Nasty Political War In Ebonyi State

Jethro Ibileke The political landscape of Ebonyi State is divided between Governor Martin Elechi and Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Here are the reasons, the gladiators and their open and subterranean tactics Perhaps the words, Ocho Udo, an appendage to the name of Ebonyi State governor, Martin Elechi, which literally means ‘one who rules with peace,’ was the talisman that accounted for the peaceful time witnessed during the early years of his government, and may likely add to why the state styled itself the most peaceful in Nigeria. Ebonyi could truly be described as generally very peaceful as it hardly witnessed any form of political upheaval for a very long while, even with its state of underdevelopment. Elechi’s charm however appeared to expire in the last few months to the end of his second term in office, which experienced unprecedented political crisis among members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state. The crisis which could be summed up as battle for political supremacy, has engulfed and polarised the party and thus put an end to the relative peace and tranquility the state enjoyed. [caption id="attachment_21535" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Anyim and Elechi: The two combatants. Photo: Femi Ipaye[/caption] On one side of the battle line is Governor Martin Elechi. On the other is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. He merely uses Dave Umahi, deputy goverrnor, as front to get even with, or better still, to disgrace Elechi out of office for undermining his relevance and importance in Ebonyi politics. The initial bone of contention is who between Chukwu and Umahi should emerge governor come 29 May, 2015. Loyal to Elechi’s camp are Comrade Chinedu Ogar (Ebonyi Peoples Democratic Party Youth Leader); Celestine Nwali; the immediate past health minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu; some members of state and national assemblies and several state appointees. On the other hand, Umahi leads Anyim’s camp, with unalloyed support of the immediate past governor and senatorial candidate, Dr. Sam Egwu; Speaker of the state assembly, Chukwuma Nwazunku and former state PDP chairman, Ugorji Amaoti. Others include Amaoti’s erstwhile deputy, Joseph Onwe, some federal and state legislators and a few angry people in Elechi government. National chairman of the PDP, Adamu Muazu is alleged to be sympathetic to the Anyim camp which is said to be so powerful that they have been alleged to have severally undermined the decisions and advice of President Goodluck Jonathan on the matter. Many stakeholders spoken to by the magazine in Abakaliki, the state capital, expressed concern over the conflict between the governor and his deputy, who had worked harmoniously together for close to four years. It is also worthy of note to state that Umahi, even during a media interaction, passionately referred to Elechi as “my boss, father, mentor and friend and father of all in the state, who I will never cease to love and respect.” [caption id="attachment_21536" align="aligncenter" width="247"] •Dave Umahi: Deputy governor, loyal to Anyim[/caption] Those in the know said the sudden ‘resignation’ of Prince Ugorji Ama-Oti, chairman of the state chapter of PDP on 20 October, 2014, was masterminded by Elechi and his allies. They disgraced him out of office for allegedly being loyal to Umahi. They were said to be afraid that should Ama-Oti superintend the party affairs in the run-up to and during the congress and primary elections of the party, he was likely to manipulate the results in favour of Umahi, who was bent on contesting for the governorship ticket, allegedly against the advice and decision of his boss, Elechi. It was further alleged that Elechi’s camp went ahead to single-handedly enthrone a stooge in the person of Chief James Aroh Nweke, who hails from the same community with Anyim Pius Anyim, as Ama-Oti’s replacement to obstruct the political aspirations of Umahi and to spite Pius Anyim, a major stakeholder and a perceived enemy of the Elechi camp. An aide of Umahi told the magazine that Nweke whom they described as a toxic thorn in the political flesh of Pius Anyim for over a decade, was slated to pick the House of Representatives seat for Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Federal Constituency, to represent the same Anyim at the Federal House “in a determined effort to rile Anyim.” Following a confrontation by the SGF, coupled with advice from the national working committee of the PDP that the governor toe the path of peace, through consultation and by constitutional means in handling party matters, Elechi allegedly dropped Nweke for Ben Akpa as state chairman, but again, without any input by either Pius Anyim or any other major stakeholder in Ebonyi on the other side of the divide. But in defence of the above allegations, Elechi in a press statement, denied having a hand in the removal of Ama-Oti and the installation of Ben Akpa as replacement as state chairman of the party. “The national working committee, without any query both to the governor of the state or to the state working committee, unilaterally dissolved the SEC and announced the suspension of the state secretary and the state publicity secretary for publishing delegates’ names. The dissolution order further reinstated the sick deputy chairman as the acting state chairman of the party. No reference was made to the governor who is supposedly the leader of the party. We read of the decision on the pages of newspapers,” he said in the statement. Another allegation leveled by the Anyim/Umahi camp against Elechi was his reneging on his promise to hand over power to Umahi at the end of his second tenure which expires on 29 May. Elechi has severally expressed his desire in power shift to the southern senatorial district of the state that is yet to have a taste of power since the creation of the state and where Umahi comes from. He was accused of arm-twisting his deputy in favour of the former health minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu, who also is from the south. [caption id="attachment_21538" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Onyebuchi: Chukwu Elechi’s preferred candidate[/caption] Expressing dismay at his boss’ sudden change of heart, Umahi reacted: “For nearly four years, I relied on his solemn promise to hand over to me, he quickly doused the flame of that ambition and sought to humiliate and destroy me in the process. I relied on that man that I thought had integrity.” He said for over three and half years as deputy governor, he had remained a loyal and obedient servant who always stood by Elechi and delivered on the duties entrusted to him. “We kept working together in harmony till the time for party primaries and I approached him to inform him of my desire to contest for the governorship of the state, in line with our mutual agreement. He declared his opposition to my candidature. My refusal to allow him stop me from from presenting myself for election into the office of the governor of the state was the beginning of the misunderstanding between the governor and me. That I proceeded to purchase the Expression of Interest and Nominations forms for the governorship of the state under the PDP sparked off controversy.” Umahi complained further: “Having installed a stooge at the party secretariat with the primary objective of frustrating my ambition, my supporters wisely purchased their delegates’ forms from the party’s headquarters in Abuja. They participated in open and transparent congresses across the state. The national working committee prepared their documentations appropriately.” With the first canon fired by the Elechi camp, the Anyim/Umahi storm troopers replied by unleashing every available ammunition in their armoury to deal a fatal blow to the governor. First was the use of the legislative arm of the government to trump up several allegations of corrupt practices and constitutional breaches, for which they insisted Elechi must go via impeachment. In the notice of allegations of gross misconduct as ground for the impeachment of Elechi, signed by the speaker of the house, Chukwuma Nwazunkwu and 14 other members of the house (loyal to Anyim and Umahi), they listed eight offences allegedly committed by the governor. He was accused of single-handedly “appointing and inaugurating 28 persons as coordinators of 28 development centres without prior screening and confirmation of each of the appointment by a simple majority of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly; appointed and inaugurated a caretaker chairman for each of the 13 local government councils of Ebonyi state.” The House also accused the governor of appointing some members of boards, agencies and companies without its approval; obtaining a loan of N3 billion on behalf of the state without House approval; obtaining another loan of N6 billion from a commercial bank without the House’s approval; inflation of contract awarded to Labour Party gubernatorial flag bearer; and setting up of a cement company with the governor’s son and others as shareholders. All the offences were said to have contravened relevant sections of the Constitution. When asked why the lawmakers had to wait till now before acting against the allegations of corruption and constitutional breaches by the factional 15 lawmakers, a media aide of Umahi, Abia Onyike, simply said: “There is no law that talks about the timing of impeachment; it is not in Nigeria’s constitution. It is politics. Something must lead to something.” Members of the Elechi faction of the PDP however insisted that the fear of losing to the government-backed Labour Party brought about the impeachment plot against the governor as Labour Party continues to wax stronger. Also, governor Elechi recently while briefing journalists at the Exco Chambers in the government house in Abakaliki, accused Senator Anyim, PDP Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh and Uche Secondus, as the masterminds of the impeachment plot. Orgy of Violence and Unending Protests The issuance of notice of impeachment on Elechi by the state house of assembly on 9 January, 2015, resulted in violent outrage and series of protests by thousands of youths and women loyal to the governor from across the state. Ever since then, the state has not known peace that it was known for, as political intimidation and secret assassinations have gradually taken over the entire state. For example, the police in Ebonyi through its PPRO, Chris Anyawu, on Friday, 6 March, confirmed the murder of one Ifeanyi Onu, a Labour Party supporter from Umunaga Ward in Ohaozara local government area of the state by suspected political thugs. The deceased was allegedly abducted by assailants at about 10 p.m., who dragged him several kilometres from his home and inflicted severe machete cuts on him before shooting him at close range, allegedly for refusing to join a political party. Unending protests also greeted the issuance of notice of impeachment on the governor by the 15 members of the state house of assembly loyal to Umahi. Thousands of youths loyal to Elechi took to the streets of in Abakaliki on Monday, 2 March, paralysed all forms of commercial activities in the city for hours. Also, motorists were trapped in a traffic gridlock due to the protest as several major roads were blocked. The protesters who carried placards with such inscriptions as “Enough is enough; Ebonyi says no to impeachment; Ebonyi State is not for sale; Elechi has fulfilled his campaign promises” and others, had assembled at Abakaliki township stadium from where they marched through the streets to the government house where they were addressed by top government officials. Leonard Igboke who spoke on behalf of other protesters, said Ebonyi youths will not support the impeachment of Governor Elechi. The secretary to the state government, SSG, Dr. Boniface Chima, who addressed the youths at the government house gate, urged them to vote out bad politicians and vote good leaders who have the masses’ interest at heart. Chima and other top government officials who received the protesters blamed the crisis on desperate politicians in the state who want to secure power at all costs by feeding the people with falsehood about government, adding that some Ebonyi politicians in Abuja take delight in causing problem in their home state, Ebonyi. Also on the same day, the nine lawmakers in the state house of assembly who were in support of Governor Elechi, at a press briefing, restated their unalloyed support for him. They noted that the house of assembly which has 24 members needs two thirds majority, which is 16 members, before it can impeach the governor, adding that the impeachment notice which was signed by 15 members does not have constitutional requirement to initiate the impeachment process. Again on Wednesday, 4 March, thousands of women supporters of Elechi marched through streets of Abakaliki to protest against the impeachment notice. The women who were drawn from the 13 local government areas of the state, terminated their solidarity rally at the main entrance gates of the State Government House, where they were received and addressed by the State commissioner for Information and Orientation, Dr. Ifeanyi Ike and Chima. The protesters were armed with placards with various inscriptions, like “stop using our children as political thugs, our leaders’ labour will not be in vain, Ebonyi women want leaders and not rulers.” Mrs. Felicia Egwu, (Woman Leader, Afikpo), who spoke for the women, said governor Elechi was a perfect example of a noble and gentle character. She said women of the state are opposed to the violence gradually taking over the state which she said is being orchestrated and perpetrated by political opponents of the governor. “Women suffer most in violence. We lose our children and our husbands to violence, so we say no to violence. We are saying leave the man alone. Ebonyi women say we will not be part of impeachment. Women are not and will never be part of impeachment,” Mrs. Egwu said. [caption id="attachment_21539" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Sam Egwu: In Anyim’s camp[/caption] Ike, that day, said: “We are not happy with what is happening in Ebonyi, the most peaceful state in Nigeria. People are trying to tamper with the iron gate, and we are not going to allow that. We are not going to allow some people to take away the peace of Ebonyi. This is a man (Governor Elechi) who has given us 38 bridges of unity and an international market. We resist all attempts by political jobbers to destabilise the peace of Ebonyi state. Governor Martin Elechi is the man we want and we will continue to support him. So we are not going to allow that to happen.” Also addressing the women protesters, Chima, who thanked them for their solidarity, said the people of the State love President Goodluck Jonathan and will continue to support him, adding, “But we are against satanic agents of darkness who want to turn the state upside down.” The state commissioner for women affairs, Lady Mary Joy Umoke, commended the women for their solidarity in support for governor Elechi, saying no to impeachment. Labour Party: One Party’s Loss, Another Party’s Gain. Until late October 2014, Labour Party merely existed perhaps only on the pages newspapers in Ebonyi. It did not count among notable opposition parties like the All Progressives Congress, APC, which one could have expected to give the ruling PDP a tough challenge in the coming general elections or to take advantage of the crisis. Labour, however turned out to be the major beneficiary of the crisis that hit the state chapter of PDP, following the mass movement of thousands of aggrieved members of the PDP to Labour Party, as a way of expressing their displeasure over what they called “the usual desperation and imposition of unwanted candidate” by the national leadership of PDP. Following the alleged imposition of deputy governor, Dave Umahi, as governorship candidate by the national leadership of PDP in Abuja, aggrieved loyalists of Governor Elechi were said to have made several attempts to join the APC but failed, they moved en-masse, to Labour. A source in the camp of the Labour Party who was among those who moved in from PDP, told this magazine in Abakaliki that when their splinter group from PDP in the state was looking for an alternative political party to field a governorship candidate of their choice in the 11 April election, they considered APC. According to the source, the Umahi faction of the PDP infiltrated the APC and succeeded at influencing them. He said the “unscrupulous” APC members went as far as placing advertorials in national daily newspapers warning them (the splinter group) that they were not wanted in the party. They allegedly attempted to do the same with Labour Party, but the party resisted and instead, took advantage of the crisis to revive the party and build its capacity. An aide of the governorship candidate of Labour Party, who spoke to the magazine in Abakaliki, described the mass exodus of PDP members to Labour Party as the fastest growing political movement he knew. He said the relevance and popularity the party now enjoys in Ebonyi is its gain of the internal crisis that hit PDP. “Did we know anything about Labour Party before? That is why I say Labour Party in Ebonyi State is the fastest growing political movement I’ve seen anywhere. It just existed as one of the political parties. The relevance it has now is the splinter group that moved over from the PDP,” he said. The aggrieved PDP members who now form the nucleus of the rejuvenated Labour Party however abandoned the operation power shift to Ebonyi south senatorial district, which was partly why they deserted the party. They unanimously adopted Edward Nkwegu, an architect, from the northern senatorial district of the state as their governorship candidate for the election. A stakeholder from the Afikpo block of the south senatorial district, who spoke to the magazine, argued that since the Ohaozara block had produced the governor of the old Abia state in the person of Ogbonaya Onu, it then becomes necessary that a person from the Afikpo block be candidate of the party. That, they said was why governor Elechi wanted former minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, of Afikpo extraction, to succeed him. It was however gathered that the “the powers that be” at the PDP national headquarters in Abuja, with the alleged collaboration of Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim and national chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, sidelined the arrangements made by the elders of the party at the state level, and forced on them the deputy governor and former state chairman of the party for four years, Engr. Dave Umahi, who is also from Ebonyi south senatorial district but of Ohaozara block. [caption id="attachment_21537" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Muazu: Sympathetic to Anyim’s men[/caption] This magazine learnt that when the party’s elders from Abakaliki went to Abuja with a letter of protest in hand, Muazu treated them with the greatest embarrassment and disrespect of the their lives. “When party elders in the state went on a peaceful protest with a petition, that is those on the side of the governor, the national party chairman of PDP was said to have held the petition in one hand and told them that this is rubbish. Among them were a serving senator, House of Representatives member and others. But the national chairman of PDP said their petition was rubbish, which means they were not ready to entertain it and started making jest of them about how his grandmother loves Abakaliki rice. That is sheer unseriousness. They went to Tony Anenih, he was hiding. So how can anybody have any kind of hope in that situation? They were simply rubbishing our people from home. That is why we said to governor Elechi, ‘Oga, it’s time to go’,” the magazine was told. The PDP splinter group thus made true their threat and pulled out of the divided PDP and headed for the Labour Party with which they formed a formidable alliance in opposition to their former party. Commenting on why they chose the party’s flag-bearer from the northern senatorial district of the state as against the south which they had fought to actualise while in PDP, one of the stakeholders said the situation is such that “you either have it or you don’t have it at all.” He said the people of Ebonyi south were unanimous in presenting an Afikpo candidate for the election, but that when “the powers that be” at the Abuja headquarters of the party thought otherwise by imposing Umahi of Ohaozara block on them, they decided that they would rather have it now and enjoy it or let another zone have it and return it to them after their two tenures in office. He argued: “We reasoned that if the party cedes it to our brothers in Ohaozara for the next eight years in office, we of Afikpo would have to wait till power will rotate to the other two senatorial districts. Putting those figures together, we will have to wait for Umahi to finish his two tenures, after which power will shift to Ebonyi north for another eight years when it will be handed to Ebonyi central. That simply means that we of Afikpo would not have hope of tasting power until after 24 years. It is like when two people are fighting over a bag of rice and one thinks he could use his superior strength to snatch the bag of rice, the weaker one could also use whatever means at his disposal to waste the content of the bag. He added: “If Anyim Pius Anyim and the leadership of PDP in Abuja decide to hold on to the bag of rice by imposing Umahi on us, we too have the razor blade with which to make a huge opening on the bag and spill out the rice so that they don’t have it just as we also would not have it. That is exactly what we have done by picking our candidate from the northern senatorial district so that after two tenures of eight years, power could shift back to the south and we could then have a go at it. At least it is better that way than having to wait for after 24 years,” the source said. [caption id="attachment_21540" align="aligncenter" width="300"] •Women protesters at Ebonyi Government House[/caption] Even at that, Umahi’s faction of the PDP, while alleging that “local government funds are being diverted to private accounts to support Labour Party” by Elechi, is optimistic of winning elections at all levels in the state, not minding the alleged mass movement of its members to Labour Party. The PDP candidate who described the sudden and rapid advent of Labour Party in Ebonyi as “the unfortunate orphan and malnourished child adopted by the government of Ebonyi State to wage a campaign of terror against members of the PDP, its structures and members, said “the state of PDP in Ebonyi is more than strong. It is robust. We have what it takes to deliver the party at all levels on the 28th of March and on the 11th of April.” It is only a matter of waiting a few weeks more when it would be whether the Umahi faction of PDP will call the shots in Ebonyi politics or its members who defected to the Labour Party. Court Stops Elechi’s Impeachment In the interim, temporary reprieve came the way of embattled governor Elechi on Wednesday 4 March, as an Abakaliki High Court presided over by Justice John Igboji, granted an interlocutory injunction, stopping the Ebonyi State House of Assembly from going ahead with the impeachment of the governor. The court order was the result of an ex-parte motion brought by Elechi against the speaker of the House of Assembly, Chukwuma Nwazunku, the chief whip, Kingsley Ikoro, on behalf of the other fourteen other members of the assembly.