Twenty-eight months after he promised to serve the South-East with a ‘slice of bread and water’ if they worked hard for the electoral success of the All Progressives Congress (APC), political actors in the zone seem to be scrambling to be President Bola Tinubu’s best proxy, LEO SOBECHI reports.
As a presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his All Progressives Congress (APC) encountered some complications, which affected both the campaign messaging and strategies for the South-East in the build-up to the 2023 general elections.
Those hitches were thrown up by the surprise emergence of Mr Peter Obi as the presidential standard bearer of the Labour Party (LP) and the attempted roadblock raised by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.
While Kalu and Uzodimma moved to support the candidacy of former Senate President Ahmed Lawan in protest against the lack of consideration of the South-East for the party’s ticket, Obi left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to contest the presidential post on the LP platform.
The former President Muhammadu Buhari created suspense in the minds of APC leaders about who his preferred presidential aspirant was in the race. As the primary election date approached, the former Lagos State governor, Tinubu, had visited the expansive Asokoro residence of his former Abia State counterpart, Kalu, who was then the Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate.
Although details of their discussion were made public, video clips of both politicians made the rounds on social media platforms. Perhaps, based on the insider information that President Buhari was not favourably disposed to power shift to the South, the Senate Chief Whip was later to declare that if the APC was not prepared to cede the presidential ticket to the South-East, the slot should better remain in the north.
Coming shortly after the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu led other southern governors to demand that the presidency should be zoned to the South after Buhari’s eight years in office, Kalu’s declaration threw up apprehensions about what the ruling party and Buhari were up to. Unknown to many was the quiet plot to conscript the then-President, Lawan, into the presidential fray.
Lawan, most APC stakeholders knew, was not only Kalu’s close friend, but also expected to fly a joint presidential ticket with the former Abia State governor. Although it was gathered that the plan to have Kalu as Lawan’s possible running mate was not known to Governor Uzodimma, the Imo State governor bought into the Lawan for President plan.
The Imo State governor also began making moves to be Lawan’s number two, particularly because he was convinced by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the APC national chairman, that the President was at the head of the game plan.
Backslide
Being too covert, that game plan to introduce Senator Lawan at the eleventh hour for submission of nomination forms backfired. First, the Progressive Governors, led by Senator Atiku Bagudu, kicked against the attempt by Senator Abdullahi Adamu to be the mouthpiece on the issue of the consensus candidate.
The most vocal opponents were Kaduna and Kogi States’ governors, Nasir el-Rufai and Yahaya Bello (GYB). So intense was the opposition to Lawan’s perceived consensus choice that GYB, who was also among the college of presidential aspirants, had to storm out of the meeting with President Buhari.
As non-committal as ever, President Buhari enjoined the governors that he remains open to supporting any candidate that emerges as the party’s choice from the presidential primary.
Spurred by the carte blanche, the 11 Northern APC governors endorsed a power shift to the South, stressing that the rotation of the presidency is aimed at stabilising Nigeria’s democracy in the spirit of equity and fairness.
It was based on the bold declaration of power shift by the northern APC governors that Buhari, at a meeting with the party’s stakeholders and presidential aspirants from the Southwest, recalled that he promised to hand over to the zone after his tenure.
Pro-Lawan activists condemned the demand by the Northern governors on presidential aspirants from the north to withdraw, just as the Southern Governors commended their northern counterparts for taking such a bold step.
In a statement on behalf of his Southern colleagues, the then Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, late Rotimi Akeredolu, had declared: “We acknowledge this courageous stance for equity and moral rectitude. We applaud the zeal and determination of our brothers to engage realistically and honestly. We salute this uncommon resolve to confront issues against the march towards nationhood and ultimate greatness.”
But, still pained by the about-face on the consensus candidacy of Lawan, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) condemned the northern governors for zoning the APC presidential ticket to the South.
In a statement by its National President, Yerima Shettima, the AYCF stated: “We are deeply worried that the dream of having new faces at the helm of affairs of our democratic institutions has now been deliberately killed by self-serving Governors of the North. The real agenda of these Northern governors, which is now unfolding, is to deliberately blackmail Buhari into doing their bidding.”
However, following small talks that the then Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, was being propelled as an alternative, Buhari denied any such plot and enjoined the Southwest caucus to prune down the number of aspirants so as not to divide their votes.
That explanation and the official endorsement of the powershift made things a little bit easier for the horse-trading and brinkmanship that ensued. And, latching on to the political bridges he had built over the years, Tinubu was able to diminish the threats posed by the troika of the then Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Amaechi and the then Chairman of Governors’ Forum, Dr John Kayode Fayemi.
Two days before the June 6-8, 2022, special convention and presidential primary, Osinbajo, Fayemi and the Pastor of Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, rejected pleas on them to step down in favour of Tinubu.
But, after a prolonged balloting by the 36 states and the FCT, voting and vote collation and counting, the Chairman of the Convention Committee, Bagudu, announced Tinubu as winner.
The former Lagos State governor returned 1,271 votes to trounce others, including the presumed consensus candidate, Lawan, who polled 151 ballots. Both Osinbajo and Amaechi received 235 and 316 votes, respectively.
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu expressed reservations about Lawan’s involvement in the secret plot to circumvent the democratic demands of the process, stressing, “To you, the legislator, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, I would have been a little upset, because you competed with me. But that is over now, since you can easily lick your wounds.”
Those in the know said the victorious candidate was peeved that Lawan should be privy to the attempt to short-change the South after he (Tinubu) invested time, resources, and contacts to make him (Lawan) President of Senate in 2015.
Referencing that past political collaboration, the APC standard bearer noted that fact in his speech, adding, “It doesn’t take away from thanking you for the past cooperation, collaboration and cool-headedness to build our country.
“You have helped to steer the ship of this nation in the right direction, and with your team in the Senate, history is written and will be kind to you. To my brother, Gbajabiamila, the sparkling speaking speaker, I credit you for being ever ready to do Nigerians’ work and build the nation.”
Although Tinubu bared his mind regarding Lawan, he did not say anything about those involved in facilitating and promoting the failed consensus arrangement. But events that followed showed that the “sins” of the collaborators continued to haunt them.
Reinventing hope
Perhaps in a smart move to join the winning team and repair the possible damage his support for the Lawan project could do to his political progression, the Imo State governor, Uzodimma, quickly organised a town hall meeting between the Presidential flag bearer and South-East business owners.
Coming barely five months after the primary election was won and lost, Uzodimma disclosed that some 2,000 businessmen from the South-East had donated N1 billion to Tinubu for his electioneering.
In a voice suggestive of penitence, the Imo State governor had declared: “I am happy to say our people are fully in support of our presidential candidate who has come to share his vision and plan for Nigeria and the South-East today. To support this aspiration, the sum of N1 billion has been raised by 2,000 business owners across the South-East states.”
Uzodimma’s masterstroke must have paved the way for him in the emerging Tinubu Presidency, because as the electioneering wore on, he became the rallying point in the South-East. Having made him the overseer for the three non-APC states in the zone, the party relied on the Imo State chief executive for organisation, personnel distribution and recruitment of foot soldiers.
Enter President Tinubu
On May 29, 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was inaugurated as the fifth President of the fourth republic. Shortly after the inauguration, the politics of relevance began in the South-East, with many political actors from across party lines struggling to assert influence and claim closeness to the former Lagos State governor.
Though Imo State was believed to be the force behind the emergence of the Ugo Agballah-led Enugu State Executive Committee, he cooperated with Senator Andy Uba to establish the Anambra State chapter’s leadership, while Ikechi Emenike leveraged on his perceived closeness to President Buhari to produce the disputed leadership in Abia State.
Uzodimma’s influence also loomed large during the nomination of candidates for appointment into the federal cabinet under President Tinubu. Apart from Senator David Umahi Nweze, who got his appointment as Works Minister on personal merit and affinity to President Tinubu, the Imo State governor was said to have recommended three ministers, including Geoffery Nnaji, (Science, Innovation (Enugu); Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, (State, Labour and Employment, (Abia); Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye (Women Affairs &Social Development, (Anambra) and Doris Uzoka-Anite, (Industry, Trade and Investment, (Imo).
However, after President Tinubu carried out the first cabinet reshuffle, Mrs Kennedy-Ohanenye was dropped, while Dr Uzoka-Anite was downgraded to a Minister of State for Finance.
At the end of the cabinet recalibration, many in South-East ascribed the reduction in the ministerial status of the zone to Uzodimma’s waning influence and distance from the President.
Sources within the Presidency told The Guardian that despite serving as the current Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, the Imo State chief executive overreached himself in distributing Federal Government gestures to the South-East.
“The President was not happy the way he (Uzodimma) made nominations for the composition of Governing Councils of some tertiary institutions in South-East, particularly for Nnamdi Azikiwe University and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
“In fact, the one that pained Oga more was how he tried to side-track the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, to foist non-APC members as representatives of Abia State,” a source stated.
Another source confirmed that President Tinubu, who was outside the country when the list of appointees to the South East Development Commission (SEDC) was published, was livid with rage that the Imo State governor had neglected the President’s directive that he should work with the Deputy Speaker to empanel the SEDC Governing Board.
Although the initial list of nominees was discarded, the President rejected attempts by the former Senate Chief Whip, OUK, to introduce his daughter and brother.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Deputy Speaker, Kalu, were made to ensure that the final list was representative of the geopolitical interests in the zone.
Search for anchor
As the build-up to the 2027 elections begins to gather steam, the Presidency is searching for a “reliable” anchor person for the South-East. The appointment of the wife of late Igbo Leader, Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ambassador Bianca, was a testament to the Presidency’s search for a suitable ‘striker’ in the South-East.
Prior to his appointment as Works Minister, Umahi was seen as a possible alternative to the Imo State governor, but saddled with enormous technical assignments, the role does not afford the former Ebonyi State governor the leeway for effective zonal politics.
In the ensuing void, the current Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who had been working as a shadow leader and special emissary of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, is taking up the challenge.
Recall that President Tinubu eulogised Gbajabiamila as “the sparkling speaking speaker, I credit you for being ever-ready to do Nigerians’ work and build the nation,” during his acceptance speech as APC flag bearer.
Sources disclosed that the President merely referred to Gbajabiamila’s dexterity in raising shadow leaders in the zones towards Tinubu’s electoral victory. Kalu, who eventually became Deputy Speaker, is now expected to balance the monolithic leadership in the South-East APC.
It was perhaps in a strategic move to assert relevance and assume authority that the Deputy Speaker last weekend founded the Renewed Hope Partners (RHP) as a special purpose vehicle to highlight President Tinubu’s achievements, gestures to the zone, as well as canvass support for his second term aspiration.
Speaking at the ceremony in Umuahia, the weekend, the Deputy Speaker extolled President Tinubu for the manifold developmental amenities in the South-East, even as he urged the Federal Government to construct the gas pipeline in the zone, dredge the Onitsha River and expand the Onne Port.
While insisting that the South-East must align with the centre to get its due, Kalu explained that “RHP will play a crucial role in translating the national achievements of the President Tinubu administration into regional gains.”
