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A curse is an affliction of long continuance. There is no doubt that life is full of ups and downs. Even children of God suffer losses at times. But every suffering is meant to be for a moment, to teach wisdom and lesson to the victim. This is why God said, “weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Unfortunately, for the South East, their sojourn in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has brought shame, degradation and deprivation to them since 1999.
In 1998, after the sudden death of General Sani Abacha, General Abdulsalami Abubakar speedily organised a transition to democratic rule to terminate on 29th May, 1999. This required urgent alignment and realignment of political forces to jostle for the elective posts in the country. Chief Alex Ekwueme, former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, led a group of 34 eminent Nigerians to found the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with an intention to raise the nation to the highest level of moral and intellectual dignity, achieve economic and social reconstruction, confront and remedy the social decay that existed in the moral, social, and political condition of the country, and consequently build a prosperous and lasting democracy.
In furtherance of this objective, PDP committed itself to adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principles of equity, fairness, and justice. Alex Ekwueme was from the South, and the power having resided in the North for a long time, he joined the other progressives in lobbying that the power should shift to the South. Being a former Vice President and the Chairman of the G-34 who founded the PDP, it was a natural choice for him to be elected as the presidential candidate of the party.
This was not to be, as he was reminded that the “owners” of Nigeria had made a choice of President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom they picked from Abacha’s prison, to make him President, to assuage the restiveness of the people of South West for the cancellation of June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by Moshood K.O. Abiola, from the South-West.
The “owners” of Nigeria obviously neglected that Alex Ekwueme came from the South-East who were promised rehabilitation, reconstruction, and reconciliation since 1970 after their lives and property were unjustly destroyed in a senseless civil war that was fought in the South-East. A Head of State from the South-East was killed in a coup and his death has not been compensated till date and the “owners” of Nigeria believed it was better to compensate a latter injustice of coup against June 12 in favour of the South-West than an earlier civil war against the South East.
The “owners” of Nigeria also rejected the idea that any notable politician from the South can be used to compensate for June 12 since the rotation was between North and South, not among the six geopolitical zones. They insisted on choosing the candidate from South-West to pay for June 12. Indeed, the two candidates for the presidential election of 1999 were from the South-West, Chief Olu Falae, and Olusegun Obasanjo. Alex Ekwueme lost out simply because he was from the South-East, even though democratically, he was the most qualified.
By 2003, Alex Ekwueme appeared again and reminded PDP that they agreed that every candidate who wins will spend four years in office so that it will rotate around the six geopolitical zones of the country in 24 years, thereby bringing total reconciliation for every part of Nigeria. Again this proposal was rejected. Obasanjo contested again and won, and would have contested for a third time were it not that he lost the executive bill for the amendment of the Constitution to guarantee third term for him.
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During his reign as President, the Senate President was zoned to the South East for eight years. Obasanjo, under PDP, supervised the humiliation of many Senate Presidents from the South-East to the extent that the post was changed five times within eight years of his presidency. When he was denied third term, he chose South-South to produce the Vice-President to President Umaru Yar’Adua, rather than South-East. Goodluck Jonathan, the vice presidential pick became President with the death of Yar’Adua. Jonathan won re-election in 2011 as President. During this period, South-East was downgraded by PDP to the post of Deputy Senate President.
In all these periods, South-East was absolutely loyal to PDP. It voted for the party across ethnic and religious lines. It voted for South-West (Yoruba Christian), North-West (Fulani Muslim), South-South (Ijaw Christian) in 1999, 2007, and 2011 respectively. In 2015, it still loyally voted for PDP even when some PDP states voted against their own presidential candidate, Goodluck Jonathan. When Buhari won the 2015 presidential election, he singled out the South-East for marginalization saying he received only five percent of votes from them. During Buhari’s second term, South-East was not even found in the first six of the elective posts. South-East continued their downward spiral to political abyss under PDP without any efforts by PDP to stop this political disgrace.
Buhari was president for eight years, and in 2023 when it was the time for the post of the President to go to the South, it was not debatable that it should go to the South-East in PDP since both the South-West and the South-South had produced presidents. Yet, it was with utmost embarrassment to the South-East that the post was not zoned to the it. Even Atiku Abubakar, who was reputed to be contesting at every presidential election, offered to step aside if the post was zoned to the South-East. Unfortunately, PDP failed, neglected, and refused to zone the post to the South-East.
At this juncture, the South-East came under the conclusion that the PDP is a curse on it not a blessing. For the first time in the Fourth Republic, South-East voted against the PDP and of course PDP failed. One would have thought that the PDP would learn from this 2023 political statement by the South-East to make amends with the South-East and restore the confidence of its most trusted ally. It’s disheartening that PDP has even taken the insult against the South-East too far. Today, South-East is not even allowed the freedom to elect members of the National Working Committee (NWC) that are zoned to it.
At the heart of the present controversy is the issue of the National Secretary of the PDP which was zoned to the South-East. The former Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, embarked on a gubernatorial election to govern Imo State. While he was away, the South-East nominated Sunday Ude-Okoye to take his place and he did. Anyanwu lost at the polls and failed to become Imo State governor. Rather than proceeding with his life into other areas of endeavour, he came back to resume his former office of National Secretary. He didn’t even bother to seek the support of the South-East PDP to come back as National Secretary, he simply bulldozed his way back. Ude-Okoye went to court and won at the two lower courts before the Supreme Court ruled that the courts do not have the jurisdiction to impose leaders on a political party.
Whenever the Supreme Court declines jurisdiction in any matter, the judgement means that the parties are returned to the status quo before the case was instituted. In this case, the status quo was that Sam Anyanwu left the office of the National Secretary to contest the gubernatorial election and the party decided that to replace him to ensure that the administrative wheel of the party didn’t grind to a halt. The courts simply held that the decision of the party should be respected.
The South-East has decided that it should be Ude-Okoye and that ought not to even raise any grouse. Yet as at today, three persons are laying claim to the office, simply because, Nyesom Wike, an All Progressives Congress (APC) Minister from the South-South is backing Sam Anyanwu to be the National Secretary to maintain his grip on the party. The latest meeting of the South-East PDP has had enough of the shenanigans of the PDP and issued an ultimatum – accept our candidate Ude-Okoye or risk our departure from the party.
It’s important to note that even if South-East leaves PDP today, they are already even late in exiting. If the South-East is not allowed to present a National Secretary of their choice, the party has become a curse that has nothing to offer South-East. As 2027 general election approaches, South-East should be wiser and should cease to align with any party that does not cater for its interest. PDP is gone. It’s looking for who it will take with it while going down to the pit, and certainly the zone that will depart with it will not be South-East, God willing, and will not be any zone in Nigeria for that matter. Naked it came to Nigeria, and naked it will depart.
