For Ndigbo, Ekweremadu’s Re-election as Deputy Senate President Signposts Renewed Hope
Last weekend, supporters of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and, indeed, Ndigbo from the five South-east states converged on Enugu to celebrate his return as the deputy senate president, a development they saw as the sign of new hope. Christopher Isiguzo writes
For the people of the South-east geopolitical zone, comprising Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states, June 9 would remain indelible in their hearts. It was the day Senator Ike Ekweremadu was re-elected as Deputy Senate President, a situation seen by many in the South-east as snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. His emergence came as a huge surprise to the people considering their obvious surrender to the hands of fate after failing to identify with the current ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, at the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections.
Sticking with PDP
All the 15 senators from the five states of the South-east belong to the erstwhile ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party, while all but two members of the House of Representatives from the zone are also members of the new opposition party. Besides, President Muhammadu Buhari lost woefully in the zone. It was in view of this scenario that the people of the zone, especially members of PDP, refused to be drawn into the controversy in the build up to the emergence of principal officers of the National Assembly. This was more so as PDP produced only 49 senators as against 60 by APC.
Rekindled Hope
But when Ekweremadu emerged as the second in command in the senate, which no doubt altered the political apple cart, the entire length and breadth of the South-east and even the South-south was thrown into a state of ecstasy and joyous celebration. It equally restored their hope that something much better might as well be in the offing.
Though, they did not see the development as meaning the full realisation of all their desires in the current dispensation, as the zone is still eying the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), which one of their own occupied in the immediate past administration. Some South-east leaders also made enormous contributions to the formation of APC and its victory at the general election. They include former Governor Ogbonnaya Onu, former SSG, Onyemuche Nnamani, Senator Chris Ngige, Governor Rochas Okorocha, and George Moghalu.
The re-election of Ekweremadu as deputy senate president was seen as a confirmation of the “prophetic utterance” made by the PDP national vice chairman, South-east, and immediate past Minister of State for Defence, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), who had shortly after the elections declared that rather than mourn their loss at the centre, Igbos were proud to have spoken with one voice. He predicted that they would eventually bounce back, as the Igbo cannot be relegated for any reason.
Reception
As a way of further demonstrating how they felt with Ekweremadu’s emergence, the people of the zone literally shut down Enugu last weekend as they trooped to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport to welcome home, for the first time since his emergence, Ekweremadu, who they described as Ogbuagu Ndi Igbo, in obvious deference to the feat, which could simply be likened to one killing a lion with bare hands. Different cultural troupes accompanied by masquerades from different communities battled for space at both the airport and Ekweremadu’s residence at Independence Layout to express their joy. Though, the lawmaker had held the position for a record eight years, the circumstances of his emergence for a third term made it so unique.
Put together by the chairman of Awgu Local Government Area, Chief Nnanna Nze, the celebration attracted tens of thousands of people. That explained the feelings in the hearts of the Igbo at home and in the diaspora.
Speaking during the reception, Ekweremadu said the decision of majority of the people of the South-east to vote for the PDP was a good decision they should be proud of, noting that rather than regret it, the people were ready to repeat the same voting pattern over and over again.
According to him, his decision to take another shot at the position of deputy senate president became imperative when it appeared the people of the zone were about to be side-lined in the scheme of things in the new dispensation. He boasted that PDP will bounce back to power in 2019 with what they were seeing in APC currently.
Ekweremadu said, “We have no regret, Igbos have no regret for the way they voted; if they have the opportunity tomorrow they will do it again. We are convinced we voted rightly, and because we believe we are part and parcel of this country, we believe what we got is within our right. So we expect that APC should be able to accommodate the people of South South as they form their government, because don’t forget that Buhari got about 15 million votes; we have more than 150 million Nigerians, so he is not the president of 15 million people; the rest of the people must be accommodated.
“In fact, that was why when we saw that it appeared South-east and South-south were being marginalised in the scheme of things, we decided to take a shot so that our people will be part and parcel of government; so that every part of Nigeria will have a sense of belonging.”
Cooperation
However, the deputy senate president added, “We are prepared to work with APC and President Buhari, if they are prepared to work, if they are prepared to administer this country, if they are ready to rule. But if they are more interested in fighting the National Assembly, we will help them. So that is it, if they are more interested in confusion and chasing shadows, we will also help them. But if they are genuinely minded, they will rule this country to provide for the poor to ensure that our country stands out as the biggest black nation in the world, that Nigeria will be a place of peace, where there will be development, where there will be equitable distribution of everything. We will be prepared to help them.
“We will help them to ensure that corruption is reduced to the barest minimum and that the security issue is addressed. We will help them to ensure that our economy will rebound; we will also help them to ensure that there is employment for everybody. But so long as they deviate from this noble principles, and decide to chase shadows, I can assure them that they will get what they are looking for.”
Rebound
On the loss of PDP, Ekweremadu stated, “By 28th of March there was election, and there was some kind of Tsunami that swept aside Peoples Democratic Party. The only part of Nigeria that was afloat was South-east and, of course, South-south. We were afloat and people wanted us to be apologetic about it and we said we have no apologies to anybody; if we have opportunity we will do it again and we will remain afloat.
“But there was sadness; there was apprehension, among the Igbo and among our brothers in the South- south. So we decided to do something. We then asked ourselves, if Zik had found himself in this kind of situation what will he do? So we had to look back in history, in the 60s, when NCNC went to election and lost to NPC. Zik had to negotiate himself back to power and became the president of Nigeria. In 1979, NPP that was then dominant in the South-east, lost the general election. Zik and his colleagues also negotiated himself back to power and (Edwin) Umezuoke became the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Today history beckoned on us, to ensure the inclusiveness of Igbo man in the ship of state. So we had to rally round our friends, our colleagues, we reached out to our brothers in the South-south, we reached out to our other brothers in the North and we consolidated our 49-member senators of PDP and we believed that we had a strong bloc that can determine who will be president of the Nigerian senate. For that to happen, somebody had to give in, and that is called negotiation in politics. So we negotiated wisely and today, not only that PDP is part of the leadership of the National Assembly at the presiding officers’ level, but Igbo man is also at the ship of state.”
Ekweremadu thanked his senator colleagues and the governors of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Enugu, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ondo, Gombe, and Taraba states, saying, “All the PDP governors stood strongly behind us. The members of the National Working Committee led by our national chairman, Chief Secondus, and the chairman of our Board of Trustees, Dr Bello, they all stood behind us. Our former president called all the way from Los Angelis and said we should go ahead, we have his support.”
Also speaking, Senator Obinna Ogba, representing Ebonyi Central Zone, described the re-election of Ekweremadu as deputy president of the senate as a major victory for the South-east in the present dispensation. “His emergence means a lot to the South-east and that was why we fought for it and we got it. It means a whole lot to us as a people,” Ogba said. “In-fact, he has given us a place in Nigeria politics today. And there is no way you can share all these positions without taking the Igbo into consideration. It’s not possible. It is unacceptable to us. As our leader said, that was why we had to go into negotiation, into lobbying to make sure we got the Igbo name written in the map of the present administration.”
On the future of PDP, Ogba, who was state chairman of the party in Ebonyi State, said no key figure of the party would defect.
“We are taking power back in 2019. You can see that APC is not yet a political party. It’s just an assembly of friends with different political ideologies. And it will take them time to form a political party. It is when they form a political party they start chasing the PDP because PDP has gone ahead. You can see up till now, how many