The emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in late 2013 opened up a sinister debate among the South East political enthusiasts. The crux of the debate was on the future of the Igbos under the emerging ‘mega party’. Eagle-eyed politicians either saw it coming or anticipated that the APC was up to some surprise in the upcoming elections and so, there was need to position for sharing the booty when it eventually arrives.
In the ensuing debate prior to the elections, while some argued that APC holds no future for the Igboman considering the configuration and the powers that be in the party, others almost fought one another insisting that the APC is the only, and perhaps the last hope of the Igboman to realise his dream of at least, launching himself back into political relevance in the Nigerian political equation. They premised this permutation on the calculation that if APC succeeds in wresting power from the PDP, it would want to portray itself as icon of natural justice and equity by zoning the presidency to the South-East which is yet to produce the President of Nigeria since after Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. This hope was dashed during the APC primaries which produced Muhammadu Buhari as its flag bearer for the 2015 polls. Owelle Rochas Okorocha, a foundation member and strong contributor to the emergence of APC as a party lost out to a distant third place for whatever ‘expedient’ reasons. That expediency perhaps, paved way for the eventual victory of the APC at the 2015 polls. The hope of realising the dream of producing a Nigerian President from the Igbo extraction evaporated, maybe, for the time being. The APC failed to project itself as symbol of equity and justice for both the minority group and the majority.
Having won the electoral war, it was time to share the booty. The truth remains that the Igbos overwhelmingly and still unapologetically voted for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP defying the call by the few, will I say, ‘eagle-eyed’ or ‘self-serving’ politicians to key into the ‘imminent, change of baton. Although the Igbos lost out, they however proved bookmakers wrong that ‘the Igbos will have a grossly divided vote’. For once, they were unanimous in their assertion that despite not benefitting so much from the PDP-led administration, the incoming one led by the APC may not serve it any better. Were they right in this assumption? The unfolding political drama at the National Assembly might as well produce a perfect answer.
On the 8th of June, 2015, the National Assembly held elections to choose the Senate President (SP), Deputy Senate President (DSP), Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the upper and lower chambers respectively. Capitalizing on a political impasse within the APC, the PDP was able to pull a deadly string to produce the Deputy Senate President in the Person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu who represents one of the South-East States. Senator Bukola Saraki (who was not anointed by the APC leadership) emerged as the Speaker of the upper chamber to the utter dismay of his party leadership leading to so much bickering among the party hierarchy. That is not the real gist as it is no longer news.
The real gist here is that after a lot of conciliatory overtures from power brokers within and outside the party, the APC have come to accept the election of the Bukola Saraki as the Senate President but have vehemently kicked against the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate President. They have gone ahead to call for his resignation threatening to impeach him if he fails to quit honourably.
Championing this specious call is a group known as the Unity Forum—a factional group from the APC senators. The group in a letter to the party leadership on the imperative of removing Ekweremadu argued that “although the tradition of the Nigerian Senate concedes much power to the Senate President, it is indeed the Deputy Senate President that directly interacts and controls the day-to-day activities of the senate”. They went ahead to list a lot of statutorily strategic functions ascribed to the office of the DSP warning that it is dangerous to concede such a sensitive post to the ‘opposition’.
On his part, the immediate past governor of Kano State and former Presidential aspirant of All Progressive Congress, Senator Musa Rabiu Kwakwanso urged the Senate President, Bukola Saraki to declare Ekweremadu’s seat vacant and return it to the APC—an action that will be clearly unconstitutional and unjustifiable. He premised his call on the fact that in the sixteen years that the PDP ruled the country, it at no time gave the opposition the benefit of having such a position as the DSP. Kwakwanso forgot in such a hurry that as some point in life of the National Assembly, a member of the opposition party emerged as the Speaker of the lower chamber (although by act of defection to the opposition party) and hell was not let lose. He forgot so quickly that the constitution expressly states in Section 50(1) that there shall be (a) A President and Deputy of the Senate who shall be elected by the members of the House FROM AMONG THEMSELVES; (Emphasis mine). The constitution never envisaged the election of these mentioned officers from any particular party (majority or minority).
Political pundits are unanimous in pointing out that if a deputy senate president had emerged out of PDP but from any other geopolitical zone except the South-East, the APC would have buried its hatchet and sheathed its sword long ago. For the APC, they reason, it is unthinkable and an affront on the party for a zone that overwhelmingly voted against it to occupy such a sensitive seat. This is the untold truth about the present quagmire bedevilling the upper chamber leadership and the Igbos are not oblivious of that. Had the South-East not grabbed this chance, it is obvious that the APC were poised to ensure that they paid dearly for their political decision in the 2015 general election.
The simple interpretation is that for the second time, the APC has manifested its anti-Igbo posture but are far from succeeding this time around since the process that brought Ike Ekweremadu was not only constitutional, but also that the PDP which commands a sizeable number in the red chamber will never let go of this one precious position it gallantly secured, not even for any ethno-religious consideration. The PDP had ample opportunity to as much as secure the Senate Presidency on that fateful day, but wisely, it resisted the temptation to betray trust and this will go a long way in winning for it, a lot of goodwill from the opposition and any other group that may have dealings with it in the future.
At the Lower House, the APC, not putting anything to chance has concluded arrangements to ensure that the South East comes nowhere near the leadership position in the green chambers even when natural justice has providently made it in such a way that South East must occupy one (even if the least) of the leadership positions available in the house. The party reportedly zoned the position of House Majority Leader to the South-West; Chief Whip to the North-East; Deputy Leader to the North-West; and Deputy Whip to the South-South leaving the South-East with nothing.
Although Nigeria’s democracy and most other democracies support the principle of ‘winner takes all’, the Nigerian Constitution has an antidote to this ‘winner-takes-all’ philosophy embedded in the federal character principle. Except for any major upset, the APC by this arrangement is on the verge of making a third bold statement that the Igbos have no future in the party. They forget so easily that although the party lost in the zone, there were a few individuals who worked tirelessly to ensure that the party’s presence was felt in the region and that these individuals deserve a path in the back, not ostracism. Two of such persons are in the House of Representatives and are favoured by natural justice to occupy a leadership position irrespective of their rankings.
If the Speaker of the House in the person of Yakubu Dogara hails from the North-West and the Deputy Speaker in the person of Yussuf Lasun comes South-West, natural justice demands that the remaining four principal offices should be shared among the remaining four geopolitical zones including the South-East. But that may not likely be as the party may have zoned the position of House Majority Leader to the South-West, targeting Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Whip to the North-East, eyeing Mr. Mohammed Monguno from Borno State; Deputy Leader to the North-West with an eye on Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa from Kano State; and Deputy Whip to the South-South with Mr. Pally Iriase from Edo State in mind. For lack of a ranking member from the South-East, the zone clearly will most likely not produce any leader and the APC is not likely to invoke any ‘Doctrine of necessity’ (which would have been the next option) to pacify the zone. The body language of the Party and in consonance with its seemingly ‘avowed’ pathway does not suggest that it is willing to go that way.
Finally, the emergence of Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate president may have implicitly given the APC a leeway to deny the South-East the position of the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF). There is serious apprehension that the position which seemed foreclosed for the South-East may have also been lost as the APC will most likely ventilate its anger for the zone by ceding the position to another geopolitical. If that happens, and when it does, the APC will have succeeded in making four bold statements reflecting its irritation for the people of the South-East, nay—Igbos. They will have also succeeded in answering the question posed earlier in this article about the future of Igbos under the umbrella of the APC. The Igbos are watching with sealed lips and would speak up at the right time.
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