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Thursday,Dec 24,2009
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Thursday,Aug 06,2009
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Dim Ojukwu and Peter Obi’s Re-election Campaign
By:
Jideofor Adibe
pcjadibe@yahoo.com
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Former Biafran leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, has reportedly vowed to return Peter Obi to the Government House, Awka, after the February 2010 polls. Speaking at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Anambra State, at the flag-off of APGA’s campaign for Governor Peter Obi, Ojukwu was quoted as saying: "I urge you all who are my friends and sons to come out en masse and vote for my political son, Obi. Let it be the only thing I’m asking you to do for me" (The Nation online, 18/12/09). Obi rode on Ojukwu’s coattails to power.
Ojukwu’s call on the Igbos to vote for Peter Obi as a favour to him, has a number of implications, which goes beyond the question of whether Obi deserves a re-election or not. At issue are the implications, for the Ojukwu myth and legacy, of the Ikemba being drawn into the extremely polarising waters of Anambra state politics, at an age when he should be more of a unifying figure? If the Igbos hearken to his plea, will a victory in only one of the five Igbo states add anything to the persona and myth of the Ikemba Nnewi, who is also known as Eze Ndi Igbo (King of the Igbos)? On the other hand if Peter Obi loses, will that be taken as a referendum on Ojukwu’s claim to Igbo leadership?
There are a number of parallels between Zik’s NPP in 1979 and 1983, and Ikemba’s APGA in 2003 and 2010:
One, in 1979 when Zik agreed to become the Presidential candidate of NPP, it was perhaps reasoned that since the Yorubas were likely to vote en masse for the UPN, and the North for NPN, there was also a necessity for an ‘Igbo party’, that would rally the Igbos together, and use their bloc vote as a bargaining chip. If this was really the idea, it succeeded for the NPP swept the then two Igbo states of Anambra and Imo - and also won in the then Plateau state. Zik declared NPP ‘the beautiful bride’ of Nigerian politics and subsequently went into alliance with the ruling NPN.
It is thought the idea of APGA during the 2003 elections was to mimic what the NPP was for the Igbos in 1979. If this was so, then APGA was unsuccessful as it won only one of the five Igbo states (Anambra state), though many of the party’s supporters believed they were rigged out of some states such as Imo and Enugu states.
It is generally thought that Zik’s participation in that election, when the political environment in his home state had become extremely polarised, undermined his perception and aura in Igboland. It is instructive to note that today most of those who rode on Zik’s back to power in 1979 appear to have little interest in projects that will preserve his legacy.
Many people are today drawing parallels between the way Zik was ‘used’ in 1983 and the current efforts by the rump of APGA to get Ojukwu, who is 76 years old, and with a failing health, to get involved in the murky politics of Anambra state. Just like some people accused Jim Nwobodo of failing to use the victory of NPP in Anambra state to build up Zik’s image by expanding his support base, there are people who similarly believe that Peter Obi failed to appropriately reward Ojukwu by expanding the base of Ojukwu’s APGA to be the party to beat in Igboland. Compare the fate APGA in Anambra state with how Bola Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos state, has successfully repositioned AC to become a reincarnation of the AD, which was itself a reincarnation of Awo’s UPN. There is a legitimate concern that to lure an ageing Ojukwu into the political terrain as Jim Nwobodo did with Zik in 1983, especially when the APGA platform has shrunk considerably, will only lead to a further diminution of the Ikemba.
Three, like Zik, there is something Ojukwu evokes in many Igbos, even among those who have not met him, or agree with his political options, which makes it untenable for one party in Igboland to try to appropriate him. This perhaps explains why many of his Igbo critics will often come to his defence at any hint that he will be publicly ridiculed. I can recount my own minor contributions to the Ojukwu legend, which I feel entitle me to a feeling of rage, at what I consider a selfish attempt to ‘use’ Ikemba, even when it is obvious such that such will end up diminishing him.
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