VOTE FOR SENATOR IKE EKWEREMADU AS GOVERNOR OF ENUGU STATE IN 2031

In the camp of the Dissident, the Center Cannot Hold

By Reuben Onyishi (Ugoachataberu)

It was W. B. Yeats who in his poem, 'The Second Coming,' wrote, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold,' from which Achebe took the title of his classic novel, _Things Fall Apart_ . Yeat's is a case of the poet as a prophet or, if you like, a case of nature imitating poetry. In our clime, someone in his bid to upstage the tradition has been brought to the reality of the poetic prophecies of Yeats. Unnatural deeds breed unnatural troubles. With the dissident, the centre cannot hold. The political land on which they stand has caved in. No one who sets about to swim against the tide can survive the force of natural resistance to the disorder they sought to wrought for selfish interest.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu was well-respected in the political circles. Although the Nuremberg drama seemed a loss of feathers on his political cap, he had seemed to have regained it all before he had yet to fritter his goodwill in the laps of rebellion against the zoning tradition of the governorship seat of Enugu State. Ike seems to be driven by the ember of discord being fanned by some political jobbers egging him on to political infamy in the name of praises. These political jobbers under his pay, whose proboscis are sharpened to penetrate into the innermost recesses of his purse have suckled and sapped the milk of his teat flabby and spent. Ike's orgasmic orgy towards the governorship seat by its inordinate inclination has found no natural essence for its coitus and so has found expression in political masturbation. This is moreso as his once swollen camp is being depleted and deserted.

A tree that would be swirled away by the cyclone never sees it form in the horizon. Otherwise, Ike should have known that Binam wood has come to Dusinane and Macduff has asked that the charm be despaired and the angel served be told he was from his mother's womb untimely reaped. The time is come when Ike would curse the tongues that praised him to the political precipice, that kept the words of hope and promises to his ears at the expense of his purse and then broke them to his hopes. Except that when gripped by the infernal hand of over-ambition men lose their senses to it, what else remains for him to see before he sheaths his blunt sword into its scabbard and submit it this time not in the garb of a fox or an ostrich but in prodigal submission to the good father of Enugu politics,Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi? He that did not hear the din of Okpoko, did the elephant stamp on his eardrums?

Before now, Hon.Chima Obieze representing Ezeagu Constituency who was a strong ally of Ekweremadu pulled off his political legs from the murky pool he had swarm with Ekweremadu and purged himself of the mud thereof by genuflecting in obeisance to the natural order of things Ugwuanyi is minded to preserve and announced that he stood for zoning and it was the turn of Enugu East Senatorial Zone to produce the next governor of the state. ( See my essay on Things Fall Apart in the Camp of the Dissident).

Besides Obieze, the stakeholders of Enugu West Senatorial Zone had washed their hands off the Pilate water by standing with His Excellency in line with his righteous stand on zoning. It was no wonder they distanced themselves from the foxy allegiance Ike had pledged to His Excellency. At that fictive show of prodigal repentance, the major stakeholders of the zone were absent and Ike was left in the lurch as he journeyed like a masquerade without followers. It was only a few of the national assembly members who did not know the glory had departed who had stuck to him as bees to honeycomb. Perhaps they will soon find the rug has been pulled off their feet and now seek political repentance with penitent hearts in the process of time.

For the camp of Ike Ekweremadu, not only that things have fallen apart, it is no longer at ease, for the centre cannot hold. The arrow of anarchy he had hoped to shoot at the state has rebounded . It is now a case of back to sender. Is it not yet clear to Ekweremadu he has been politically retired? We had when the water had not come up to his neck asked him to kiss the sceptre of statesmanship extended to him, but he was seduced by jobbers, the prospects of the aura and glory of the office.

The people of Awgu would not be left out at the centre of the anarchy their forester son has created. They have looked left and right and have found that if they waited any more, the tidal political wave would engulf them and so have got to show their stand before His Excellency in whose hand is the sceptre and on whose head the crown rests, the one who firmly holds the yam and the knife. So, the real people of Awgu, their stakeholders, who is who in Awgu, rose and pledged their allegiance to the People's Governor of Enugu State and like the biblical Ruth to Naomi told the governor that Awgu would stand by him as he leads Enugu State to the choice of his successor in 2023. In a communique signed by the chairman of Awgu Local Government, Hon. Pedro Nwankwo, the two members of Enugu State House of Assembly from Awgu, Hon. Mrs Jane Eneh and Hon. Johnson Chukwuobasi, the Hon. Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Hon Ugonna Ibe, the Hon. Commissioner for Science and Technology, Hon. Karl Kama and others, the people of Awgu in its expanded stakeholders meeting passed a vote of confidence on Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as they commended His Excellency for the many projects he had executed in Awgu. By this vote of confidence in Governor Ugwuanyi and his administration, the people of Awgu have distanced themselves from the media cheerleaders recruited from Awgu axis whose only duty is castigate Ugwuanyi and his administration with a view to create the impression Ike is coming to salvage Enugu State. Today, Awgu has spoken ad the rest is history.

Ekweremadu is an elder in Enugu State politics and should not be involved with such shenanigans bordering on childish desperation to become governor by all means. He should not continue to allow the political jobbers he had disowned previously to continue to drag his name in the mud any more. Now is the time to beat a retreat and realize that he had all this while been swimming in the ocean of impossibility. The governorship seat of Enugu State is incontrovertibly and unstoppably zoned to Enugu East Senatorial Zone and whoever rises against that does themselves more harm than good. Senator Ekweremadu can still recover himself, his goodwill and respect before the people of Enugu State, by turning a new leaf. Sound pot can return to the stream though its water is spilled.

Only if dude still alive then.

Is there no responsibile youth or good people there?

What happen to 2023?

I dey cry for Enugu people this man has been senator like forever now want to be a Governor, anyway shaa, is like the rest people head for Enugu no like better thing.
Even this man cannot state his own personal achievement not to talk of what he achieve as a Senator.
Make una continue at least is family will become more richer and the other family will be looking up to him. SMH

My Disappointment Over Ekweremadu's Answers On Dream FM Political Voices

By Chisom Mmadukwe

It was tagged special interview programme on Political Voices by the anchor on Dream FM Enugu . It was widely advertised by the radio station that former Deputy Senate President and senator representing Enugu West Senatorial zone, Senator Ike Ekweremadu will be a special guest on their station's programme called political voices on January 8, 2022.

I eagerly waited for the programme. I looked forward for it, with hope that Ekweremadu will boldly, atruistically and sincerely address all the questions that will be thrown to him, especially the issue of zoning at the national level and Enugu State in particular and his political move ahead of 2023.

I was of the belief that the way Ekweremadu will address the two critical issues during the programme will douse tension, correct some erroneous impressions about zoning in the state and say a lot about his personality and his sincerity.

Unfortunately while the programme lasted, Ekweremadu was evasive and played to the gallery. He had a field day, blowing his trumpet as expected of him. Immediately Ekweremadu was asked about his view on the issue of zoning at the state and national levels, Ekweremadu changed his tone. He said: "Zoning is a contentious issue, which I wouldn't want to delve into. The most important thing is that Nigerians want a good leader that will lead well, provide them with basic infrastructure and security. This also applies in the state." When asked about his next political move ahead of 2023, Ekweremadu said that he told his people in 2019 that he will not be going back to Senate after 2023. He further said that there have been calls for him to contest for governorship seat, stressing that he is consulting.

At this point, I became disappointed with Ekweremadu's poor and parried responses to such critical questions. What a disappointing, prevaricating and shocking responses on such germane and critical issues by the man, Ekweremadu, who is a longstanding political player and greatest beneficiary of the political system at all levels since 1999 till date.

Does it mean that Ekweremadu is not man enough to tell Nigerians, especially Ndi Enugu whether there was a discussion or agreement on zoning of governorship seat in the state or not before now. Why didn't Ekweremadu say categorically in the programme whether zoning was ever discussed and agreed by major stakeholders in Enugu of which he is one of them? Why is Ekweremadu, a three time Deputy Senate President and chairman National Assembly Committee on Constitutional Amendment afraid of discussing or airing his views on the issue of zoning of governorship seat in his state and presidency at the national level?

This is even when some of his political contemporaries in the state had openly stated that there is zoning in the state that favours Enugu East Senatorial zone to produce Governor in 2023. Why is Ekweremadu being smart by half and parrying such salient questions of national importance in a live radio programme? Is it not obvious now that Ekweremadu is not a sincere, selfless and patriotic politician as being presented by his social media warriors?

But why should one be worried or surprised with Ekweremadu's double standing, which has been his political stock in trade since venturing into politics. It may have worked for him for years, but may not work for him again in 2023 because people have known him and his tricks better now. For Ekweremadu's social-media bandits that have been inundating and bombarding social media platforms with Ike Is Coming slogan, now that Ekweremadu has said he is consulting, what would they do?

I know that Ekweremadu's overzealous social media e-rats would be disappointed too with his response on 2023 ambition, which is now at variance with what he has been telling them in secret before now.

Hearing from the horse's mouth, Ekweremadu said on the live radio programme that he is consulting ahead of 2023. Does it mean he is not coming again as being postulated by his praise singers? It is possible that as Ekweremadu consults, when it dawns on him that odds are against him, he will have no option than to quit and abandon his bootlickers as usual.

Please next time you can't still communicate properly without all this uncessary vocabularies

pragmstism:
Please next time you can't still communicate properly without all this uncessary vocabularies

Shallow encephalon

Arrangee Visits/ Fake Endorsements: Sharing Of Commission Tears Ekweremadu's Inner Caucus Members Apart
....Aggreived Member Threatens To Speak Out

By Kingsley Uwagbue

As the former Deputy Senate President and Senator representing Enugu West Senatorial zone, Senator Ike Ekweremadu intensifies his desperate bid to contest Enugu 2023 Governorship seat against the traditional zoning of the seat in the state that favours Enugu East Senatorial zone to produce the next Governor, crisis of confidence and distrust is tearing members of Ekweremadu's inner caucus apart over sharing of commission they usually get from arrangee courtesy visits/ endorsements for different groups that visit Ekweremadu.

A member of Ekweremadu's inner caucus who was shortchanged in the sharing of the commission, who pleaded anonymity disclosed that they are the ones arranging the visits and endorsements to Ekweremadu with the understanding that they will be given 30 percent of whatever Ekweremadu gives to them during the visits.

"We arranged the series of visits and endorsements to our principal behind the scene with the understanding of getting 30 percent of whatever money that is given to any group that visits by our principal, Ekweremadu.

"As we get the Commission we share among the few of us that are privy to this secret arrangements by the close of work. Recently one of us who felt he is too important and very close to our boss cut my own share from one of the commissions half because I didn't come to work the day one of the groups we have arranged visited, eventhough I took permission from our boss. I have repeatedly asked to be given my due share but he refused."

"If I wait for him again without any response, I will expose him before the public and our boss. The man is very greedy. Why should he cut my money when we are all in agreement on the sharing formula before we kickstarted arranging of the visits for endorsements to our boss. I brought the idea. It is my personal Initiative. I deserve lion share of the commissions," the member fumed.

THE MUDSLINGING BUSINESS OF CHIJIOKE EDEOGA AND REUBEN ONYISHI

BY ANTHONY NNAJI

It is certainly not wide of the mark to state that the advent of social media, facilitated by the proliferation of GSM, has simplified mass communication, the storage and retrieval of information. Everyone's GSM phone is now a mobile archive. Touch a button, it rolls out whatever you need and nails down, showing you the literary "modus operandi" or, simply put, the pattern or style of writing and diction of regular social media charlatans, the likes of Reuben Onyishi, alias, Ugoachataberu and Chijioke Edeoga. This pseudo-intellectuals believe that the surest route to get Chijioke Edeoga to Lion Building in 2023 is through mudslinging. They hide behind their fingers, writing under different pen names in the suicidal business of casting aspersions on innocent people. Reuben Onyishi churns out infinite deal of nonsensical effusions, throwing mud at anybody he percieves as having strong interest in the 2023 governorship race in Enugu state, missing his marks and soiling his hands always. Guided and goaded by Chijioke Edeoga, he regularly throws mud at Distinguished Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, Chief Evarest Nnaji, Peter Mba, each and everyone of whom has made success of their respective careers, and has whatever it takes, much more than Chijioke Edeoga, to clinch the governorship slot of Enugu state in 2023.

In his recent paediatric outburst, Reuben Onyishi, writing with a pseudonym, Eze Davies, wrote that Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa attended Ekweremadu's wife's birthday celebration to plead that Ekweremadu accept him (Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa) as his deputy in 2023 guber election. In the same article, he also abused Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, as one who is also struggling for the deputy governorship slot. He concluded by stating that the duo have sold out to Ike Ekweremadu and betrayed the Enugu East Zonal interest in the 2023 governorship struggle.

Certainly, neither Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa, a nationally acclaimed bureaucrat and philanthropist per excellence nor the urbane, politically sophisticated but reticent Speaker Edward Ubosi would be inclined to respond to the lunacy of Reuben Onyishi and his sponsor, Chijioke Edeoga. However, some of us, call us political bystanders, would no longer stand by and watch the Shenanigans of Chijioke Edeoga and his misguided social media mercenaries continue with their unwarranted declaration of war on Nkanu political leaders.

For the records, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa is a decent man whose sojourn in public office has brought him close to people of all strata in the society: the mighty, the high, the low, even the "hoi polloi". The elegant and brilliant Dr (Mrs) Nwanneka Ekweremadu, Ike Ekweremadu's wife was Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa's junior colleague in the office of the Accountant General of the Federation in Abuja. While Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa was in active service, she looked up to him for guidance because of the cordial relationship they had. Besides, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa was the Accountant General of Enugu state at the same time that Ike Ekweremadu was, first, Chief of Staff to Governor Chimaroke Nnamani and latter, Secretary to State Government, SSG. When Ekweremadu headed to Abuja as a Senator, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa also was in Abuja as a Super Permanent Secretary. They shared several years of cordial relationship. Apparently as 2023 approaches they may find themselves in different camps. But Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa has never been known to pursue any interest with bitterness and this is why his friendship with Ike Ekweremadu have remained warm and, hopefully, shall remain so after 2023. Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa is also known to have cordial relationship with some other guber contenders such as Chief Peter Mba and Chief Evarest Nnaji, Odegene, Speaker Edward Ubosi and a host of others.

To, therefore, insinuate that Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa, a frontrunner in the 2023 Enugu guber race, with his sterling credentials and stupendous war-chest is looking for the post of Deputy governor is utterly preposterous and stands not within the prospect of reasonable belief.

Across the state, people are happy with the kind of relationship that exist between the key governorship contenders, a level of cordiality which is *sine qua non* to decent democratic contest as we move towards 2023. This is what His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has been preaching. But Chijioke Edeoga and his hireling, Reuben Onyishi, holed up in their primitive political savagery, are beating the drums of intercine political war, raising false alarm in the social media in futile effort to incite friends against one another.

Needless to re-emphasize that Isi Uzo people have legitimate claim to aspire to govern Enugu state, being an intergral part of Enugu East Senatorial District to which the 2023 guber slot is zoned. But it is akin to passing the camel through the eye of a needle to achieve this with a cruel and sadistic candidate like Chijioke Edeoga who has obtuse hatred for anybody who excels in his chosen career. Intellectually, Chijioke Edeoga is sick and petty, hatred for fellow humans runs deep in his DNA. He has a sickening hatred for governor Ugwuanyi through whose grace he has been a Commissioner in Enugu state for the past 6 years. He thinks we do not know. He runs down governor Ugwuanyi at the slightest opportunity. We have him on tape, telling some of his friends that governor Ugwuanyi is a coward who does not have the liver to hand over to him as an Isi uzo man.

It is better for Isi uzo people to look for a more credible and capable candidate who can match other candidates from Nkanuland for the decisive discussion to determine where the pendulum swings to as the zone inches towards 2023.

Chijioke Edeoga does not have the muscle to muster the resources needed for the battle ahead. In the preparation for the Enugu East Zonal Rally on 17/06/21, gubernatorial hopefuls from the zone donated various sums, ranging from #20 million, #10 million, #5 million and #3 million. What did Chijioke Edeoga, the man leading the Isi uzo first eleven donate? #250,000! The other day in a Catholic Church Fund Raising event in Nike, four guber hopefuls, including Chijioke Edeoga, were in attendance and donated #1.5m, #1m, #.5m while Chijioke Edeoga donated #50,000. Haba! O bu ukwu a ka ya bu Chijioke Edeoga bu Nama ga-eji je Aba? He wants to be governor without a dime in his pocket. He thinks the Isi uzo puerile marginalisation mentality/argument would give him guber nomination and, then, he would begin to gamble with godfather financiers to raise the humungous fund for the prosecution of the election. He lives in the discarded old testament of politics. We are in the new testament where the next governor of Enugu state, metaphorically speaking, must be somebody who, verifiably, would have been feeding himself and further, has had the capacity to feed, and, in fact, has fed, others. In this league are the likes of Chief Evarest Nnaji, Odegene, Chief Peter Mba, Sir Chinyeaka Ohaa, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, and a host of others in Enugu East Zone whose huge political war-chest is not in doubt.

Recall that before Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi became governor, he had the capacity to feed himself and, in fact, fed several others. The numerous mouths he fed named him, *Gburu gburu*. The financial muscle he had before 2015 enabled him to bear the bill of his guber election without mortgaging the future finances of the state. Today, he deploys the state resources in meeting the critical needs of the state without plundering our resources or settling godfathers.

Chijioke Edeoga and Reuben Onyishi should understand that mudslinging or throwing stones from a glass house is a paediatric strategy towards the very serious business of who occupies the Lion Building in the post Ugwuanyi era. It is a boomerang.

Fake News, Mischievous Blackmail Cannot Make Ekweremadu Governor Of Enugu State

AIF Media

There is this ugly trend where cronies of Ekweremadu mischievously peddle fake news on social media in a failed attempt to mislead Ndi Enugu and the general public, for the selfless and unpopular political ambition of their pay master, in 2023.

The latest of these shenanigans was the false publication on social media alleging that Gov. Ugwuanyi was planning to defect to APC.

They equally alleged that the governor in a spurious statement said that if the wishes of Ndi Enugu as he was seeing was Ekweremadu, that he had no option than to support him.

These are false and baseless claims being peddled by the camp of Ekweremadu to deceive the public.

They have tried similar outdated campaign of calumny against the governor, on several occasions in recent times, but failed woefully because Ndi Enugu know their ulterior motive, and always identify with the truth.

From our investigations, the above stories are fake news as Gov. Ugwuanyi has no plan to leave PDP, the party he has laboured tirelessly to build and reform, both at the state and national levels.

He is one of the PDP Governors who believe in the ideology of the party and had in many occasions worked closely with his colleagues in building and rescuing the party in the overall interest of Nigerians.

Ugwuanyi is a man of peace and an apostle of equitable zoning.

We are optimistic, likewise Ndi Enugu, that in 2023, he will support a successor whose emergence will follow the trend established and maintained since 1999 between the three senatorial zones, which favours Enugu East Senatorial District to produce the next governor of the state.

The wishes of Ndi Enugu is respect for zoning and Gov Ugwuanyi will surely adhere to it.

AIF Media

2023: Contending Ike Ekweremadu’s Battle Line and the Reality before Us (1)


By Prince Ejeh Josh

The unfolding realities trailing the recent moves by the former Deputy Senate President, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu, in Enugu state has, bluntly, presented him in a clear term as one of the political strategists in the state. Whether one is ready to accept the fact staring menacingly or not, it’ll remain a self-denial to write the Senator from Enugu West Senatorial District off. His plans appear to be working for him. He is building up a cult-like followers, carrying along loyalists, working closely with allies, wooing bystanders and winning perceived foes to his camp. The senator has a clear-cut agenda for his target. Swiftly, he has been navigating through the rough terrain of the state’s political tracks, cleverly avoiding political landmines, and craftily calibrating his canon lenses to weigh the magnitude of the foggy political atmosphere that might blur his path to Lion Building in 2023.

Senator Ike’s surreptitious political exploration in the state over the past years left no one in doubt about his gubernatorial ambition. However, he has consistently denied it in words but frequently affirms it in actions. Instances are rife where he utterly dismissed nursing ambition for the seat of governor. Notwithstanding that, his actions keep giving him away. This work is not in anyway implying that the senator has no right to contest or pursue his political ambition as that’s within his right as a citizen. Howbeit, there’s a struggle to reconcile his actions and his words. In a recent outing, the senator made it clear that “pressure” was on him to vie for the position of governor in 2023. Will the senator yield to the alleged “pressure”? Who is pressurizing the senator to swim against the tide? Was the pressure a result of imagination and thirst for power? Political developments in his camp in recent times are remarkably pointing towards that direction. Will the senator pursue his interest under the umbrella of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)? Insiders are divided, however feelers maintain that the paddles with which to cross the bridges are already set in motion. One thing is indisputable; Mr. Ike is coming! Whether he will be able to cross the Presidential Lodge before accessing the Lion Building or he will be humiliated enroute Okpara Square that will crash him into political oblivion and lead to his political extinction is entirely the unfolding political intrigues we are anxiously awaiting.

Without mincing words, Mr. Ike’s political activities in the state is a direct affront on the Governor of the state who is not just the political leader of Enugu state but the entire Southeast zone. Setting up structures and stepping up campaigns is a clear message to the leader and leadership of the state’s ruling party that things are no longer at ease. It’s an “Opokoro” drumbeat signaling that the battle line has been drawn and the battle for the soul of Enugu state has just begun. It’s a poke on the face of the governor that the senator has got a formidable political structure to wrestle power. Mr. Ike should not be dismissed with a fringe or tip of the fingers. That’ll will be too dangerous as this battle is clutching endlessly as his last political battle before age will catch up with him, if he’s not already manipulating his way through 'football age'. Again, the political titan should not be written off. He is building an empire with the resources at his disposal. Can he be tamed? Will his empire collapse before the poll or during the poll? That’ll depend on certain fundamental factors that must be set in motion.

A cursory look at his official Facebook page, "Ike Ekweremadu", one would begin to appreciate the level of Ike’s political tentacles and the extent of his mobilisations. Perhaps, he understands, even more clearly, the message passed by the former Governor of Enugu state and present Senator representing Enugu East Senatorial District, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, that “Politics is a serious business.” The senator is, indeed, recruiting people from other states into his campaign team. Go to South Africa, the senator is campaigning. Go to Port Harcourt, he is also campaigning. Then, go to Germany; perhaps his posters maybe found there. The ferocity at which the Mpu born Senator is sweeping the ground and displaying his cards shows that he is all out to confront the challenges. Whether he can surmount these political hurdles is another question to be answered by unfolding political development in the state. Can Mr. Ike cause a political disruption in the scheme of things in the state? Again, one is left to allow developing political issues to answer that.

In a short post I made on the 19th December, 2021 assessing Mr. Ike’s economic model for Nigeria as a whole and the state in particular which I described as anachronistic and at variant with the 21st century modern economy, Mr. Ike had personally responded, accusing me of misleading members of the public about the topical issue. Of course, the defenses put up by him still couldn’t stand the test of modern economic model as the world has moved beyond the phase of his economic antidotes. Follow-up questions by members of the platform to the senator landed on the brick wall as the senator retorted to one of the inquisitive questions asking whether he had a gubernatorial ambition in 2023 as being speculated that; “I don’t discuss pedestal issues and gossips. Let’s talk about vision and development…” That is quite fascinating that a question of such magnitude was described by him as pedestal and gossips.

Yet again, the senator had a golden opportunity on the 8th of January, 2022 while at Dream FM as a guest speaker to put to rest, the gossip. To the chagrin of the people of Enugu state, Mr. Ike only stated he would not be returning to the National Assembly in 2023 having outlived his usefulness in the Red Chambers. He, nevertheless, left a strong caveat behind about his gubernatorial ambition. He had told the anchor of the programme, Mr. Alex Ogbodo, that pressure was on him to contest for the seat of governor against the entrenched principle of zoning of which he headed a national committee in the PDP that reviewed the cause of PDP’s loss of national power in 2015, and thereby, strongly recommended that zoning be strictly followed. In a surprise act of approbation and reprobation, Mr. Ike told his anxious listeners that zoning was a contentious issue. That message was a radical departure from the establishment that not only made him, both as a senator representing Enugu West Senatorial District but also as a three time Deputy Senate President representing the entire Southeast zone from which he benefited immensely. From thereon, analysts could easily preempt the political voyage of the senator.

Although, prior to the period, the senator appeared to have deliberately eschewed major political events organised by his political party, the PDP, in the state. When on the 7th August, 2021, his constituency organised a mega rally tagged; “Ife-Emelumma Enugu West Unity Rally” held at Awgu local government area; a rally that drew all the party stalwarts from other zones which also had the presence of the state governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Senator Ike and some of his political allies were conspicuously absent from the historic event. He gave no reason since, according to his foot soldiers, he owed nobody any explanation. In a more recent PDP rally held at Ikem, Isi Uzo local government headquarters, to flag off the forthcoming council elections’ campaigns, the senator and his allies, as already envisioned, rudely shocked his party once again, by making his absence visible. Whether his absence was felt or nothing, a fundamental factor was reinforced through that absenteeism; the battle line has been drawn and a stand has been firmly taken by the senator. Didn’t all these activities amount to anti-party’s dance steps? That’s left to the party leadership to know whether to wield the big stick or to continue to accommodate moves capable of destroying the party.

In order to make sure the message was sounded unambiguously, Mr. Ike has taken to his official Facebook page sharing photos and videos of himself and his “Over 10 thousand executives of Oganiru Enugu,” a support group drawn across the state for his 2023 governorship ambition. On the 4th of this month, the senator shared some pictures numbering dozens where he disclosed that the mammoth crowds were made up of Enugu Solidarity Group for Ikeoha 2023, and Ikeoha Movement 2023, having branches in parts of the country including Port Harcourt. He went ahead and flaunted a group he called, The Ikeoha Youth Ambassadors Initiative, gearing towards his ambition. Yet again, the senator attempted to inundate us with the pictures and videos of the event that held somewhere in Enugu with the inscription that the attendees were the inaugurated “state, zonal, local government and ward executives of the Enugu Solidarity for Ikeoha.” More recently was the seemingly elaborate event hosted by the senator on Sunday in Enugu where the people, described by some sections as ‘rented crowds’ were inducted as patrons of Oganiru Enugu.

Senator Ike, flamboyantly displaying 37 pictures of those in uniform, boasted that the people should expect a “New Enugu state.” In his words; “I’m going to deliver a new Enugu state… All of us are going to enjoy the fruit when we get there….” Quite interesting from the Enugu West Senator. To assure the people that the Governor of the state was in support of his political navigation, he assured that Governor Ugwuanyi had accepted to be the “Grand Patron” of Oganiru Enugu. That’s, indeed, a brute audacity and contemptuous effrontery against the number one citizen and leader of the party. The governor couldn’t have allowed himself to be blackmailed or be dragged into the ship that may probably not leave the harbour before it capsizes.

To be candid, like I observed earlier, nobody should dismiss Mr. Ike’s camp as fringe. The senator is molding a structure from the establishment, penetrating into party hardliners and non-party members. Usually, political history has shown that disruption and crack in the establishment is often heralded from insiders, and that’s exactly what the senator has set out to do. Ignore him at your own peril. The party and those strongly advocating for the established zoning to continue have to buckle up, put their house in order and consolidate on their strong foundation. Mr. Ike appears to be weaponising internal bickering to achieve political gains. The leader of the party, being the governor, must be mindful of banana peels especially by some of those he has engaged as aides or political allies. At the risk of repetition, these moles are proclaiming the governor as their principal and professing Mr. Ike as their leader. Whether this reality is accepted or dismissed as a mere allegation, the fact remains that, one day, if nothing is done, they’d stand at the side of their conscience. I pray it's not too late by then. The Governor must strive to build his own formidable political structure, encourage his henchmen to commence the fieldworks immediately. His structure will be a shelter for him during the rainy day. All great leaders must have reliable structures that would be independent of external influence, and remain firmly and absolutely loyal to them. This structure, coupled with their allies’ structures will be collapsed into one fold at the right time in order to achieve their collective goals. It’s time for the governor to revisit the drawing board and look through the dark lenses. Ike is building his structure, and his reasons for that are unambiguous. His structure has given him that vantage to negotiate power in times past. Senator Chimaroke was able to build Ebeano political structure, and the vestige of the structure is still here with us. Former Governor Sullivan Chime failed to erect his structure and what happened to him? Despite his performance in the state, he lost relevance immediately he left power. Save for the concession of electoral defeat by former President Goodluck Jonathan, he could have as well gone into political extinction.

Ike's Declaration, Dead on Arrival

By Reuben Onyishi
(Ugoachataberu)

The chicken has come to roost now that Senator Ike Ekweremadu has today, 11th March, 2022 declared for the Enugu Gubernatorial race. Senator Ekweremadu had last year begun to heat up the Enugu polity when he declared his Ike Is Coming fad. It was a term he put in the mouth of his acolytes and media handlers who swooped on social media platforms with it. Ekweremadu's aspiration was received with cold feet in Enugu State for two reasons. First, the expectation was that he would go for the presidency since the call for the president of Igbo extraction had reached equity pitch and it was being expected the major parties would zone their presidential tickets to the South East. Second, the PDP in Enugu State has a zoning tradition where the governorship ticket rotates among the three senatorial zones. No one was actually expecting Ekweremadu to aspire to the governorship office since going by the rotation process, it would be the turn of Enugu East Senatorial Zone. Ekweremadu is from Enugu West and Sullivan Chime had served the turn of Enugu West recently for eight years. It will be the turn of Enugu West Senatorial Zone in 2031.

It was on authority that some stakeholders had asked Ekweremadu if it was true he was aspiring to the office of the governor of Enugu State against the zoning tradition and he had replied them that it was not true. Yet the social media was agog with Ike is coming. Not only did his media handlers continue to circulate Ike's posters, at a time INEC had not lifted ban on campaigning, they also poured into various social media platforms and their daily bread was the castigation of the Ugwuanyi administration. They said Ike was coming to deliver Enugu State from misrule and despite the profundity of Ugwuanyi's achievements in infrastructure and human capital development, the Ike boys were set to mischievously diminish the Ugwuanyi administration. That had continued until at a point last year when Ekweremadu in the company of Toby Okechukwu and Dennis Amadi, his boys at the national assembly, in a kind of volte face paid the governor a visit. It was like the return and repentance of the prodigal when Ekweremadu disowned the activities of his boys on social media and tagged their acts as those of jobbers who wanted to sow a seed of discord between him and Governor Ugwuanyi. He asked Governor Ugwuanyi to discountenance their many expletives and uncouthness. Governor Ugwuanyi in his characteristic way received Ekweremadu and his boys as a father would an erring child. He forgave him and patted him at the back and released him in peace in a go-and-sin-no-more manner.

Whatever Ekwerwmadu wanted to achieve with that visit was only known to what appears like a foxy approach to repentance and reconciliation. It was reported that soon after the visit, Ekwerwmadu recruited yet again some folks to continue to attack the Ugwuanyi administration. Ike had continue with his rebellion against the order of power transition unabated, yet would deny his ambition. In a radio programme at Dream FM the other day, Ekweremadu had claimed he had yet to make up his mind as he was still consulting, yet he had begun to campaign here and there.

What appears like a threatening sword of Damocles had apparently begun to disquiet the Enugu polity and its state of peace and equanimity wrought by Governor Ugwuanyi. The people of Enugu State reacted to it by the three senatorial zones organizing rallies in support of the zoning tradition. Odinma Nsukka held its own at Nsukka. Who is who in Nsukka gathered in solidarity with the governor and in support of zoning. Oganiru Enugu rally was also held at Okpara Square Enugu in solidarity with the governor and in support of zoning and power rotation and it was clearly stated that it would be the turn of Enugu East Senatorial Zone to produce the next governor of Enugu State in 2023. Governor Ugwuanyi at the rally told the people that the decision about his successor would be made through dialogue, equity, justice and fairplay and that was clearly understood since equity points to Enugu East Senatorial Zone. The people of Enugu West Senatorial Zone to which Ekweremadu belongs had its own rally they tagged "Ife Emelu Nma" held at Awgu. There, the people and stakeholders of Enugu West Senatorial Zone emphatically told the governor it was the turn of Enugu East Senatorial Zone to produce his successor. Recall also that the Ebeano group had before the rallies held a one-million-man march to solidarize with Governor Ugwuanyi on the zoning question and had conferred on him the leadership of the Ebeano family and urged him to pick his successor from Enugu East Senatorial Zone whose turn it would be in 2023.

The voice of men is the voice of God. All the stakeholders in Enugu State and the elders of the land have unanimously agreed that by power rotation, the next governor of Enugu State should come from Enugu East Senatorial Zone. Chief Jim Nwobodo, Ken Nnamani, Sullivan Chime, Okwesilieze Nwodo, to mention no more are elders and leaders of the state who have emphatically confirmed that it would be the turn of Enugu East Senatorial Zone to produce Governor Ugwuanyi's successor. Even the raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal end of what appears like Ekweremadu's rebellion against the people of Enugu State. Yet Ike would not hear.

Ekweremadu kept on gathering the dregs to himself. No one in Enugu State who is worth any political value is with Ekweremadu. Most of the people milling around him are rather driven by stomach infrastructure. They want a share of the national cake. They know the truth but they want to satisfy their hunger induced by the present regime at the centre. Quite another are some disgruntled elements who served in Ugwuanyi's administration and who got kicked out on account of incompetence and poor performance. They are now the cheerleaders chorographing the Ike is coming stuff as a way of getting at Governor Ugwuanyi. They have in the same process made themselves the but of the public.

Some of those close to Ekweremadu claim Ike is banking on PDP at Abuja to give him the ticket. They said he had penetrated the soul of the party and that Abuja cannot afford to disappoint him. Many pundits have found that infantile. Perhaps, Governor Ugwuanyi has folded his hands to allow Abuja to decide for him. Perhaps in their imaginary reverie, the Ike camp thinks Ugwuanyi does not know the way to Abuja when the governors have shown that they decide what happens in the PDP. They also forgot that Governor Ugwuanyi is the leader of the party in South East and has undertaken many tasks for the party at the centre and delivered them with acuity and superlative performance. How then on earth and from where would Ekweremadu muster the power to hamstring a seating governor, someone who occupies the seat he is desperately scrambling for with all his might and which has kept on receding from him as shadow would its owner?

Before now, Ekweremadu used to decide who became what in Enugu West Senatorial Zone. Governor Ugwuanyi magnanimously ceded that to him when he thought Ike was what he had pretended to be. Since Ike began to rebel against the people of Enugu State, power naturally slipped off his fingers and today in Enugu West Senatorial Zone, Ike goes about deserted like omaba masquerade without any follower. Those who were with him before soon drew back from the cul-de-sac along which they had trudged with him(See my essay on Things Fall Apart in the Camp of the Dissident). Someone like Hon. Chima Obieze was smart enough to take a detour from that road less traveled by and today he is most happy for that.

The local government elections had been concluded and new chairmen across the 17 local governments have just been sworn in as well as councillors from the 260 wards in Enugu State. We are talking about the grassroots here. How many of them did Ekwerwmadu produce? It was reported that he even begged to nominate the councillor of his ward. This is the outcome of dissidence. But Ekwerwmadu has yet to see the political cyclone that would swirl him and his ambition away form in the horizon. He who would not hear the din of Okpoko, did the elephant stamp on his eardrums? What else does Ekwerwmadu need to know that the political water has come up to his neck?

Adamant as ever and as Wole Soyinka's Abiku, Ekweremadu, seeing all this, today dived headlong into the political murky waters, swimming in the mud thereof. He called a so-called world press conference and declared his candidature for the governorship seat, claiming there was no zoning agreement in Enugu State with the sarcasm that he does not want to be a zonal governor. Ekweremadu became the deputy president of the Senate because that position was zoned to South East and he was in that office for 12 years. Then he wanted to be a zonal deputy president of the Senate. The insincerity with which Ike pursues this inordinate ambition of his is unknowingly to him his albatross. Ekweremadu builds his ambition on feeble sand of lies and that ambition is bound to sink in it. Even if Ekwerwmadu likes let him hold a universe press conference, 'emeko meeko', as one of my friends would say when he is beating you in the game of draft, though you gave him an uppercut momentarily. "Who press conference help?" to put it in Nigeria slang.

Some political watchers are of the view that Ekweremadu is feeding his ego; that he knows quite well he has no chance at the governorship but may want to play the spoilers game or force the party to a negotiation table where he may be asked to return to the senate. But the people of Enugu West have become wiser, for they have vowed that never again will one man dominate their heritage for 20 years as Ekweremadu shall have done by 2023. They are ready to reclaim their mandate from Ike's tight grip. It is likely that Ekwerwmadu is billed to retire from public service.

The declaration for the governorship today by Ekweremadu may have started him down the precipice. It is a process that has ignited political showdown and from the look of things, the political future is bleak for Ekweremadu. Ike has dared the white lion and by so doing has jeopardized his political career. Ugwuanyi may be smiling, gentle and reconciliatorily peaceful but when pushed this way, he has the capacity to bring out that with which he crosses political seven hills and valleys. The battle line is drawn; the tiger has been touched by its tale. The lion is about to roar. I see a total extinguishing of this ambition of Ekwerwmadu's. His declaration is certainly dead on arrival.

nigerianrevolut:
VOTE FOR SENATOR IKE EKWEREMADU AS GOVERNOR OF ENUGU STATE IN 2031

That’s just it.

Ekweremadu should respect himself till 2031 at which time he will be given the right of first refusal by the PDP.

Even Hon. Chima Obieze can’t do nada