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By Fred Itua
A lawyer and member of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Charlie Agbo in this interview speaks on the raging issue of zoning of political offices across the country and particularly in Enugu State.
Zoning of the governorship position has been a hot button issue in Enugu State. And lately, micro-zoning has joined the zoning lexicon. As an ally of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, what do you think is his position on the various views being canvased?
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State recently offered one of the most telling opinions of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. He said that the governor seldom talks yet gets the right things done always. If you are expecting an opinion from the governor on this raging conversation, you have some waiting to do. He acts his opinion, and that is what he is going to do.
Why?
Because demagoguery is not his forte. He finds no benefit in nudging the issue one way or the other when he knows he will be guided by his sense of propriety.
Let’s change direction. Is your governor still paying his workers the 13th month salary as he used to do? I noted this fact with satisfaction when I interviewed some indigenes of the state some years ago.
I am not in a position to definitively answer this question, but I suspect that the impact of COVID 19 on the economy of the states may have overwhelmed this altruistic gesture. It’s really unfortunate. But that notwithstanding, the people are feeling his development strides particularly in housing development. He has one of the most strategic initiatives in that sector that suits impossible times like the one we are in. All through the state, estates are sprouting and meeting the housing needs of the people.
Jim Nwobodo in advocating micro-zoning the governorship position to Nkanu-East was recently reported to have said that Nkanu- East is so underdeveloped and abandoned that it is even worse than Isi-Uzo. Do you agree with that?
There are several issues around those sentiments he expressed. As a leader, I did not expect Chief Nwobodo to be Nkanu-centric. I expected him to be pan- Enugu-East in his espousal. But narrowing his interest to Nkanu-East to the exclusion of Isi-Uzo and his Nike brothers shows that his prism is constricted. Take a look at Isi-Uzo and the way their interest is being trampled upon. I expected Nwobodo to spare them a thought and advocate for them if his preachment of equity is to be seen as genuine. Do you know that Nkanu-East has produced two deputy governors? Are you aware that Professor Barth Nnaji was minister in two different regimes, first in that of Okwesilieze Nwodo as Minister of Science and Technology and under Sullivan Chime as Minister of Power? Such a strategic and powerful ministry? Are you aware that Dr. Gabriel Aja was appointed Secretary to Enugu State Government? Such a strategic appointment. Just consider these facts and compare them to Isi-Uzo. The best they had was Senator Isaiah Ani in the Second Republic. As far as Nwobodo is concerned, the governorship must go round the whole of Nkanu land before it goes anywhere else. No governor, no deputy governor, no minister, no senator, no SSG and yet you compare Isi-Uzo to Nkanu-East? This cannot be the definition of equity and justice.
You can now see why micro zoning is not proper. It has thrown up a diversionary argument which does not help the position of Enugu-East in this matter, neither does it help the governor who is expected to use his good offices and the advice of other stakeholders to make an endorsement. If what is in issue is capacity and suitability for the job, that would have been more like it. But nobody is talking about that.
The social media is awash with criticism of the former governor, Chimaroke Nnamani for saying that it is the prerogative of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to choose his successor, and that whomsoever he chooses will be supported to become the next governor of Enugu State. What’s your view?
I think it is about semantics or verbal license or flourish. When he says that whomsoever the governor anoints becomes the governor, it should be seen in his context. That is the broad language of politics. Just like we say in law that equity regards as done that which ought to be done. I have tried to provide this context in an interview somewhere else. The PDP is just one party. There are about 18 political parties qualified to contest the governorship position in Enugu State. Each of these parties has a right to expect to win. What the governor does is no more than to endorse a candidate of his choice, based on so many considerations. The leaders of the party may contest it. That was successfully done in Ebonyi State in 2015 leading to the routing of the governor’s choice.
If the party sees the governor’s endorsed candidate as final, then it speaks to the governor’s hold on the party and his good judgment. There is nothing undemocratic about this. Don’t forget that this anointed candidate may be slugging it out with about 17 candidates of the other parties. So the electorate has a wide array of candidates to choose from. If, however the choice will always be the candidate of the PDP, then the other parties have a lot of work to do.
Endorsement of candidates in elections is quite normal the world over. In the US, for instance, incumbents endorse both those seeking to succeed them and candidates in the general election. The weight of an endorsement is contingent upon the political capital of the person endorsing. So it is fairly of general applicability in politics, not just a Nigerian or Enugu phenomenon.
Ken Nnamani, the former Senate President, was also reported to have endorsed the anointing of a candidate from Nkanu-East. Would it be right for him to be making this kind of move when he is a major stakeholder in the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress?
That is the oddity of our system, our politics. It may well be within his right under the constitution. However, the snag there is that he has unwittingly admitted that his party, the APC, has lost the governorship election one year before the contest. When you offer such a cross party position, you are subordinating your own party to that of the incumbent government. I cannot see the basis upon which I will cross over to APC to tell them where to zone their governorship without conceding that I consider them more consequential in the scheme of things. That is the truth. He is suffering the same consequence all those leaders from Nkanu who chose micro-zoning and micro politics over the hallowed and edifying option of sounding Enugu-East centric.
Nnamani particularly has fought great battles in the past. You remember his role in the Third Term saga. His ability to stand up to former President Obasanjo and all his enablers who wanted to abuse our constitution by extending Obasanjo’s tenure beyond the term limit prescribed by the constitution was an act of courage. It was therefore expected that he was going to carry this mantra of equity to the issue at hand. I would like to believe that he was misquoted.
But he has offered no retraction since the report.
Well we shall see.
In one of your interviews, you were quoted to have said that micro-zoning is disrespectful to Governor Ugwuanyi. Can you throw some light on that?
Yes of course it is. If rather than making lighter the governor’s burden of pointing the proper direction for the party to follow at this crucial moment, you are stoking the fire of micro-zoning, and you are doing so because you know him to be kindly and reserved, you are disrespecting him.
But the proponents of micro-zoning still attribute to the governor his right to endorse a candidate?
You go to President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him that he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Isn’t that mischievous. It is gratuitous insult to inform the governor of his rights and obligations as leader of the PDP in Enugu State.
