FOR the unsuspecting, the recent meeting in Umuahia, the Abia State
capital by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from the
South-East geo-political zone had the illusory motive of championing
the cause of the Igbos.
Specifically, it called attention to two recent developments which
include the promotions in the Nigeria Police Force and the
distribution of polling booths which put the South-East at a huge
disadvantage.
On the surface, this appears to be a welcome move, especially going by
the concerns and condemnations that have trailed the two decisions by
the Police Force and the Independent National Electoral Commission.
But beneath these expressed opinions which were in tandem with the
angst in the zone were the real but hidden reasons for the meeting.
Quite unknown to the host Governor Theodore Orji and few other
attendees including Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State, real
patriots who, at all times, would pursue any programme that will
benefit the South-East and Nigeria, there were others whose sole and
motivating presence was to begin the process to dislodge Senator David
Bonaventure Mark as the President of the Senate.
As it eventually turned out, those not privy to the secret agenda of
the camp were taken aback when one of the speakers, against the flow
of the discussion, mooted the idea that the South-East zone must push
to have the senate presidency as part of the bargain to support
President Goodluck Jonathan. That was after Ekweremadu had spoken
about the need to position the zone to get a juicy position and not to
be shortchanged after the 2015 polls.
Such high-wire machinations and conspiracies which played out at the
meeting were as confounding, especially because it did not fall into
any known structure of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose
chieftains and some Abuja-based politicians were in attendance. It was
neither a caucus meeting of the party nor the National Executive
Committee meeting of the zone. It was not conveyed at the instance of
Col. Austin Akobundu, the chairman of the party in the region, nor was
it held in Enugu, the historical capital of the South-East that has
hosted such meetings.
To make matters even more astounding, it was Chief Olisa Metu, the
national publicity secretary of the party who briefed the press at the
end of the meeting and not the host Governor Theodore Orji, the
chairman of the South-East Governors Forum or the zonal publicity
secretary of the party.
Thus, not a few curious glances were exchanged when one of the
speakers ended his contribution by recommending that the zone must
support the man who has been at the leadership level to go back to the
Senate in 2015.
Those who could not come to terms with the strange topic now being
muted were disgusted that a parley which was called to review the
position of the zone in the present scheme of national politics was
being turned into an exercise to promote one man's ambition. But how
will they achieve this goal? The plan is to start early to pursue the
argument through media articles, interviews and other platforms that
the tradition since the return to democracy in 1999 has always been
that the country's President and the President of the Senate usually
come from the same geo-political zone of either North or South.
They are to call attention to the fact that the South-East produced
the Senate presidency throughout the eight-year presidency of Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner from Yoruba land. The argument is to
be vigorously canvassed that Senator Mark was chosen during the late
Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's presidency as a northerner and only retained his
job due largely to the death of President Yar'Adua and the need to
ensure stability during those trying times.
The plot now is that pressures must mount so that the senate
presidency must go back to the South-East in 2015 with the imminent
re-election of President Jonathan.
Strategic warfare
The fear is that as elections draw nearer and as the National Assembly
comes to the end of its legislative year, a showdown may erupt between
the deputy and Mark, an old war horse in strategic warfare and a
combatant by training, especially as the latter is favoured to make it
back to the National Assembly to continue with his sterling leadership
of the Senate.
On the surface, Mark's calmness, humility and simplicity may have been
misunderstood by the sponsors and the promoters for the gavel to
change hands, but as those who know him intimately always vow, this
Idoma-born politician bares his fangs when people try to undermine
him. But will he fight back this time around? Only time will tell.
Vanguard
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