Invitation was given last Sunday that the four Governors of Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo States, Obong Victor Attah, James Onanefe Ibori, Diepreye Solomon Alamieyeseigha and Lucky Igbinedion respectively, would address the press the next day at the Akwa Ibom Guest House situated adjacent to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja.
Reporters had converged on the premises of the Guest House about 10 a.m. when the managers of Akwa Ibom State Government Press Office in Abuja came to lead the way to the yet to be commissioned Governor’’s Lodge in the highbrow Asokoro District of Abuja, venue of the event.
On getting to the massive and expansive edifice, which must have had the signature of the Governor who, himself, is an Architect, the waiting game began. Just a stone’s throw down the street is also the equally imposing structure of the Bayelsa State Governor’’s Lodge.
It was in the belly of the building that the four Governors met to perfect their position on the issue of getting a replacement for the late Dikibo. The meeting was crucial to the extent that it represented, in the main, an opposition to the approach and strategy adopted by the acclaimed Leader of the South-South zone and Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, in pushing through the swearing-in of Ake as the new National Vice Chairman for the zone, contrary to the spirit of the Uyo meeting of July 10, 2004, which was inconclusive on the sensitive matter.
Despite the inconclusiveness of deliberation on the matter and the resolution to have stakeholders revisit the issue at another time, Chief Anenih, in concert with some other forces, had allegedly pressured the National Chairman of the party, Chief Audu Ogbeh to swear in Ake four days later in Abuja.
The meeting was understandably prolonged: taking on Anenih, the Fixer and Enforcer, along with Odili both of whom enjoy the generous support of President Olusegun Obasanjo, the one who brooks no opposition, in the emerging political calculations, is no mean task.
Odili is a smooth operator and silent dynamite. Indeed, it must take a lion’s heart to confront forces that are dressed in the garbs of the Nigerian State, and the quartet (Attah, Ibori, Alamieyeseigha and Igbinedion) as has been confirmed by their action- the open restatement of their rejection of Ake and their declared preference for Dr. Tarila Tebepah, who is Governor Alamieyeseigha’s nominee- is up to the task. The “South-South Four” did not come for the event until about 12.30 p.m., more that two hours late.
When they arrived, led by Attah, followed by Ibori, Igbinedion and Alamieyeseigha in that order, their gait was foreboding and their visage betrayed the workings of their innermost minds, their readiness to fight to finish. Indeed, they cut the picture of soldiers in a combat of their life: and, in fact, the succession race for the slot of National Vice Chairman (South-South) rendered vacant by Dikibo’s death has become a combat in all its ramifications.
It has become a supremacy battle of sort, a test case for the shape and texture of the 2007 political arrangements in the zone. The zone, by the crystallizing political calculations, looks good to clinch the Vice Presidential slot of the ruling PDP.
It is understandable, therefore, the dimensions that the jostles for the slot have taken. Faced with the reality of a time-barred tenure that expires in 2007, having enjoyed first term already from 1999-2003, the fear of drifting into political irrelevance is the beginning of wisdom. And political wisdom dictates that conscious effort must be made to put in place structures and arrangements for self-protection and preservation while out of office.
The installation of a trusted ally in the position of National Vice- Chairman (South-South) is one of such veritable structures and arrangements; for in that office is the control of the party in the zone both at the zonal caucus level and the NWC level.
HSTORICAL BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF PDP IN THE ZONE
Sunday Vanguard learnt that the battle for control of the zone actually started in the first tenure of this administration (from 1999-2003): the late Marshall Sokrari Harry, who was assassinated by yet to be identified gun men at his Karaye Street residence in Abuja, had, after working almost single-handed to ensure the emergence of Governor Peter Odili, moved on from his position as pioneer Rivers State Chairman to become the National Vice Chairman (South-South). The position made him the leader of the party in the zone.
When he became a pain in the neck of Odili’s government, the machine of the State Government was deployed to ensure the expulsion of the irritant Harry.
Harry had nurtured his Campaign for the Realization of South-South President (CRESSOP), a group that forcefully positioned him in the vortex of national politics. It was from this point that he found greater relevance in the calculations of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), which, through its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, drafted him into the campaign to stop President Obasanjo’s re-election.
Harry became the arrowhead of the opposition in the South-South zone; but he was killed in cold blood about the eve of the launch of Buhari’s presidential campaign in the zone. Meantime, Dikibo, one of Odili’s men in Rivers State PDP, had been appointed to replace Harry as National Vice Chairman. Dikibo was steadfast in his support of the Odili administration: he became the counter-poise to Harry. Anytime Harry was in Abuja to address the press on the perceived ills of the Odili administration, Dikibo with his ears to the ground, would almost immediately hold a press briefing to counter Harry’s allegations.
It was incontrovertible then that Dikibo, in the early months in office, dreamed and thought of how to protect and defend only Rivers, Odili and his government. But as time went by, he had a better understanding of the functions of his office as the leader of the whole of South-South zone and he quickly readjusted his focus and applied himself to that status.
He reappraised his relationship with the other South-South Governors, took them as his brothers and which was why he stuck out his neck for all of them during the primaries/nomination for re-election. Dikibo, as gathered then, became the drum major for the South-South Governors at the NWC meetings where their fate was decided.
Remarkably, he fought hard to ensure the confirmation of Alamieyeseigha’’s nomination when there were manouvres by forces who used the instrumentality of the Anti-Graft Commission to attempt to deny him the party nomination. He also led the defence of Governor Ibori at the NWC when similar moves were made to prepare the grounds for his disqualification. Dikibo’s role in securing the Governor’s nomination earned him their respect, much so that some of the Governors called him “Big Uncle”.
In essence, Dikibo, by his sheer political savvy, not protestations, emerged from the cocoon of Rivers State political arrangements, where he was answerable to one man, one party structure, to become the undisputed political leader of the South-South zone, answerable to and loved by all.
His popularity with the five Governors of Cross-River, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Akwa Ibom had positioned him for the very top of his political career with feelers indicating then that whatever higher position he was interested in, the support he enjoyed across the States would get him there.
It was learnt that this possibility caused panic in certain camps in the zone. Unconfirmed information had linked Dikibo with plans by a majority of the South-South Governors to push him for the position of National Chairman of the party in 2007, with the implication that the position of Vice President would in that circumstance be ceded to the Southeast zone. Some forces, as gathered, were not happy with Dikibo’’s rising political profile in the zone and the collateral damage that the bigger job being purportedly packaged for him could cause to their (forces’) secret political agendum.
Amidst these scenarios and calculations in the South-South zone, the symbol of the perceived popular plan to prop up a cosmopolitan zonal leader that could be trusted by all and fair to all in 2007 political agreements, Dikibo, was assassinated.
The usual Police investigation has been going on, returning as it were, unconvincingly though to some of the Governors, a verdict of an armed robbery attack. Sunday Vanguard learnt that this is why Attah and his colleagues are angry. Ibori, as learnt, is the most touched by the dastardly act meted to a “thoroughly good man” and a close confidant within the boundaries of his State.
Sunday Vanguard gathered that the aggrieved Governors, realizing their limitations in unraveling the “killers” of Dikibo, had determined to make sure that whoever succeeded him must come from their camp, perhaps, as the best way to pay their respects to a fallen friend and trusted leader; which was why they are kicking against the process through which Anenih and Governor Odili had brought in Ake as Dikibo’s successor.
It was gathered that they saw in the plot to impose Ake on the zone a manifestation of the desperate desire by a group in the zone to chart a narrow minded and selfish path to political glory at the expense of the other stakeholders; otherwise, the group would not have been averse to a stakeholders’ meeting on the issue even if the successor to Dikibo must come from Rivers State. But the successor was fixed in Abuja without recourse to the zonal meeting, which, as feared would have defeated, in a clear democratic contest, the nomination of Ake.
ANENIH EXPLAINS THE “FIXING”
The Vice Presidential slot which strong feelers from the PDP and the Presidency say is South-South bound is the attraction. But both camps– the Anenih’s camp from which shadows Odili is operating and the Group of Four Governors– contend that it is not true that the scramble for the VP slot is why there has been aggravation in the zone.
For instance, the Anenih camp has been explaining to those who care to listen that the other Governors are just apprehensive for nothing over the speculated quiet endorsement of Odili for the VP slot.
The Attah-led camp also sees any linkage of their action to that as a subjective assessment of the situation. Anenih, who rarely grants press interviews, had taken time off after much pressure to shed light on the contentious issue penultimate Thursday in Abuja, shortly after the South East Traditional Council paid him a courtesy visit.
He had explained, against the backdrop of the allegation that he colluded with Odili to impose Ake as Dikibo’s successor, that “The National Secretariat of the party wrote Rivers State to nominate somebody for the un-expired period (Dikibo’s tenure would have expired in December 2005).
The letter was written and signed by the National Secretary of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor. On the receipt of the letter, the Executive Committee of Rivers State nominated Godspower Ake and sent the nomination to the National Secretariat. The National Secretariat in turn accepted Ake’s nomination and wrote the Chairman of Rivers State chapter of the party that Ake would be sworn in last Wednesday.
That was what happened, because Bayelsa State is up till today retaining the position of Deputy National Organising Secretary.
“What Rivers State did was to obey the instruction of the National Secretariat, which was proper. If there was any gang-up by a group of people, I take it as an unfortunate thing.
What the party has done is the correct thing according to our Constitution and the zoning arrangement, which all stakeholders in the South-South zone, including State Chairmen, who did not agree with the nomination by Bayelsa Governor, as he already has the Deputy National Organising Secretary, and the two positions cannot be in one State. I am happy that the National Working Committee did the right thing.
There would have been a disaster if the reverse were the case. But South-South leaders have a way of settling problems within the zone and I believe that the dusts raised have settled. We are now working together to move the zone forward in the scheme of things without bitterness because all the Governors are mature and understanding”. But four days after Anenih spoke, the four Governors stormed Abuja in protest to see Obasanjo on the matter.
The decision to see Obasanjo on the matter was to ascertain if he had a hand in the “Anenih/Odili coup”. That, at least, would help them determine the scope of the battle and for how long they can hold out.
THIS IS OUR CASE: THE “SOUTH-SOUTH FOUR” SPEAK
It was at the press conference held at Akwa Ibom that they removed all forms of ambivalence in their position when they declared that they stood by their nomination of Dr. Tarila Tebepah as successor to Dikibo.
Their words: “We, the Governors of the four South-South States of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo, are deeply dismayed, not only by the unprecedented volume of write-ups and articles, but more particularly by the deliberate falsehoods, insinuations and outright distortions of facts by a section of the media as a fall-out of the recent zonal meeting of the PDP in Uyo.
We, however, note with appreciation the interest of the generality of the media in the affairs of this ‘‘misunderstood region’’ particularly as it relates to efforts aimed at identifying and articulating issues of common concern and setting the agenda for addressing them. Reports, analyses and feature stories in the newspapers tend to agree that there is a problem over the issue of a replacement for the late Chief Aminasori Dikibo, former National Vice Chairman of PDP, South-South, owing to the inability or unwillingness of certain leaders to accept the majority position on the matter.
“All have also agreed that out of the five Governors present at the meeting in Uyo, four supported a particular candidate while one supported the other. The third candidate was disqualified from contesting. Also, an overwhelming majority of the members of the zonal caucus of the party comprising National Assembly members and other accredited members supported the choice of the four Governors.
We have found it necessary to offer this joint clarification of certain issues as a result of such stories and post event analyses as appeared in the Guardian of Wednesday, July 21 (Page 8), Thisday of Thursday, July 22 (page 18) and again Thisday of Friday, July 23 (page 17). For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state as follows:
•That truly, the Uyo meting could not arrive at a consensus candidate for the position of PDP National Vice Chairman, South-South.
•That as a result of this, a firm decision was taken to ‘step the matter down’ until another meeting of the stakeholders could be convened.
•That since this decision was taken, no meeting of the stakeholders or indeed of the Governors has been called to discuss this issue.
•That news of the purported swearing-in of Hon. G.U. Ake as a replacement for the late Chief A.K. Dikibo came to us as a total surprise.
•That the Governor of Bayelsa State, whose nominee had enjoyed popular support, has strongly protested this patently undemocratic action.
•That we, the three Governors of Akwa Ibom, Delta and Edo, continue to firmly support the nomination of Dr. Tarila Tebepah as the replacement for the late Chief A.K. Dikibo.
Governor Attah had, during the question and answer session dismissed the explanation by Anenih that it was still the turn of Rivers State to hold the position for the “un-expired” term that expires in December 2005, saying: “Even if, and I repeat, even if it was true that the National Vice Chairman was to come from Rivers State, it is the zone that was supposed to produce such a candidate.
I want you to get that principle very, very clear. We are not here appointing a Minister to serve the National Working Committee or any such thing. When the President needed a Minister from me, he asked me to make nomination, but when the party needs a candidate from a zone, it writes to the zone to produce a candidate and I think that has been the way the whole process has been flawed. You cannot possibly write to one Governor to send in somebody to serve a zone; it has never happened before. So, you talked about precedent, but we do not know that there is any such precedent.
I will like you to go and ask the National Secretariat to produce for you the letter that they wrote to the Northwest zone because at the same time that we were expected to produce a replacement, Northwest was expected to produce a replacement and they did and the letter went to the zone.
The zone presented a candidate after going through a series of processes of elimination from eleven to nine to seven candidates, and eventually agreed on which one the zone wanted. But here we are, a strange situation in which a Governor is being asked to nominate and that is why it is problematic. We do no think that whoever was presented therefore is a zonal candidate”.
WHERE IS GOVERNOR DUKE?
At the end of the press conference, the four Governors headed for the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, to meet with Obasanjo. They left with a clear position on all issues, save the position of Cross River State Governor, Mr. Donald Duke on the matter. Duke was not and is still not with them.
Asked to comment on where the Cross River State Governor stands on the matter, Governor Attah said, “The Governor is alive and well and available to answer your question”. Such an answer cannot settle the curiosity of the watchers of the development. Duke and Attah are said to be in disagreement over a lot of issues that border on the two sister states of Akwa Ibom and Cross River and so the duo have parted ways with each other.
Duke, as learnt, has also not supported Rivers State Governor in the matter, apparently in a bid to manage his relationship with President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, thus making him a neutral man in the circumstance.
THE VILLA MEETING: OBASANJO DISOWNS SUCCESSION PLOT
The meeting at the Villa, as learnt, was said to have been frank as the Governors presented their case just the same way they presented it to the press.
The only improvement was that they opened up on issues that were confidential to the house. One of the Governors was said to have insinuated that people outside believe that the action of Anenih and Governor Odili had the backing of the Presidency, a development to which Obasanjo was said to have reacted impatiently, washing his hands off the succession crisis and saying that he was more pre-occupied with the problem of the country than the internal affairs of the party at the zonal level.
It was learnt that Obasanjo told the Governor that he was not furnished with the full facts and true picture of the situation on ground. He was said to have appealed to the angry Governors to exercise restraints, as the matter would be properly addressed in the interest of peace, stability and progress of the party in the South-South zone.
There have been speculations that the whole game was being played and perfected to bolster some political arrangements in 2007. An aide of President Obasanjo has dismissed the speculations as “wicked, share ignorance and crude” and admonished thus: “Count the President out of this; it is purely a party affair and Baba should not be associated with it at all”.
He further argued that “there are a lot of work for the President to handle and he has been very pre-occupied with local, regional and world matters, being the current Chairman, African Union (AU), the Chairman of the Commonwealth, Chairman, Heads of State Implementation Committee of NEPAD as well as facilitator of peace in crisis prone countries in Africa, and so could not afford to be meddling with internal political matters.
It will be trivial to say he is the one behind the internal party matters; no, there are party officials at the various levels right from the ward to the national handling such matters”.
Indications are that the appeal by Obasanjo to the Governors to toe the path of peace appears to be working like magic as a source close to the Governors told Sunday Vanguard last week that frayed nerves have been calmed. But there is no clear assurance yet that the Governors would back down on their agitations.
Feelers from the National Secretariat of the party last week did not show any inclination by the leadership to reverse its decision as long as the zone has not reached an agreement acceptable to the zone. The position of National Vice Chairman (South-South), a party official explained is a zonal position, adding that any state that is holding it is doing so in trust for the other States in the zone; “so, it follows that whichever state or whoever from the state gets it must have the support of other stakeholders from the zone.
It is not like other party positions”. This would appear to be in tandem with Governor Attah’s argument that even if Rivers State was to produce the candidate, the zone would choose the person who would be Dikibo’s successor. Indeed, Dikibo has died and been buried, his soul, so it seems, has not been allowed to rest in peace by the intriguing politics that have been woven round him, the position he vacated by reason of his assassination and the succession battle. But will the “South-South Four” be able to win the battle as a mark of respect for the fallen hero of the zone?
Whatever would make four Governors come together at a press parley must be very important. And because one issue that has brought them together in recent times has to do with finding an acceptable successor to the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Vice Chairman (South-South zone), the late Chief Aminasori Kala Dikibo who was felled by assassins’ bullets in more than controversial circumstances on his way to the South-South Leaders’’ conference in Asaba on February 6, this year, two reasons were conjectured: it was either the disagreement over the alleged undemocratic imposition of Mr. Godspower Ake, former Special Adviser to Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State on Land Matters, had been settled amicably or it had further degenerated.
