By Fred Itua
A lawyer and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Charlie Agbo, in this interview speaks on issues of zoning in Enugu State among others.
Politics seems to be in the air. As the parties gear up for elections, how is it fairing in Enugu State? Is your governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi among those distracted by this political fever?
Governor Ugwuanyi distracted by politics? Impossible. He was saddled by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party with the role of chairing the committee that determined the zoning of political offices ahead of the convention of the party which has come and gone.
To put it mildly, Nigerians, even the governor’s critics agree that he discharged that duty with the kind of aplomb which recommended him for that role in the first place. A calm, collected, focused, purposive and a result-driven visage. All of the fear that the PDP was going to implode over the issue of zoning, Ugwuanyi consigned to history with near-effortless ease. It is like infecting his colleagues, the members of his committee, the Zoning Committee with contagious, or should I say hypnotic calm, the type that guarantees that agreements are reached without as little as the thought of any iota of rancour.
He steadied the political ship of the PDP and characteristically without self-praise expeditiously returned to duty in Enugu. The last I checked, he was chairing a committee which he used to quell security skirmishes in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area.
But some of his colleagues have either declared interest in the presidential election or are seen making spirited effort to position themselves for further roles.
Well, I think it is a matter of style. Political development is also part of nation-building so those who have declared interest are also on the right part. What one will frown at is engaging in politics to the detriment of one’s role as a governor with a time- based mandate.
It could be said that Governor Ugwuanyi has had the benefit of running a turbulence-free administration, marking Enugu out as a peaceful state.
You couldn’t place it any more succinctly. If you assign yourself the task of running a state under some of the most inclement times: Corona virus, Boko Haram, herdsmen, kidnapping, banditry, general insecurity, dwindling revenue receipts and still manage to pay your workers their salaries at the end of every month, then you must have a peaceful environment to operate in.
What is your view on the raging issue of zoning in Enugu, your state?
My view is fairly known since I have canvassed it well in the electronic and social media. I believe in zoning of political offices. It guarantees equity and fairness. Its portends are there for all to see. It has brought calm to bear on a process that could otherwise be rancorous and divisive. But some people see it as undemocratic since according to them, it excludes the brightest.
Now, let’s get this very clear. Zoning is not undemocratic. It is as a matter of fact very democratic. Any action that is taken to guarantee equity and provide all integral parts of a political entity access to power preserves the process and therefore preserves and promotes democracy. When power is rigidly stationed in one part of a polity interminably on the basis of your theory of the brightest, inequity gets entrenched. It is just possible that a particular zone of the state has more capacity in terms of money and other means of influence.
This is where affirmative action becomes imperative. If you look at democracies that operate the electoral college, their target is to protect weaker states so they don’t get swallowed by the bigger ones. So going by your theory of the brightest, some of these states have been aided with greater political weight and consequence by their constitutions to the detriment of others. But the framers of such constitutions are looking to give all entities equal rights to participate in the democratic process. And who says that you don’t find bright people in every zone of Enugu State. They abound.
But opponents of zoning in your state argue that it does not exist and that there is no document to back the claim of its existence.
When people look for documents, they forget the supremacy and overriding fundamentality of practice. As is now trite, some constitutions are not written. Zoning is not cast in stone in Enugu State but derives its substance in practice and convention. When power was transmitted by the Chimaroke Nnamani administration, from Enugu East in 2007 to Sullivan Chime from Enugu West, it was an undisguised and manifest effort to zone. Why did that administration not transfer power to someone from the governor’s Enugu East? Were they acting out of any script? No, there was none. They were merely following the dictates of equity, the dictates of fairness, the dictates of justice.
When Sullivan Chime, from Enugu West supported the nomination and election of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, from Enugu North in 2015, was he acting from any script? He was following the convention of zoning and equity laid by the previous administration. Why did the administration not transfer power to someone from Enugu West, or Enugu East? It was in furtherance of affirmative action, of the convention of zoning.
The opponents of zoning in Enugu State have also argued that for there to be zoning, the people should be involved as against the current practice where the governor makes the choice.
Well, this argument has all the trappings of the argument for direct primaries by political parties. It would be ideal for the people to have direct roles to play in the zoning process. But very unfortunately, in the course of the evolution of our experiment with democracy, this power seems to have revolved around the governors, or the leaders of the major contending parties. But then how do the people get involved directly? It’s not possible. To think about this will involve INEC or a body that will have to collate the views of the people as to the suitability or otherwise of a candidate within the benefiting zone. Who decides the benefiting zone? INEC? I believe that people should support the zoning process to guarantee peace in so far, as we have seen, it has been largely equitable. All of these choices gravitate around the political parties. Don’t forget that there is an erroneous assumption that the incumbent governor’s choice must prevail.
But history has proved this assumption wrong in a few states. Those who are interested in having a say should join political parties and channel all issues of choice through their parties.
Chief Jim Nwobodo, the former governor of the old Anambra State was recently reported to have specifically called for the anointing of a governorship contender from Nkanu East, indicating his interest in micro zoning. What’s your take?
Look, micromanaging affirmative action has never been the convention. For instance, if a government says that it will reserve the position of Attorney General in the cabinet for women, it will be absurd for the women, who are beneficiaries of the action to dictate to the governor their own sub-rules like the religious orientation of the nominee, the geography of the person’s birthplace, and even the vagaries of their spousal choices or their marital status. She must be married. She must not be a second wife etc. That will be problematizing the process and complicating things for the person making the choice. For me, it should suffice that the choice is from Enugu East. Whomsoever in Enugu East that emerges we will support.
It is important to note that this kind of issue was never thrown the way of Chimaroke Nnamani when his administration was deciding. There was no space for the consideration of micro issues. It is also noteworthy that the administration of Sullivan Chime was not confronted with this type of jigsaw. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his team should be allowed to make their choice leveraging the mechanism in motion to use the well-meaning stakeholders in the state to reach a decision.
There is this notion that zoning is becoming a hot topic in Enugu because some people feel marginalized and that beneficiary zones take maximum advantage of their notion of ‘their turn’.
Zoning is not an Enugu phenomenon. It is a hot topic all over the world. Why is it that many are clamouring for the democratization of the permanent membership of the United Nations? Why are the Igbo clamouring to produce a president of their own extraction? The truth is that in Nigeria in particular where we don’t have an equitable means for the distribution of our national resources, political leverage becomes important. Political offices become basis for the distribution of these resources. Unfortunate as this is, it is a fact.
It may also be difficult to deny the advantage the zone of the incumbent could confer. These realities exist but do not invalidate the benefits of zoning. As we transition as a people, it is expected that our politics also will improve. The overriding factor is that rather than fight in a state-wide scale every election cycle, our leader emerges quietly through the collaboration of the governor, or the leadership of the alternative party (where that is the case) and stakeholders they consult for this purpose.