Buhari’s S/E Charm offensive: plot against Obi thickens

Peter Obi, PDP’s Vice Presidential candidate

…Stakeholders accuse governors, Ekweremadu of personal agenda
By OBINNA EZUGWU
President Muhammadu Buhari has never truly been popular in the South East streets. And after more than three years of his administration and all the hardships that has come with it, things could be said to have got much worse. But contrary to the frost relationship between the region and this government, and his growing unpopularity, South East seems to be embracing the man they had long despised.
If anything, the poor relationship between the President and the South East began from the onset – even before he became president; he did not campaign there. Starting with his division of the country into those who gave him 97 percent and those who gave five percent, the president had proceeded to isolate the South East, denying the zone any meaningful appointment in his government.
And what was worse, the killing of pro Biafra protesters by security forces, which climaxed with the infamous Operation Python Dance. It would be safe to say that if it was lack of trust in his ability that made the South East vote largely against Buhari in 2015, it has graduated to anger and resentment.
But while the president’s goodwill is waning across the board, there appears to be a new found affinity between him and the governors of the South East, much to the chagrin of the street.
Of the governors, Chief Willie Obiano of Anambra and Dave Umahi of Ebonyi have been alleged to be Buhari’s foot soldiers in the zone, an allegation born out of the duo’s friendly relationship with the president. This relationship had caused discomfort. And things have suddenly got more complicated with other governors seemingly buying into the president’s second term project and carrot of Igbo presidency.
Recent meeting of the governors, alongside Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu with President Buhari in Abuja expectedly sent tongues wagging. It rekindled the long held suspicion that the governors and Ekweremadu who had expressed reservations over the choice of Peter Obi, former Anambra governor, as the party’s vice presidential candidate, were plotting against their own party’s bid for power in 2019.
Despite having some kind of positive image and being respected nationally for running a prudent government and for his accomplishments as governor, Obi is distrusted by political players in the region for a number of reasons. He is accused of not being a team player, of being shrewd and tight-fisted and of contributing little to the advancement of the party.
The governors, comprising those of Abia, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu; Ebonyi, Umahi, who serves as chairman of South East’s Governors Forum; Enugu, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the Deputy Governor of Anambra, Mr. Nkem Okeke, said after the meeting which took place at the State House on November 21, that they had gone to thank the president for the award of contract for major component of second Niger Bridge at the cost of N206billion, and to present a wish list of projects they want to president to complete in the zone, including the commissioning of the economic free trade zone in Abia, deployment of cargo section of Enugu International Airport and licensing Geometric power plant in Aba.
“The project is the dream of our people and it has become a dream come true. Our people said that we must come and thank you. Your Excellency Mr. President, we are grateful,” Umahi said, stating further that: “Out of mutual respect, we have come to you as a caring leader to listen to us.”
The Ebonyi governor said that Buhari assured them that he was going to look into the issues, including the railway projects.
“We were given a cheering news that not only that the railway will be awarded, that it will touch all states’ capitals in South East as it moves from South East to Maiduguri. There will also be a port that will be added to it and it will cost about $12 billion. He said they are yet to bring it to Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, so they intend to do so,” he said.
Although the governor insisted that the meeting had no political undertone, but coming just three months to the all important 2019 general elections, the widely held suspicion that it may have everything to do with the election cannot be misplaced. Indeed, for many, there couldn’t have been any reason to visit Buhari to thank him for projects when he hadn’t done anything tangible in the South East and had on the contrary, relegated the zone to a position of insignificance in the country’s power equation.
“Thank him for what? What has he done that they are thanking him for?” wondered Dr. Greg Ezeah, former head of mass communications department, University of Nigeria. “They went there for their own personal interest, not for the interest of the South East.”
However, Dr. Greg insists, “There is no evidence that they are supporting him (Buhari) – to the best of my knowledge.”
For many, the meeting was ill-timed, ill-conceived and had no basis. And as far as PDP’s ambition is concerned, an act of betrayal.
“Nothing could have really justified the meeting when you consider the season and the fact that most of the governors are members of the opposition party,” said Abuja based analyst and legal practitioner, Anthony Chidi.
“I don’t know what their true intentions were, but it sends a message. But again, you have to understand their situation. I think there is also a sense in trying to maintain some kind of cordiality with the president knowing that it is possible he might come back in 2019.”
Clarifications by the governors that the meeting was not political has done little to change the speculation, and according to Chief Goddy Uwazurike, president emeritus of Igbo think tank group, Aka Ikenga, they only have themselves to blame.
“That’s what happens to people who hide their true intentions. When you make your intentions opaque, then it will be subject to many interpretations. What they went there for, we don’t know, what they discussed, we don’t know. If they went there on our behalf, they would have told us,” he said.
“I really don’t understand. I have not seen the South West governors going to thank him for the Lagos-Ibadan railroad. I have not seen those from Kastina going to thank him. So, the governors know why they went there, but definitely not on our behalf.”
Indeed recent events tell a different story and tend to justify the assertions. Since the initial skirmishes over the announcement of Obi by Atiku as his running mate, the governors have maintained a measure of distance from the Adamawa born politician.
Upon his return from Dubai where he had gone to map out campaign strategy for the election, Atiku, as promised, organised a meeting with leaders of the South East in Enugu. Instructively, all the governors stayed away, including the-would-be host governor, Ugwuanyi and Senator Ekweremadu, the highest ranking political office holder in the zone.
Yet, the recent installation of the former vice president as the Wazirin of Adamawa attracted political figures from all over the country, including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, but conspicuously missing were governors of the South East, including the zone’s National Assembly members.
The only notable person from the zone to attend is Emeka Ihedioha, the party’s governorship candidate in Imo State. Made by Atiku, Ihedioha remains the former VP’s political son. His attendance is clearly understandable.
Invariably, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha cashed in on the visit by the governors to Buhari to once again, sell the apparent political dummy of 2023 Igbo presidency being realisable with support for Buhari in 2019.
“You remember there was a programme in the South East where the president asked me to represent him and I flew the kite by telling the South East states that their quickest and easiest means to presidency is to support Buhari’s second term,” he told State House correspondents after the governors visit.
“This means that they can short-circuit the period in terms of only having him there for four years. Whatever they do in 2019 will determine what will happen thereafter because politics is a game of numbers and it’s like a cooperative society.”
Of notable concern in this regard, is the idea that the said signing of N206billion contract for a bridge that the administration had at various times in the past claimed was almost completed, warranted commendation.
The new contract has all the trappings of political manipulation, which the bridge itself has become over the years. With three months to election, one can be certain that no tangible part of whatever promise made will be fulfilled before the polls, and as history has shown, afterwards, it could very easily be business as usual.
“They are playing games with that second Niger Bridge,” Chief Uwazurike argued. “They said contract was signed weeks ago, the company is yet to mobilise. All those stories of water being too high, all those stories that they have done more than 50 percent are all propaganda.
“That bridge has become a victim of propaganda. Election is around the corner; all kinds of politics are being played. Remember Mr. President is called Mr. Integrity, is that what you are seeing now? If you check the 2018 budget, you look at whether there is a provision for that second Niger Bridge there.
“Remember, it is when it is approved by the National Assembly that money can be disbursed. They say that some of the contract money will come from these and that are funny stories. Not even the purchase of arms should bypass the National Assembly. For the sake of February elections, we are being told a lot of fabricated stories. Not everyone can be deceived.”
It is unlikely that the governors, and Ekweremadu are unaware that Buhari’s new found interest for the South East he had shunned since he took office in 2015, is only in the interest of his reelection bid. Ekweremadu himself had been on the receiving end of the president’s onslaught over his emergence as Deputy Senate President. Indeed, Buhari had declared that he was unacceptable to him and must be removed.
But in politics, they say, there are no permanent friends or enemies, but interests. The Deputy Senate President expected to be named Atiku’s running mate and had been outraged by Atiku’s decision to overlook him in favour of Peter Obi.
Several appeals to the ranking senator by notable figures in the South East to accept Obi was met by angry rebuke from him. He had indeed considered dumping the PDP for the ruling APC, but eventually reconsidered bearing in mind the possible implications. Staying back in PDP and working for Buhari appears, some say, to be the part he has chosen. He had led the governors to the said meeting with Buhari.
The case the governors and the senator had established against Atiku for choosing Obi is that they were not consulted. At a meeting in Enugu immediately after the Obi choice was announced, the governors had intended to issue a statement rejecting the choice, but could not agree. In a statement issued afterwards, Engr. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi and chairman of the South East Governors Forum said they were surprised to hear the news flying up and down.
“We saw news flying up and down saying that our presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has picked a running mate from the zone. We were shocked because we were not consulted,” he had noted.
“While we were meeting, Atiku sent message that he travelled out of the country for a short period. He promised to come down and meet with South East leaders.”
However, some of the truths lie beneath, in the personal ambitions of the governors and Ekweremadu himself. While the senator understandably wanted the position, Umahi fancies himself as a possible presidential or at least vice presidential candidate in the future. He is alleged to be plotting defection to the APC ahead of 2023 to actualise his ambitions.
For Ugwuanyi and Ikpeazu in Abia, there appears to be a sense of urgency to pander to the president in view of mounting opposition in their respective states from the ruling party ahead of the 2019 governorship election. And for Obiano who is in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), it might be a desire to fulfill an alleged agreement with the president and an opportunity to punish a political ‘enemy’ in his predecessor, Obi.
“Politics is a game of interests,” Anthony Chidi noted. “Politicians would always identify their interests and pursue them. What or how the people feel hardly matters to them.”