Dr (Mrs) Kemafor Chikwe, National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stirred the honest nest recently when she told the congregation that witnessed the inauguration of Owerri Peoples Front (OPF) in Owerri that since the advent of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, Imo State has had emergency governors.
If I may expand Mrs Chikwe’s postulations, the underlying message in her statement was that Imo State has never had tailor made leaders. Leaders whose political credentials are not suitable to pilot the affairs of the State since democratic rule returned to Nigeria, nay Imo State.
I tend to concur with the postulations of the former Minister of Aviation on the basis that a look at the scorecard of past administrations in the State will readily justify the comments of former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Iceland and Ireland.
Mrs Chikwe anchored her new found political gospel on the basis that Imo State has not had it so good since the ship of democracy berthed on the shores of the State some years ago. But she however failed to hit the nail on the head by shying away from the reasons why our beloved State has had emergency governors since 1999.
It is painful that Mrs Chikwe missed the point in her assertion by failing to go further to explain to her audience why Imo State has been gripped by emergency governors.
Her “emergency governors” concept is a case of diagnosing a headache without recommending a cure. It is a case of identifying a problem without proferring a solution.
At the OPF event, she reportedly sang the zoning song, berating other governors from other sister geo political zones in the State such as Orlu and Okigwe, while she made a case for her beloved Owerri Zone to produce the next governor of Imo State come 2015.
There is absolutely nothing wrong if the PDP Women Leader advocates for an Imo governor of Owerrri Zone extraction in 2015 on the basis that it is “weeping child of the Imo political family”. But it is important to remind her that another emergency governor can come from her Zone if nothing is done to checkmate the process that has thrown up emergency governors since 1999.
Therefore,if Chikwe desires the end of emergency governors in Imo State beginning from 2015, she should explore her position as an influential PDP member to educate her party especially in Imo State on the need to stick to laid down democratic process that will stop the emergence of emergency governorship candidates as well.
The end product of emergency candidates are emergency public office holders. From the governorship position to other elective public offices, a situation where winners of the PDP’s primaries are shortchanged for the losers will produce emergency public office holder(s)
I have this conviction that the PDP has been the purveyor of this obnoxious practice for a long time and it is gradually contaminating the political system in the State. This practice is creeping into the political physche of other political parties. We have seen some political parties in the State who have exhibited similar tendencies like the PDP. At least, Imolites know of a party Chairman that has held forte the affairs of the party for over a decade!
Chikwe should have known that her political party- the PDP- introduced the process of foisting on Imo state a political system that is not in tandem with modern democratic principles.
Her PDP that began the process of enthroning emergency candidates which metamorphose to become emergency governors. And because such practice has become a norm and part of the party’s unconventional method of producing its candidates, it has served as a pathway for moneybags to sneak into politics. The practice has encouraged those who have no business with t governance to find political accommodation in the PDP or political parties that have no regards for its laid rules and regulations of electing its party flagbearers at all levels.
Between 1999 -2011, it was fashionable for political godfathers to sit in the comfort of their homes and hotel rooms to write list of party flagbearers. This contravened the party’s constitutional provision of electing its candidates. Such practice has produced emergency candidates who turn out to be emergency governors, senators and members of the State and Federal legislature.
Lets go the memory lane. In 1999, the PDP in Imo State denied Humphrey Anumudu the party’s governorship ticket after wining in a primaries considered to be free and fair. It rather choose Achike Udenwa, who placed a distant fourth, thus side stepping Rochas Okorocha and Greg Mbadiwe who placed second and third respectively in the keenly contested governorship primaries.
Another scenario presented itself in 2007 when Achike Udenwa in search for a sucessor followed a path that produced another emergency governor for Imo State. In a desperate bid to stop the ramping political moves of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume to become the State governor after he had won the governorship primaries, Udenwa choose the path of emergency.
He opted for an emergency option and an emergency candidate. First he opted for Iyke Ibeh to be his successor and later Charles Ugwuh. When Araraume’ became to hot to contend with, Udenwa dumped Ugwuh for Ikedi Ohakim of the PPA who became the ultimate beneficiary of his (Udenwa) search for a successor.
This trend has continued unabated in Imo State. And it has been complimented by the resort to political flirtation of our political leaders who in a desperate bid to capture political power leapfrog from one political party to another. The practice of cross carpeting from one political party to another has become the stock in trade of most Imo politicians. They forget that it diminishes their political stature and reputation in the eyes of the electorate. It also stifles our political culture.
In Chikwe’s definition of emergency governors, Imo State has produced half baked leaders as governors since 1999. And I agree with her on the basis that the manner our politicians flirt or jump from one political camp to another is another reason why we have had such emergency governors. This is simply attributable to the manner our politicians flirt which is alarming and intolerable. It calls for concern and should be a source of worry to well meaning Imolites.
In Industrialized democracies, one of the fine ingredients of a fine politician is the ability to stick to a political ideology and a political party.
This singular factor is responsible for good governance, political stability and economic prosperity in those climes. In otherwords, the emergence of responsible and responsive leaders is attributed to the ability of political parties to maintain an ideology that is consistent with the tenets and norms of good governance.
Such political parties bequeath such ideology on its members especially those seeking for public office on its platform. This is why elected political office holders stick to their party manifestos and implement it to the latter when elected into office.
Sadly, the reverse is the case in our clime. What we see are desperate politicians masquerading as leaders who seek for public office for primordial reasons .What we have in abundance here are desperate public office seekers who believe in using money to hijack the party structure to grab the party’s nomination for elections. And their motives are boosted by money hungry party executives who compromise the rules of electing a party candidate for a fee.
In the long run, this has produced those who never prepared for the task associated with leadership. Rather they muscle their way to public office on the strength of their wealth and political contacts. If Mrs Chikwe had thoroughly researched on the factors responsible for the reign of emergency governors in Imo State, she would have understood that democratic institutions in the State especially operative political parties are chiefly responsible for this anomaly.
She should have known that political parties do have important roles to nurture those who are on its platform seeking for elective office(s). Parties ought to groom its aspirants to become good leaders in the event they are elected into office.
If political parties abdicate this important responsibility, it provides ample opportunity for these unprepared leaders to find their way to the seat of governance with emergency plans and programmes. Such programmes are not in sync with the aspirations and expectations of the people.
Of the three governors that has governed Imo since 1999, they have cross carpeted from one party to another.
Former Governor Achike Udenwa jumped to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) after serving the State for eight years on the PDP platform. Former Governor Ikedi Ohakim was not a product of the PDP when he won the 2007 governorship election. He was of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) before he returned to the PDP.
The incumbent governor of the State, Rochas Okorocha, has jumped from one political party to another. He holds the record of fratanizing with four political parties between 1999 and 2013. He joined the PDP in 1999 and sought for the office of the governor of Imo State. He ran neck to neck with Humphrey Anumudu at the PDP primaries before the PDP State executive handed over the party’s governorship flag to Udenwa.
Okorocha sojourned to the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to realize his dream of becoming Nigeria’s President. When his aspiration crumbled and Rtd Major General Muhammdu Buhari was preferred as the ANPP Presidential flagbearer, he formed the Action Alliance (AA) before he breezed into the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Now he has found political solace in the All Progressive Congress (APC) where he intends to re energize his presidential ambition.
All over the world, political flirts have no place in a political landscape. They are seen as unserious lot who jump from party to party just to achieve a personal ambition.
They are emergency politicians with emergency plans. And when they succeed in grabbing political power, their emergency programmes is not in line to the wellbeing of the people. Such emergency plans runs contrary to the expectations of the people. And because Imo State is not in an emergency condition or situation, the emergency policies of those elected through emergency process are totally out of tandem with the problems confronting the State.
This is why Imolites have not seen dividends of democracy in quantum. And this is why the quest and yearning for a leader in the character and mould of Late Dee Sam Mbakwe will continue to elude the State until those processes that encourage emergency governors are eradicated from our political culture.
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