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Anenih and the ideology of continuity
JOSEPH OMOWA
Chief
Tony Anenih since his sojourn into party politics has always been associated
with numerous controversies many of which he has always surmounted. One of the
latest was the allegation of threat of assassination peddled between him and
Governor Kalu of Abia State; which was recently settled by His Royal Highness
Oba Erediauwa, Omo N’oba of Benin. His assertion on the zoning and choice of the
Presidential candidacy for 2007, that only President Olusegun Obasanjo would
make a choice of a successor and not the PDP as a party, was still dangling in
the air when Chief Anenih flew the latest kite during his recent tour of the
South-West geo-political zone, and against all democratic norms, by giving the
South-west PDP governors a blanket approval to fly the PDP gubernatorial flags
in 2007. If Chief Anenih, a much respected political leader had considered the
numerous implications of such a statement, particularly its far reaching
consequences, he would have been more cautious and tactful. The precedent
showcased by the 2003 presidential campaign of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo could not
be relied upon because the campaign of continuity was embarked upon after three
years of peace and other numerous achievements, but the blanket approval given
to the five PDP Governors of the South-west for the 2007 gubernatorial elections
seems too early and precipitous. Therefore this needs to be thoroughly analysed
in the light of contemporary political events. There is no doubt that what we
practise in Nigeria is a parody of democracy in many ways where leaders make
statements without consultation with other major stakeholders which actions are
clearly reminiscent of military dictatorship.
The influence of Chief Tony Anenih no
doubt has been on the upward swing since the retired police officer veered into
politics. In his first outing as the Chairman of the SDP, the party that
produced M.K.O Abiola, the winner of the 1993 presidential elections adjudged so
far the freest and fairest in Nigeria, it will be recalled that following the
annulment of Abiola’s victory the leadership of that party surrendered this
victory, without a whimper, the backstage manipulations and manouevres still
buried in the womb of time would definitely be exposed at a future date. There
is no doubt that Chief Tony Anenih as one of the leaders of the PDM, a political
group under the leadership of Late General Shehu Yar’Adua, played a prominent
role in the victory of the PDP in 1999 and 2007 for which Chief Anenih was
compensated with the important Ministry of Works and Housing in 1999, and acting
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP in 2004 under which position he was
alleged to have given the approval to the serving South-West PDP Governors for a
second term in 2007. For any casual observer or political analyst familiar with
the politics of the South-west, its behavioural pattern, political
sophistication and the past experiences of the Yoruba ethnic group; that was a
volatile and frightening statement to make. This is moreso as those governors
have only spent one year out of a four-year tenure and most of them are yet to
chart an appreciable and enduring path of development, yet a leader from a
different geo-political zone who knows very little about the nuances,
temperament and political history of the people has had cause to make such a
volatile and frightening statement, through which against all the dictates of
democratic norms, he has awarded the incumbent governors an eight-year mandate
on a platter of gold. That statement is already causing ripples within political
circles in the geo-political zone. That statement is capable of making the
governors complacent; although there is no doubt that some of them are working
hard in an attempt to lay good foundations for the implementation of the
manifestoes which they canvassed during the 2003 elections. But when god-fathers
intervene and usurp the democratic rights of the people to make a choice at
party primaries and general elections, it poses a lot of dangers for the
democratic process.
That the blanket approval is coming just
in the first year of a four-year term poses a lot of danger, it is equally
capable of compromising the power of choice of the electorate. If a week or
month is a long time in politics, what does one say of the next three years of
either good or lack- luster performance? How can anyone vouch safe for the good
performance of these governors in the next three years? Does it mean that the
opinion or judgment of the people do not count anymore in the assessment of
their governments? Unknown to Chief Anenih, the electorate in the South-West
know their governors more than the leaders of PDP do. It will be recalled that
the enthronement of the PDP in 2003 in preference to the AD which ruled the
state between May 1999 and 2003 did not just happen overnight, we must attempt
to situate that momentous paradigm shift. The Yoruba ethnic group has learnt to
root for the politics of issues rather than that based on sentiments, hence the
long history of political relationship with the Action Group and UPN political
parties which were led by that indefatigable leader of men, Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, who never disappointed them. He had always kept faith with the
electorate through and through by implementing his party’s manifestoes to the
letter, hence his period represented the golden era of complete transformation
of the lives of the people through the provision of roads, health and, free
education programmes, and the provision of all other essential infrastructural
facilities. We are talking of the era of the widespread provision of rediffusion
and television services and the building of the liberty stadium for sports
development. It was not therefore difficult for the Afenifere/AD to latch on to
the Awolowo pedigree, hence it won overwhelmingly in the general elections of
May 1999. That was an era when the support of the people was taken for granted,
by both AD and Afenifere who had little to show on ground, the best Afenifere
was able to do was to send a team of assessors round the six states to assess
the performances of its Governors without the input of the electorate who were
at the receiving end. As expected, the Assessors scored the governors highly in
2002 with the hope that the electorate would heed this and vote for them as
usual in 2003, but as the electorate in the South-West geopolitical zone cannot
be taken for granted, hence the paradigm shift as a result of which the PDP was
overwhelmingly voted for. But one must not forget the President Olusegun
Obasanjo factor in the election of 2003, the Yoruba ethnic group felt that he
was good-intentioned hence, in an effort to strengthen his hands, the PDP was
voted for. In other words, this paper is saying that none of the present PDP
governors can point to any pevious track record of performance to warrant this
shift, they have all benefited from the Obasanjo factor in 2003
elections.Therefore every Governor in the South-West is now on his own, since
Obasanjo factor will not be relevant in 2007, everybody will be judged on his
performance, therefore the ideology of continuity as propounded by Chief Anenih
in the South-West may not hold or count. For a politically sophiscated and
articulate society what will count will be the performance of the governors, the
improvement in the welfare of the populace and how far they have implemented
their manifestoes to the benefit of the people.
We must further exploit and understand the
political antecedents of the South-west in order to understand the present and
to be able to extrapolate into the future. It is proper to understand how the
South-west switched their support from the AD to the PDP, this was because the
AD became complacent, arrogant and uncaring. The point must however be stressed
that the Yoruba ethnic group is more interested in good governance, systematic
delivery of democracy dividends, and they are equally appreciative of
well-defined and clearly spelt-out policies. The people expected the state
governments to tackle the numerous problems calling for solution in respect of
infrastructural decay, lack of drinkable water, unemployment for young
graduates, shortage of food due to continued dependence on primitive method of
farming; can solutions be found by carrying on as usual without bringing in some
innovations and ingenuity into government business? Should it be business as
usual through fire-brigade approach and media claims of achievements not
reflected on ground? There is no doubt that some are embarking on scientific
method of conceptualization of ideas resulting in the systematic delivery of
democracy dividends, the best judge of performance is however the people who
would do this through their votes, this can not be done by any leader
whatsoever. A father can not even force his views on his children, everything
depends on individual assessment.
The year 2007 is still a long way off as
nobody can successfully predict the future. But in a country where political
parties are not governed by any ideology, Nigerian politicians switch camps at
will, therefore the direction of political realignment cannot be easily
predictable. But one thing is certain, and that is that the PDP as a behemoth
can not remain the same in 2007, particularly if the platform is restricted only
to incumbents in 2007 as many members will search for other platforms provided
by the thirty or more political parties to activate their interests. The point
being made is that it is too early to close the gubernatorial avenues for the
other interested parties in the South-west, as the Afenifere which coveted them
in 2002 for the AD incumbents were shown the red card by the politically
articulate and discerning Yoruba ethnic group in 2004 elections. The Yoruba
ethnic group has long gone past the idea of blind ethnic support for any
contestant or any political party that do not match promise with performance.
One must not easily forget that just as there is power shift or rotation of
position at the national level, so it is in the states. So there are numerous
forces at play which Chief Anenih has not considered, it would therefore be
premature to decree a second term for the South-West governors.
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