Dr. Ezeh Emmanuel Ezeh is the President of Ebonyi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (EBCCIMA). In this interview, he discusses the intricate nature of coalition talks and Nigeria’s incumbency politics two years into the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi said he would contest the 2027 Presidency and serve a single term in office if supported by the coalition. How do you think this affects the pressure from some Igbo politicians asking him to be running mate to Atiku?
This is indeed a very sensitive question, and it has been at the heart of the entire confusion that has bedeviled the coalition talks. Those you call Igbo elites, made up of politicians and businessmen, have constituted themselves as Obi’s greatest political enemies. They appear very desperate to trade off Obi’s presidential aspiration, even when it is clear to every discerning Nigerian that it was the South’s turn to produce the President. As the coalition talks progressed, it became obvious that these jobbers were merely interested in lining their pockets rather than contributing positive ideas on how to move Nigeria forward. I would not know who their paymasters are, but definitely, those who were not speaking in favor of Atiku Abubakar did not convince me that they were not favoring the incumbent. At times, my prayer was that Obi should survive those hawks because they pose the greatest political danger to him.
In 2019, Obi was Atiku’s running mate, and many of these non-commissioned advisors plotted heavily against the same Obi, so much so that many of them worked against his ticket. History is also not lost on us. What happened in 2019 was clear: Obi delivered the South East, South South, and made significant inroads into North Central and even South West. All Atiku needed was to deliver North East and North West in addition to parts of the South West. But, he was deceived by his closest allies, who worked with APC apologists to deliver bulk votes to Muhammadu Buhari.
Again, in the run-up to the 2022 general elections, these same people stopped Atiku from running with PO. Although there was no reason to support their decision, I can boldly say that it is the same people who are now advising PO to be VP that actually sabotaged and used Ifeanyi Okowa to confuse the ticket. Unfortunately, as everybody could see, 2023 was Atiku’s last chance. For me, 2027 may be Obi’s own last chance to gun for the Presidency. I think Obi has said as much.
I believe in Obi’s intelligence quotient to know that he must have seen through the dishonest intentions of those who want to demote him to the position of running mate to Atiku. If you ask me, I will say these political parrot hunters merely want to relegate Obi to an inconsequential fiddle to mess him up even if the joint ticket wins. To be clear, anyone encouraging or advising Atiku to run again in 2027 is a big-time supporter of APC. Otherwise, how do you advise a man who delivered nearly three zones in 2019, won clearly in 2023, has a massive followership, and is about the most contrite politician in today’s Nigeria, to play second fiddle in a zoning arrangement that favors him?
I think I should use this opportunity to warn these jokers that the Nigerian people are taking note of their antics. Should anything happen to Obi, the people’s wrath will consume them and what remains of this country.
But Obi talked about power rotation without specifying that the presidency should be micro-zoned to Southeast or South-South. Was he right to stop short at that?
Let’s look at power rotation in the South from 1999 to date. The South West threw up Olusegun Obasanjo, and he was in office for eight years. Then, the South South, from where Dr. Goodluck Jonathan hails, presided over the affairs of the country for five years. Now, President Tinubu is in the middle of his four years that will terminate in 2027. If I may ask, would any sincere Southern politician or voter not see that Obi need not be more specific or risk sounding immodest? Only dishonest people who want to be clever by half clutch on the catch-phrase “South,” when the subdivisions are obvious.
That reminds me of another group of Obi’s detractors that are campaigning for a VP slot for him in 2027 as the shortest cut for the Igbo to the presidency. The Igbo does not need an Igbo presidency; rather, we need a Nigerian President who has character, competence, capacity, integrity, and a proven track record to make the country work for all. The Igbo, and indeed, the youths of Nigeria, need Obi’s presidency for the genuine hope it offers, rather than a token Igbo presidency. You will be shocked to know that if any of these corrupt politicians of Igbo extraction is thrown up, most Igbo voters will cast their vote for a better candidate from outside the South East.
APC wants to recalibrate its strategies by rezoning the chairmanship. Do you think this is out of fear or a need to ensure balance?
If balance is anything near their thinking, APC should have zoned the presidency in 2023 to the South East or South-South. We must remember that APC is a special purpose vehicle put together to grab power and, you must remember that a criminal doesn’t steal from the same neighborhood with the same trick. So, it is all desperation in a vain effort to try another set of tricks to hoodwink the gullible. But, like I said earlier, hunger and bad governance have kept Nigerians wide awake. Everybody is now vigilant. Nobody will wait to go to court instead of coming out to vote and settle scores at the polling booths.
It has now dawned on us all that no politician rigs, buys votes, or steals elections to serve the people. APC’s focus was and still remains power grab. For us in the Obidient Movement, we are focused on building a new Nigeria, where justice, peace, and progress moderate the distribution of national wealth and opportunities. In fact, for the Obidient Movement, an egalitarian society is all that matters.
What do you make of the sudden removal of the APC chairman against the backdrop of party supremacy?
It shows that APC is now a house on fire. Do not allow their propaganda machinery to tell you otherwise. The coalition is giving APC a big run-up on their game of deception. Those who described Tinubu as the Prince himself in Machiavelli are not mistaken. APC is afraid and desperate. They are on a path to colossal failure. 2027 is shaping up as a contest between the people’s power and APC’s power grab tactics. If rigging and judicial ‘lawfare’ is their only game, then it is all over.
So, this rush to alter the zoning arrangement exposes their maneuver unless they are going the whole hog to rezone the Presidency to the South East or South-South. APC leaders have run full circle in their deceptive tactics, and as such, they cannot succeed in pulling wool over even co-opted members of their party. They are only reactive to the chessboard moves of the coalition. In my reading of the room, the coalition has achieved one thing, and that is that APC is now resorting to reactionary tactics. That, to me, is the beginning of the collapse of the house of cards that APC actually represents. Tinubu should explore just one option: Let him focus on conducting a credible election without having himself on the ballot. That way, Nigerians will forgive him his shortcomings, because we are a truly religious nation!