By Abraham Ogbodo
The Southeast is not a zone for politics. It is a zone for business. The history could be much deeper, but there is a recent root. It is as recent as 1970 when the civil war ended. At the level of official communication, the 30-month war miraculously ended without a winner and a loser. That was the historic declaration of then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who led the federal forces to bring back the Biafra enclave into the Nigerian federation. This could also mean that both sides won and lost equally. “No victor, no vanquished!”
It was a sweet and omnibus declaration to assuage the bitterness of the moment. Beyond the surface, the devil was everywhere in the details. The summary and the standing story till date, was that every adult Igbo, and irrespective of pre-war status, was forced to start life again with 20 pounds. The political economy had also been taken up by privileged groups. The only space available was in private enterprise. Even a meaningful foray in that direction with just 20 pounds looked more unlikely than otherwise. In the circumstance, surviving the peace had appeared more difficult than surviving the war for Ndigbo. Since mass suicide was also not an option, braving the odds at all costs became the only duty in the erstwhile Biafran enclave.
The task was faced with determination and hope. The results have been sure and steady in almost six decades to bring about a new reality in the zone. Altogether, life in the Southeast is better and safer contemplated outside government and politics. Life is enhanced more by personal industry. Therefore, there is a sense in saying that much of the spatial conquest manifest in the zone today is a consequence of a humble beginning of 20 pounds 56 years ago.
This story of industry is usually told with gusto and all the romantic and melodramatic trappings. It is presented to venerate the never-die spirit of the Igbo. Precisely, it is told to push a contemporary viewpoint that the average Ndigbo has been forged for survival by unfavourable historical circumstances. He is a blend of social and natural selection.
Years of military dictatorship that followed the civil war did not help the cause of the Ndigbo. The feeling of alienation only got widened. Till date, the region still feels short-changed in the allocation of national rights and privileges. The people are still in expectation of the fulfillment of the promise of full rehabilitation and reintegration into national mainstreams made by the Federal Government a the end of the catastrophic war. For lack of a better direction or alternative, life in the region became a journey in self-help starting from 1970. The Second Republic happened nine years after, to somehow, offer some hope for the Ndigbo to reconnect with the political economy. Dr. Alex Ekwueme was Vice to Nigeria’s first executive President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. The governors of the then two Southeast States of Anambra and Imo, Jim Nwobodo and Dr. Sam Mbakwe, were also products of a careful selection. There were other persons of substance, including the Ikemba himself, in the background.
Thus, in spite of threats posed by post-war attention seekers like Chief Arthur Nzeribe, the prospects of a political rebound had appeared real for Ndigbo. But the Second Republic did not last long enough to afford the Southeast the luxury of full implementation of its own plan of reintegration. The Third Republic was a fleeting moment. It was too brief to organise for impact. The sporadic rise and fall of republics in Nigeria had had its toll across board. Despondency had set in, not only in the Southeast, but everywhere in the nation. And so, when it was time to begin again in 1999, not too many serious-minded men and women were ready to give the Fourth Republic a chance. The field was left open for all and sundry.
That is the beginning of the problem with the Fourth Republic. Even so, the Southeast has been outstanding in this default mode. The region is loaded with competence and creativity that hardly rub off in its politics. Its line-up of past and serving Governors provides some insight. The region has had Chinwoke Mbadiniju, Chimaroke Nnamani, Andy Uba, Rochas Okorocha, Martins Elechi, Hope Uzodima, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, Orji Uzo Kalu and others. Except in Anambra where the Chris Ngige cum Peter Obi 11-year stretch attempted to force a different direction, it has been an unending learning curve in most of the Southeast. It is not as if the story is significantly different elsewhere. I am only saying that given what they understand about survival, the Southeast has no business struggling to survive, even politically, like others. Across the country, when it mattered most, reasonable people had abdicated for average people to roam the field unchallenged. The new owners took possession and began a programme of massive self-perpetuation. Now, cleansing the political space of impurities to force a measure of hygiene has become near impossible. Ensuring good sanitation in the political space has remained the major subject matter of partisan politics since the 1999 general elections which occasioned the pollution.
Politics in the Fourth Republic is particularly lucrative. It guarantees higher returns than drugs. This has erected new stakes and redefined public service into a huge criminal enterprise. It is such that having a service-oriented operator at whatever level of political leadership is a rare exception. There is a leadership class that has promoted stark stealing to a level of perfect statecraft. It is a conscious class that prioritizes its survival over the interest of the state and the common good. It fights to regain control when it is accidentally infiltrated by quarters that think differently. This class does not endorse goodness. This is where we are in a part of the Southeast called Abia where goodness has miraculously resurfaced in political leadership and public administration.
For now, Abia State is standing alone as an oasis in a scorched desert. The advent of Dr. Alex Otti as Governor of the State on May 29, 2023 was a big error. He did not emerge from the recognized class of political leaders in Abia State. He is a complete stranger. This is what the class monitors led by Orji Uzo Kalu are saying right now. The objective report however, is that Otti has covered in two and half years, what could not be covered with three past governors in 24 years. And that is where the problem lies. Otti is in sin city yet feigning righteousness. In governing the state, there is an operational manual that must be followed strictly. But Alex Otti is up and about doing whatever he likes in absolute breach of the rules and guidelines. He is building roads, paying salaries and pensions, providing healthcare, quality education and all the other good things that the people of Abia State yearn for.
The approach is a departure from culture and it has caused a culture-shock. The Governor is doing as if he is too much. Was he not just a common banker before now? The custodians are telling him that he lacks the mandate to upstage a thriving culture. Although the Abia electorate are on top of their voices saying the Governor is doing exactly what he was elected to do, I can say from my far end that the man is guilty as charged. He is insensitive. Why is he doing so much without good reasons? He has made the three Governors before him to look like nonentities. That is not good enough. He does not know how to respect his seniors. My grouse is that even if he wants to outperform Hercules, he can do so with some respect. Since he operates in an environment where performance is considered a crime, he can exercise wisdom and do the opposite and be praised.
Orji Kalu, the head monitor and custodian of the rules guiding leadership performance in Abia State is a very successful newspaper proprietor. To that extent, I consider him as one of my esteemed bosses. I had encountered him a couple of times in my field days. And any day, any time, he is a delight. Loaded with humour and wits, you would always leave him happy. In the 2007 presidential election, he also felt entitled as many others. He told Alabi Williams and me that if his party denied him the ticket, he would get any ticket from anywhere and run for the election. “Ticket is ticket. And so, if my party says no to me, I will get a British Airways ticket and board. The destination is Aso Rock. It doesn’t matter how we get there”
I guess between politics and business, the later defines Orji Kalu better. He is not among the crowd of politicians who do not possess a second address. The man has where to go if the business of politics finishes today. He is an employer of labour and a wealth creator. This is why he should stop talking like a hustler or street fighter. Some of us are not comfortable when he talks as if he is looking for what to eat. If he must occasionally play dirty politics, he should do well to outsource the dirty part to a hustler to handle for him. Speaking against facts and common sense is not high acumen. It does not enhance him. It diminishes him.
Otti performance by all object accounts transcends partisanship. Orji Kalu is a statesman. People look up to him to point at the right direction. He can say it exactly as it is in Abia State and still remain who and where he is in Abia politics. Time is short for every operator. Soon, it will be all over and it will be time for reckoning. What Kalu says or fails to say or what he does or fails to do now, will count for or against him. He obviously does not have any strong new points to make in Abia politics. He was Governor for eight years. Until Otti, he had had hands in who occupied Government House Umuahia. I understand the point about everybody rushing to stand on the mandate of Tinubu. But Orji Kalu is too big to step out of decorum and stand on a so-called mandate just to impress President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He and the President belong in the 1999 Class of Governors. They are classmates. It is therefore not an achievement for him to become a loyal Tinubu’s Boy.
