The sign on the wall of the Princeton office of Albert Einstein, the most influential physicist of the 20thCentury declares that – “not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”
Since she rode the tiger’s back to power and affluence in Anambra State, Hon. Uche Ekwunife has been locked in a perpetual struggle to either count or be counted with minimal success. But we hardly need a crystal ball to see that like all desperados who ride on the back of a tiger to power, Hon Ekwunife may yet end up in its stomach.
It is bewildering how, stricken with the anxiety of becoming, Ekwunife has almost always danced on razor-edge; when she is not suing a political opponent for losing party nomination to him and turning around the next day to recant her position, Ekwunife is busy hopping from one party to another to save her political life. It is all understandable though. For the Ekwunifes of this world, what is life without political intrigues and the euphemistic tumble in the hay?
In the last one week, Uche Ekwunife and four other federal lawmakers and one House of Assembly member have been in the news for decamping from APGA to PDP. The well-choreographed media stunt has drawn headlines across the country and largely given the impression that APGA is a party in crisis. Coming on the heels of the loud ovation that has trailed the 100 days in office of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State who is also the bulwark of the party, it is obvious that the hitherto silent opposition in the state has finally begun to stir. But it is unlikely that anyone would be deceived by the kite they have chosen to fly.
Indeed, it is tragic to note that Ekwunife and her coterie of carpet-crossers are not driven by the fire of any compelling ideology. They are not incensed that APGA has yet to demonstrate any appetite for electoral conquest beyond Anambra State or some grand vision of leadership. No. The jejune reason that Hon Victor Afam Ogene, Hon. Cyril Egwuatu, and Hon. Chris Emeka Azubogu gave was that they were dissatisfied with the current leadership’s handling of party affairs. This begs the question of whether there is ever any political gathering where there is absolute harmony. Nevertheless, the grass always appears greener on the other side. We shall soon see how far the defectors will go after being openly described as “prodigals” in their new political home.
Of course, anyone with any awareness of Hon. Uche Ekwunife’s political desperation over the years would know that the only seed that germinates in her narrow and arid universe is the seed of her own ambition. Nothing else matters. Every other consideration is meaningless. Not for her, the grandiose rhetoric of group survival and the resonant symbolisms of APGA as the last frontier for the Igbo man. Not for her the drumroll of brotherhood and kingship that APGA provokes in all Igbo or the finer arts of preserving the socio-political heirloom that Chief Emeka Ojukwu, the Eze Igbo Gburugburu spent his twilight years nurturing and projecting. Ekwunife and her band of defectors are only concerned about their political survival which they consider threatened by aspirations far superior to their two-bit ambitions which could not be validated by their years of emptiness as representatives of their people in the National Assembly. Pray, has anyone seen the scorecards of these gentlemen and lady? How many constitutional projects do they have to their names? It is time we ignited the fire of this debate. But I digress.
Put more succinctly, the APGA defectors were simply seeking a new political roof for their sun-scorched heads. With the widely reported senatorial ambition of Chief Victor Umeh who hails from her Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia senatorial district, the politically flirtatious Ekwunife knew that her days in the National Assembly were literally and metaphorically over. Ekwunife, who is not known for any serious business taproot that can ensure the sustenance of her glossy lifestyle outside of her political office, cannot obviously fathom life without the drip-feed from Abuja. Known as a political Ogbanje because of her slippery loyalty, Ekwunife’s recent gambit reminds party faithful of her last navel-gazing that saw her dragging Chief Willie Obiano to court for alleged double registration when she erroneously imagined that the tide was against him in the run up to last year’s gubernatorial elections. It was a thoughtless move that exposed her as a coarse and grubby female politician with an extra-ordinarily shifty loyalty. But it was also one that her opponents capitalized on to make her grovel in the sand for forgiveness, compelling her to swallow her own vomit and swear total allegiance to the party leadership. As for our friend, Victor Afam Ogene, the fear of Princess Chinwe Nwaebili is the beginning of wisdom. Hon. Ogene is scared stiff by the likelihood of Princess Nwaebili’s rumoured ambition that places her ahead of him in the race for the ticket to the House of Representatives. Like Ekwunife, Hon Ogene knows that it is arrivederci to his hope of retaining his seat in the federal legislative chamber once his worst fear is confirmed. So, who is fooling who with their stage-managed defection which is calculated to give the illusion of chaos in APGA?
Ekwunife deserves some credit for the make-belief she has created though. Evidently, she seems to have learnt a thing or two from the last fiasco of dragging Chief Obiano to court over a dubious claim. Her current game-plan appears to have been better packaged. Not many people who are shocked at the defection of these APGA members to PDP are actually aware of its farcical nature; that it was in fact engineered to present Ekwunife as not acting alone this time and to give the false impression that APGA is terminally ill. The hard question to ask is which party in Nigeria today does not have a fair share of internal struggle and jostling for power? Just before the Osun gubernatorial elections, APC was generally seen as a tattered broom. And who can wager on the impossibility of more turbulence for Nigeria’s leading opposition party as the electoral year of 2015 draws closer? So, how can any party man or woman whose political interest stretches beyond the metaphorical “stomach infrastructure” point at internal party wrangling as a reason for defection?
What the discerning observer will not miss is the fact that Governor Willie Obiano has started on a solid footing. He has seamlessly eased himself into the role his predecessor left as the bridge between the South East and the Presidency, regardless of party politics. He has even campaigned openly for President Jonathan, urging Ndi Anambra to vote for him in the 2015 Presidential Election. At the same time, Obiano appears firmly in control of the party machinery that produced his regime in the state. He commands an overwhelming loyalty of the party hierarchy who see him as a focused leader and great party man. Unfortunately, this growing perception of strength appears to rub some opposition figures the wrong way.
And although it may not yet be in the open, it is no longer hidden in some quarters that governor Obiano’s sterling performance in the last 130 days has drawn the envy of some political dinosaurs in the state who feel their noses pinched by the high praise that has trailed him. Some of these conflicted elements openly grumble about the governor’s imaginary arrogance, about being left alone in the lurch and about their political interests not being protected by the increasingly popular governor. They claim that he does not pick their phone calls directly and has left their huge egos totally unmassaged in the last three months of his governorship. For this group of people, the governor’s strategic efforts in convening a highly successful Stakeholders Forum and running a people-oriented government was simply not enough. And for that, they have assembled hack-writers and chameleonic lawmakers to cause him some headaches and nibble away from his current happiness in surpassing the expectations of Ndi Anambra. Indeed the ovation that has trailed Obiano’s performance in less than six months is enough to cause predictable anxiety in some quarters and the governor would be naïve not to have envisaged a likely attempt by shadowy opposition figures to rub his nose in the mud a bit.
Of course party politics in Anambra State is like a house of egos. How far an actor goes depends on how adept he is in managing these egos. As the new star from the political rubble of a region that once gave the country some of her most colourful political characters in history, governor Obiano must understand that so much is expected of him. His success must not be limited to the provision of quality leadership for Ndi Anambra alone but must transcend his immediate environs. He must build APGA into a formidable political ark in which all political gladiators in the old Eastern Region and even the Mid-West can find a lasting shelter. He must jettison the narrow canvass of the present leadership and take the highway of his beckoning destiny that will lead to the emergence of party structure with a capacity to maintain the age-old tripod upon which the Nigerian federation has always stood and will continue to stand to ensure fairness and equity for all.
Ifeoma Ajoka (asiriajoka@gmail.com) Public Affairs Analyst writes from Agulu in Anambra State