the time the APC began its brand of anti-corruption war with its former National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, assuring that “once you join APC, all your sins are forgiven”, it seemed the PDP was going to bleed to death.

Deserving of special mention is PDP’s former National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu. Not only did he relocate overseas at a time he should be fighting for the survival of aparty he led to defeat, Mu’azu capped it up with a formal defection to the APC on 12th January 2019 alongside former governor Mallam Isah Yuguda; former Secretary to Federal Government, Yayale Ahmed; and former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Senator Babayo Gamawa.

Mu’azu’s disappearance almost spelt doom for the PDP, as it paved the way for the appointment of Buhari’s in-law and APC founding member, Ali Modu Sheriff from North East zone to serve out the remainder of Mu’azu’s tenure in line with PDP’s constitution. The Owu chief, Olusegun Obasanjo, rightly feared that Sheriff could become PDP’s undertaker; and he almost was.

At some point, PDP’s national office was sealed off ad-infinitum. Again, following the Appeal Court, Port Harcourt’s ruling that the convention that produced the Senator Ahmed Makarfi caretaker leadership was illegal, PDP convoked an emergency meeting of its organs – Board of Trustees, National Assembly Caucus, PDP Governors Forum, National Vice Chairmen, State Assembly Caucuses, ex-ministers forum, etc. on 20th February 2017. But a clearly compromised and partisan police sealed off the International Conference Centre (ICC), forcing relocation to Ekiti State Governor’s Lodge for the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Deputy Senate President at the time, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, lamented, “all the institutions of democracy are being captured, manipulated and harassed, but what remains is for us to remain resolute”.

However, how many party chieftains were ready to remain resolute when even some governors with immunity ran for cover in those heady days. You would never see them at PDP functions. They would never criticise the bad ways and policies of the APC-led administration. For example, out of the 12 PDP governors at the time, only four – Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and Nyesom Wike (Rivers) attended such a highly crucial meeting. As usual, the likes of Ayade, Umahi, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, etc. were nowhere to be found.

In retrospect, all the PDP chieftains that stood up for the PDP deserve accolades. But for today, it becomes imperative to single out Ekweremadu for a special mention for his principled decision to stay put in the PDP and receive all the head-butts and lashes of the ruling party even when he had everything to gain by simply defecting like others. Being PDP’s highest national office holder, Ekweremadu’s defection could have had serious demoralising and spiraling effects the PDP, for its millions of members and supporters, he stood as a symbol of hope for the party’s survival. Even when his Minority Leader, Senator Godwill Akpabio, jumped ship, as the water became too hot, Ekweremadu still refused to budge. It is noteworthy that he had no constitutional immunity like the governors. Governor Bala Mohammed aptly likened Ekweremadu’s efforts to one wedging a moving lorry with his head.

Benefiting from the experience of some of his colleagues at the ECOWAS parliament, especially those from nations like Ghana where the dominant parties have each lost power and returned again, Ekweremadu knew that the parliament was PDP’s most viable platform for renaissance. Ekweremadu and other PDP leaders rallied PDP National Assembly Members-elect to a retreat in Port Harcourt ahead of the inauguration of the 8th Assembly. There, they plotted the party’s survival and laid the foundation for the high octane political manoeuvre that helped PDP exert tremendous influence in the emergence of the new leadership in both chambers.

However, Ekweremadu and Dr. Bukola Saraki’s emergence did not go down well with the APC. Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, told newsmen that Ekweremadu’s re-emergence would give the PDP the “oxygen to breath from”, adding, however that there were “many ways of killing a rat”.

In a 29th August 2018 political analysis entitled “Applying Squeezes on all Sides”, Thisday’s political desk recalled Senator Kabir Marafa’s statement that “The remaining problem is what we do with our Deputy Senate President”. He called on Ekweremadu, whom he described as “my leader and my boss” to “please defect to the APC and that will seal the whole thing and there will never be a problem again”.

During Ekweremadu’s 56th birthday, Majority Leader at the time and current Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, urged Ekweremadu “to see through the mist; this woolly environment, and take the right decision”. Continuing, he said, “You are an asset; I want to say clearly that you are going to fit in perfectly well; 2023 is here (for you) for the taking”.

Meanwhile, Ekweremadu survived an assassination attempt on his way to work in Abuja on 17th November 2015. In June 2016, he was arraigned alongside Saraki on trumped up charges of forgery of Senate Standing Rule, even when there was no mention of their names, let alone any indictment on them in the police report or the Proof of Evidence filed in court. The government later withdrew the charges.

On 26th May 2017, the police stormed his official guesthouse in Abuja in search of phantom caches of arms, said to belong to the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB). The Special Investigation Panel on the Recovery of Public Property headed by Chief Okoi Obono-Obla equally came after him. May 12 2018 edition of Sun newspaper reported how Okoi Obono-Obla hired the services of a witch doctor to try to locate Ekweremadu’s alleged hidden assets at Katampe, Abuja, when the fictitious lists of purported undeclared assets couldn’t fly in court. In fact, the court ruled in Ekweremadu’s favour the cases over those assets.

A serving Senator led armed men into the hallowed chambers of the Senate as Ekweremadu presided, but he showed uncommon bravery, refusing to adjourn the Senate. Battalions of security agents laid siege to Ekweremadu and Saraki’s official residences on 24th July 2018 in a failed attempt to hold them hostage and illegally impeach them. There was a siege to the National Assembly by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) on 7th August 2018 in another failed attempt to change of Senate leadership. In all these, Ekweremadu stood strong with the PDP like the Rock of Gibraltar, apologies Ernest Okonkwo.

Ekweremadu chaired the PDP Post-Election Review Panel, which recommendations, played central role in turning the fortunes of the party around. For instance, the adoption of the panel’s recommendation to zone the 2019 PDP presidential ticket to the North, helped to rally back many northern PDP chieftains like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Saraki, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Governor Samuel Ortom, Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, among others back into the party. At the National Assembly, the rank of PDP swelled again. PDP came back to life and many believe that PDP actually won the 2019 presidential election.

Therefore, many were actually surprised when instead of gunning for the presidency, Ekweremadu recently declared to run for the governorship of Enugu Statet. But in reading his recent interview, his decision becomes understandable. According to him, his model of rebuilding Nigeria is for experienced and competent hands to get down to the states to reignite real and competitive development. He believes that Nigeria can only work if a handful of states are made to work well again to serve as a model and catalyst to others. He said he wanted Enugu, under his leadership, to play the role Dubai played in what the UAE is today. Truly, a Prof. Charles Soludo in Anambra, Ekweremadu in Enugu will present a golden opportunity for the South East to roar back to socio-economic prosperity and stability, such as witnessed in the days of Dr. Michael Okpara.

But for the PDP, Ekweremadu’s interest in Enugu’s governorship, presents it an opportunity to show that loyalty counts. It is also an opportunity to save itself the heartaches that political profiteers, opportunists, and their protégées bring. There should be reward for good behaviour and consequences for bad behaviours. Therefore, the least expected of the PDP in the instance is a level playing field for all Enugu governorship aspirants. Otherwise, Ekweremadu, by his service and steadfastness to the party, has earned the right of first refusal of PDP’s Enugu governorship ticket.