The decampee S/East politicians on the podium of infamy

There were four lepers at the gate of Samaria, who took their fate in their own hands. The story can be found in 2 Kings 7:3-10. The lepers took a decision that, not only changed their fortunes, but that of the entire nation of Israel.

Being outcasts, they had been sitting at the gate of Samaria, begging for alms and surviving on handouts.

It was a time of severe famine in Israel and it was so terrible that people were helpless. When the lepers discovered that alms were no longer coming and that death was imminent, they said to one another, ^“Why stay here until we die? If we say, we’ll go into the city, the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So, let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans (Syrians) and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

A few days ago, a number of politicians from the South East geo-political zone, who had lost out in the power equation in the country and in their various states, and had been surviving on mere patronage by those in power (in their individual states), decided to “swim or sink”.

When the news broke last week that some People’s Democratic Party (PDP) politicians of Igbo extraction had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), it did not come to many Nigerians by surprise following the goings-on in the country and the antecedents of some of the decampees.

The roll call of the defectors revealed politicians who are yesterday men and women, whose survival had been dependent on the magnanimity of those in power. Many of them have lost electoral values and had for many years been consigned to the backwaters of politics.

Okwesilieze Nwodo, a former national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was mentioned, but he quickly issued a rebuttal, saying he was yet to quit. Others are Chukwuemeka Wogu, a former minister of labour and productivity; Agunwa Anakwe, a former speaker, House of Representatives; Senators Emma Agboti from Ebonyi State, Chris Adighije, Nkechi Nwogu and Ifeanyi Ararume.

Jim Nwobodo, Gbazuagu Nweke Gbazuagu, Ezekiel Izuogu and Benjamin Uwajumogu, a former Imo State House of Assembly speaker, made the list.

A few days ago, Senator Emma Anosike dramatised his exit through a letter to Ali Modu Sheriff, national chairman of the PDP.

The politicians emptied themselves into the APC in line with the axiom, “He that is down fears no fall” and a desperate decision akin to that of the four lepers as reflected in the anecdote above.

Close observers would readily attest that the common chord running through the reason behind the exits could be located in a feeling of irrelevance in the PDP and inability to have a say in the decision-making machinery of the party, both at the state and national levels.

Since 1999, the PDP in Anambra has never been stable. The money politics being played in the state, has not only destroyed the real essence of party politics, it has also ruined many politicians and innocent citizens of the state. It is on record that Anambra PDP, for instance, has never conducted a successful congress since 1999. There have always been factions.

With the too much money available in the state, they have always enriched the purse of the national secretariat in Abuja. For this reason, critics say Wadata, Abuja, office of the PDP is always comfortable with factions in Anambra PDP which bring more money to it.

In his letter of resignation to the party’s national chairman, Emma Anosike said: “It must be conceded that the party apparatchik at the national levels had come to view party politics and intrigues as vintage harvest points of sorts in terms of loyalty trading, finances and perquisites of office. These contours of aberration took bold imprints as the honey pot ascription in matters that relate to Anambra State particularly and closely knit camaraderie prevail, with it a solid mechanism of oiled party administration, dynamics, and maturation.”
A critic, who spoke with BDSUNDAY, said that most of the decampee politicians neither positively affected the fortunes of the South East nor the people of the constituencies, and that all their active years in PDP, they laboured only for their stomachs and the good of their individual families.

“They can go anywhere; At best, many of them are spent and expired forces that no longer have anything to offer. When they occupied privileged positions in PDP, how did they affect the people in their states or region? They acquired wealth for themselves and for their children, children unborn. Who is interested in where they are now? If they like, let them be given any office in APC, they will also not add any value to the S/East. But truth be told, it is a disgraceful journey and a descent into infamy,” the critic said.

Okwesilieze Nwodo, a pioneer national secretary of the PDP and one time national chairman of the party, was listed among the defectors. But as soon as the news hit the airwaves, the Enugu-born politician issued a rebuttal.

The decampees attended the South East Caucus meeting of the APC in Enugu recently, where they declared their new identity. Although Nwodo was not there in person, his wife Dorothy was present, which fueled the speculation that Nwodo must have sent her to test the waters.

In his desperate effort to deny the report that he had jumped ship, Nwodo spoke with journalists, and said: “It is improper for the media to stand merely on my wife being present at a meeting that I was not, to conclude that I have joined the APC, disregarding the fact that my wife as an adult has her own political life.

“As one of the founding fathers of PDP who has held the highest office in the party, I know the statutory procedure of resigning and would willingly do that if necessary.

“Although a number of issues within the PDP remain embarrassing to the founding fathers, the truth is that I’m still a member of the PDP and has not joined the APC.”

The three major defectors from Abia State, Chukwuemeka Wogu, a former minister of labour and productivity; Chris Adighije and Nkechi Nwogu may have reacted to the alleged ill-treatment meted out to them in different capacities by the PDP in the state.

They have one story or the other about how they were short-changed by the PDP at various levels.

Chukwuemeka Wogu’s defection did not come as a surprise to those who have been following his politics since his hasty exit from the Goodluck Jonathan cabinet shortly before the general election last year.

Wogu, who hails from Umuahia in Abia State, resigned his ministerial job to contest the gubernatorial election. It was reported that the former minister may have got some assurances from some quarters to succeed Theodore Orji. However, somewhere along the line he was said to have fallen out of favour following the new thinking and the decision of the state chapter of the PDP and Orji to zone the slot to Ukwa-Ngwa axis of the state.

Wogu felt deceived and hard-done-by. When he was reminded that Orji may have had a preference for a particular candidate, and may have endorsed Okezie Ikpeazu as his successor, the former minister said he had no knowledge of that.

“The various endorsements do not translate to electoral victory; I have also been endorsed, what you do with the endorsement is left for you, I know what I want to do with my endorsement, my endorsement is from God”, he stated.

At that time, he had vowed never to leave the PDP.  “I will not quit the party under any circumstances and I believe that the process will be straightforward and not hijacked,” he said.

Chris Adighije’s journey may have effectively begun with the refusal of the current Abia State government to re-nominate him as the member representing the state at the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

Last December, following an agitation by certain group calling for the reappointment of Adighije as Abia’s representative at RMAFC, the state government had issued a release saying that nomination and recommendation of the state representative at RMFAC was the sole prerogative of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.

“The governor will make this recommendation and nomination at the appropriate time and nobody should preempt or prompt him or walk faster than his shadows. Nobody or group should make any claim in this regard and purporting it to have the seal of the Abia State government,” the statement read.

Since his eventful stint in the Senate between 2003 and 2007, not much has been heard of Adighije. His attempt to return to the upper legislative chamber was frustrated by Nkechi Nwogu, now a decampee. Nwogu was a member of the House of Representatives when she defeated Adighije and Adighije’s predecessor, Bob Nwanunu.

Nkechi Nwogu, like other defectors, has a feeling of being ill-treated by the PDP. She has yet to come to terms with the decision of the party to field Theodore Orji to take over her seat at the Senate. She represented Abia Central Senatorial District twice (2007-2015) and was prevailed upon to step down for Orji in 2015. She has not really recovered from the shock of the loss, hence, her decision to say a hard goodbye to a party that made her everything she is today in politics.

Although the defectors are leaders in their own right, analysts believe they never impacted positively on the lives of the people of their zone.

Onyenkachi Mordi, a businessman, said the South East would not miss the decampees.

“What, for instance did South East benefit from the likes of Jim Nwobodo? He collected so much money from the Jonathan administration for campaign, but it remained a secret until recently when he was listed among those that collected millions of dollars from Dasuki. Is he then joining the APC to evade prosecution? The world is watching,” Mordi said.

Although many of them had been recognised by their state governments and had been given some assignments just to rehabilitate them, they appear not to be comfortable to be playing in the “local league” as it were. Analysts say their decision to join the ruling party could be to belong to a group that is in control of the resources as states cannot afford all it takes to oil their extravagant lifestyles.

Martins Okebugwu, an analyst, explained that the decampees had lost their electoral value even before the general election last year.

“If you analyse the last general election critically, you would realise that the South East did not vote the way they used to. There was massive voter apathy. It was fallout of the people’s disappointment in the politicians in the zone. If, for instance, Nwobodo received N500 million for campaign, where did he spend it? The people did not see the money let alone spending out of it; so, those politicians have since lost their electoral value. They can’t even influence any party’s victory in local government election and they know it themselves.

“In the last elections, the voter apathy was so much that, I think, Theodore Orji, who was governor of Abia State at the time, had to set up a panel to investigate the cause. That shows you that even the people are not happy with how the politicians have used the PDP to deny them everything they should get from government,” Okebugwu said.

While it is believed that the South East will yet again experience furthertsunami, what is yet to be determined is how the defectors think they can survive in the APC that is already in crisis under one year in office. Time will tell.