A RECURRING DECIMAL IN THE POLITICAL FIRMAMENT

 Emma Eneukwu, a leader of APC, has seen it all, writes

 Chukwudi Enekwechi

Since the beginning of Nigeria’s fourth republic and in the management of political parties which are used as vehicles for the emergence of political leaders, one man has remained a recurring decimal, helping to nurture nascent political parties to big national entities. Chief Emma Eneukwu had started his political journey as the All Peoples Party state chairman in Enugu State and served for eight years. Prior to that he was the state chairman of Congress for National Consensus (CNC) between 1994 and 1997, and from 1999 to 2007 he became the state chairman of ANPP. From 2007 to 2013 he served as the national publicity secretary of ANPP.

He was also the secretary of the APC merger planning committee, and with the subsequent merger of All Nigeria Peoples Party, Congress for Progressive Change, Action Congress of Nigeria and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance the All Progressives Congress was   birthed.  

Under the Chief John Oyegun leadership of APC, Chief Eneukwu was the South East Vice Chairman of the ruling party, and with the recent election of the party’s leadership under Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Eneukwu has in the fashion of the proverbial cat with nine lives once again emerged as the APC Deputy National Chairman (South) with his constituency covering the entire Southern Nigeria.

In reality he is the leader of APC in the southern part of the country with his stewardship domiciled at the APC national secretariat. This is not a mean achievement by any standard considering the enormous responsibilities on his shoulders as his roles go beyond his immediate South East region of the country.

While many political pundits have attributed his steady rise to the country’s pinnacle of political leadership to mother luck, some APC party faithful trace his meteoric rise to his unmatched humility, leadership style and altruistic approach to issues that affect his party members. He is also famous to have helped both the defunct ANPP and now APC in having tentacles in the South East and the entire Southern parts of the country.

As a political leader he ensures that consultation is the hallmark of his approach, and with that he is able to safely navigate through very difficult political issues, and the results in most cases are unanimously accepted by the leaders and followers alike. Perhaps this is the reason why there is less rancour and bickering among APC members in the Southern part of the country unlike in the Peoples Democratic Party where disagreements tend to dominate their activities.

With the recent election of a new National Working Committee of the ruling APC led by the indefatigable Senator Adamu, there is no doubt that his second-in-command Chief Eneukwu is an asset for the party as he has once again started deploying his legendary knowledge of the southern political terrain to help APC gain more grounds and followership in the southern part of the country.

In doing this, his experience as a former member of the National Working Committee of the defunct ANPP and later APC has come into play and is serving the party well. No wonder then the APC is growing in leaps and bounds in the South East, South South, and South West geo-political zones.

 This epistle has become necessary considering the fact that for Nigeria’s democracy to grow steadily there is need for this level of commitment on the part of political leaders in the country. As a country that transited from a military interregnum to civilian administrations barely 23 years ago Nigeria will benefit from the democratic ideals and leadership examples being shown by political icons like Chief Eneukwu.

Also democracy as a game of numerical strength can only thrive under a convivial atmosphere that has consultation, consensus and liberalism as the hallmarks, and presently the APC leadership under Senator Adamu is investing time and resources towards the growth and development of our democratic system of government.

There is no doubt that in the management of APC affairs the new leadership will tap into the vast knowledge and experience which Chief Eneukwu will readily avail them, having been in the business of midwifing and managing political parties in the last two decades of our democratic journey.

Since no country can develop democratically in a hurry, and in the case of America they have over 200 years of practising democracy, it is expected that the people, especially leaders of our political parties will lead and show the generality of Nigerians the way towards arriving at our democratic destination. To do this will require the commitment of political party leaders being the first contact of potential political leaders to the ethos and ideals of the democratic system of governance, and this is what many APC followers in the southern part of the country have found in Chief Emma Eneukwu.

This is perhaps what has made him a recurring decimal in the Nigerian political firmament.

It is also worthy of note that these ennobling qualities have endeared him to the numerous APC adherents, and this trend must be sustained as it will eventually cascade to having tolerant and performing leaders for the good of the country. This viewpoint is being canvassed based on the understanding that individuals make up political parties and these parties play a veritable role in producing the leaders of the country.

  Enekwechi, JP is an APC Chieftain