By Babajide Kolade-Otitoju

A meeting of Southern leaders in Enugu produces a stunning demand from the North: The presidency must remain in the South.


Ushered to his seat as Chairman of the occasion by the Master of Ceremony, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a trained engineer who has made a bigger name as a politician, moved gingerly aided by a black, shiny walking stick. It was clear that age has taken away his once sprightly steps.

With Iwuanyanwu hemmed between Chief Tony Anenih, Chairman, Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Enugu State Governor, Chimaroke Nnamani, two famous loyalists of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Many thought both Nnamani and Anenih were strategically positioned to influence conduct of the proceedings. With Iwuanyanwu demanding for a bowl of kolanuts, to be shared to the leaders of various groups present, the event kicked of with a subtlety that was soon contradicted as speaker after speaker mounted the podium.

Though Iwuanyanwu may have lost his sprightly steps to age, there was no evidence that he has lost the ability to hold an audience spell-bound. His opening remarks were arresting. Employing rich rhetorics and relentlessly recalling the past, his speech was delivered with considerable passion that it inexorably set the tone for the day’s engaging debate.

“It is insulting to say power is coming back to the North. How do I tell my child that I belong to a country where somebody donates power to me only when he wants it? In the past they said it was impossible for the Yoruba man and the Igbo man to work together. We are going to put a lie to that today. Nobody can cause disunity between us. We shall march forward united and as we march on, nobody can stop us,” the burly publisher of Champion remarked to a deafening applause inside the Enugu State House of Assembly chambers.

Iwuanyanwu urged the delegates to see themselves as history makers by their resolve to banish the demon of disunity that has stunted the progress of southern states. He stressed the need for the states to work together, saying that is the only way victory could be achieved and alleged that the north triviliases the genuine aspirations of southern people.

‘I was at the confab and I folded my arms and watched delegates from the north making all kinds of comments. Someone even said the oil produced in the Niger Delta came from the Chad Basin. I am not just a politician, I am a scientist, an engineer, and not just a politician. I do not see how this can be possible,” he remarked to greater applause. In his own address, host of the gathering, Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, stressed the need for religion and ethnicity to be included in the demographic data, if the impending census is to be taken seriously. He wondered how Nigeria could seek to plug into the global environment while ignoring the population dynamics acceptable all over the world.

“It does not make any sense to have census without ethnicity and religion. They say we must not amend the constitution, because it will be used for the third term agenda, we say no,” Nnamani said, to a huge approval. He noted that when “our fathers shared power, they did that in the interest of national unity. They recognized the prevailing situation. We hope that like our forefathers, we will have to share or relocate power,” Nnamani, apparently proud of the crowd he had been able to muster, remarked.

Chief Tony Anenih, former Works Minister, amazed many of the delegates. In his speech, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) demonstrated little diplomatese, as he poignantly showed his preference for the retention of the presidency by the South. He also echoed the feelings of most delegates that the domination of power in Nigeria by the North had bequeathed little progress to Southern Nigeria, the treasure base of the nation. Affirming that the south is the ‘lifeblood of Nigerian economy and a major reservoir of the nation’s human capacity, Anenih, who said he was not speaking as Chairman of the PDP’s Board of Trustees, stressed the need for unity if the goal of keeping power in the South must be achieved.





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Yoruba Are Serious About This Accord

Dr. Kunle Olajide, Secretary, Yoruba Council of Elders, spoke with Babajide Kolade-Otitoju and Uba Aham.


Q: What’s your impression about today’s events?
A: It was a tremendous success. We have opened a new chapter in the history of Nigeria. In your speech, you asked the South-East and South-South geo-political zones to, within two months, produce a single presidential candidate for the 2007 elections. How feasible is that time range?
It is feasible provided there is sincerity in the whole exercise. If there is sincerity, it is feasible. I believe they should be sincere. I issued that ultimatum because I wanted to test their sincerity and commitment, because we in the South West are not prepared to give our support to any group that is not serious.

Q: Looking at the situation in the country, the North appears more cohesive than the South. An instance is the coming together of the Northern politicians simply because they want power back. But this kind of co-operation and solidarity by the South is unusual. What do you make out of this?
A: It is because we have learnt from experience. For over 40 years, the North has taken advantage of separation and differences and those things that divide us. But now, we are determined to forge ahead together because we realise we share the same problems as the South - problems of political marginalization, environmental degradation, erosion, pollution, ocean surge and so on. So we have decided that this country must make progress; we have to work together. We are determined to forget the past and move ahead.

Q: Part of the Northern agitation has to do with the inclusion of ethnicity and religion in the forthcoming population. They insist that these two items must not be included in the demographic data. What do you make of this?
My understanding of that is that they are either not proud of their own ethnic base or they are not proud of their religion. I am proud to be a Yoruba man, I would proclaim it, and I am proud of being a Christian. And in any case, if there are certain demographic data that are essential for planning, you cannot exclude them out of any census figure because of their importance and strategic nature.

Q: Can we say that today’s events have put paid to the third term propaganda of Mr. President?
A: I have always regarded the third term propaganda as a rumour because Mr. President has never told anybody that he wants to do a third term. And in any case, he knows the contents of the constitution, that there is no third term there. So, definitely there is nothing like a third term. What does not exist does not kill. In fact, I’m beginning to think some people decided to design this third term propangada to distract us from the very important issue.

Q: Talking about the need for constitutional amendment, some people believe that the time we have between now and 2007 is too short to effect the necessary amendment of the constitution. Where do we stand?
A: That is not correct. I think we have been talking about constitutional amendment since 1999. A number of committees have gone out a number of times to that effect. They have all the facts. What does it take? To me, in three months, we can amend the constitution. We have a conference of Speakers who will sit together; we have the National Assembly – those are the two major constitutions that are required. The time is not too short. In fact, the constitution should be amended before 2007.

Q: The Yoruba Council of Elders, in some quarters, is seen to be conservative. What specific injustices would you say are behind this strong position that Yoruba elders have taken?
A: We have taken this position based on reason. First, we believe that this country must be a true federation in which case it must be based on truth. Therefore, power must rotate among zones because all the political offices are allocated during the dispensation according to geopolitical zones.

Q: Proponents of third term tenure may be afraid that if the constitution is amended, the plot may be smuggled into it. What do you say to that?
A: You muse realize that when you are amending a constitution midstream it does not affect the incumbent office holders because they have sworn to the old constitution.






No Deal To Return Power To The North
Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu, National Vice Chairman, PDP, South East, spoke with Babajide Kolade-Otitoju and Uba Aham.

Q: Such a well-attended conference is unusual in the Southern part of the country. What would you say informed such a large turn-out?
A: We turned out with courage and passion, with considerable degree of sincerity because enough is enough. We can’t continue to deceive ourselves. I think everyone rose up with the conviction that it should never be the same again. And that is the vision, more than anything else. We cannot continue to play attachment politics with spectator roles. I don’t think that is what we are meant for. It is not right. I think spectator politics must stop. We come from the southeast. We are wearing the shoes and we know where it is pinching most. We have dedicated, sincere and patriotic friends and citizens from the other three geo-political zones of the north, and I think, in all sincerity, they cannot but applaud whatever that was said today because it was based on truth.

Q: The Governor of Kaduna State, Ahmed Muhammed Markafi, said recently that there is an agreement to allow power to go back to the north after Obasanjo’s tenure.
A: (Cuts in) There was nothing like that. From 1999 till now, I doubt if there was any such meeting that I did not attend. In 2002 to early 2003, the issue of continuity for Mr. President was discussed because some Governors came together, about 11 of them, to say that he was not electable for their own personal interest.
Then we met in Audu Ogbeh’s house to define what constitutes an electable person and non-electable person, and for them to apply those parameters to themselves and see whether they are standing on a higher moral platform than Mr. President. And of course, most of them held their heads in shame and accepted they had erred. From there, we expanded the meeting and it was agreed that Obasanjo had done well, that he had performed beyond our expectations but that personal interest should give way to public interest and that he should be allowed to run for a second term. From there, the issue of who became the Senate President came up, it was discussed and by the time we arrived Hilton Hotel it was also decided that the Southeast should produce the senate president. There was no time anybody was talking about North and South because it was unacceptable to us. The North-South dichotomy has been buried, dead and buried a long time ago because when we were discussing, we were discussing as equal partners from six geo-political zones. We were not discussing as North and South. No! I wasn’t party to any North and South discussion. We were discussing issues affecting the geo-political zones of the country, and if you have been reading me, even when Audu Ogbeh spoke and Vincent Ogbulafor corroborated it, I challenged Ogbulafor and said: “You were not even in the party at the time. You were not holding any office and, therefore, you could not have been present because you were not omnipresent. How could you have been in the meeting of PDP when you were in All People’s Party, APP? It was not true. So whatever he had said was wrong, and whatever he wanted to gain out of it he would not succeed. And we presented the matter the way it was. And, of course, you remember at a time the national auditor told the whole world that the national chairman, Ogbeh, was speaking his own mind.

Q: Audu Ogbeh has been talking in the last three days that President Obasanjo has betrayed the North. What is your reaction to this?
A: Well, he has said so many things and he is a highly cerebral person. I wasn’t a party to whatever he was talking about. I am only limited to the one that I know. There was never a time we met as a political party in an enlarged caucus to agree that the six geopolitical zones were no longer going to be the basis for rotation and for reflecting the geo-political character of the country. I wasn’t party to that. I never knew about it and I did not participate in such a meeting. The one I told you about was the one I participated in, and that was where the decision was taken.




Why The South Must Retain Presidency By Anenih

I consider it a great privilege to be given an opportunity to address this unique, historic and distinguished gathering of our leaders from the South-East, South-South and South-West zones of Nigeria. This conference is taking place at a time of vibrant debate about the future of our country. I believe that the conveners of this conference are desirous of participating in the most profound way in this national discourse. It is in the understanding that our mission here is to partake in the enterprise of charting a new course for our country, through robust intellectual debate, that I have chosen to bare my mind on the state of affairs in our country, as forcefully and as candidly as I can possibly muster.

I should like to start by making a clarification. I wish to speak as Tony Anenih, a Nigerian from Edo State in the South-South Zone, and not as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Whatever I say here, therefore, should be seen as my personal observation and candid assessment of the state of affairs, rather than the position of any group to which I belong.

This conference is essentially a recreation of history. The three zones represented here today were part of a common political and administrative entity known as the Southern Protectorate in the pre-amalgamation days. And we cannot forget that even when regions were created, the three zones of today were largely grouped into two regions – the Eastern and Western Regions.
Although state creation has tended to lead to fragmentation and the loosening of historical bonds, the factors of unity have remained very strong. It cannot be forgotten that at a point in our history, the whole of the South followed the same path of political and social development, as manifested in the accession of both the Eastern and Western Regions to self-rule in 1957, their economic development and programmes of human capacity development. We have consistently played a unifying role in our country’s political development.
When we factor the massive similarities in the cultures of the people of the three zones, the obvious conclusion is that the Southern part of this country is a natural entity and not an artificial creation. Therefore, there is a natural mandate for us to work together and forge common strategies for productive co-existence in the Nigerian federation.

Unfortunately, in the 45 years of Nigeria’s independence, the three zones have not taken advantage of their natural affinities to work together for their common good. More critically, the zones have been susceptible to the divide-and-rule tactics of others. Our leaders have often made themselves willing tools in the hands of hegemonic forces with grave consequences for our common interests, stability and socio-economic development. Can we forget that our zones have been the theatre of violent political crises, colossal loss of lives in military coups de tat and a devastating Civil War! Or do we want to forget that for almost 45 years of our national life, we were the victims of power domination! Or can we ever forget that we have consistently been victims of public policy manipulations, which have left us grossly disadvantaged in the political economy of the country (e.g. creation of states and local governments, application of federal character principles, federalization of major institutions/parastatals, lopsidedness in legislative representation, viz majority composition at the National Assembly, etc.)

Permit me at this juncture to mention a trend that is most worrisome. Recently, the National Assembly embarked on a review of the Constitution involving many issues of national interest, including the immunity clause, derivation principle, rotation, etc. It is unfortunate that some Nigerians have chosen to misinterpret this assignment by a national institution as motivated by the President for his own self-interest, “the third term agenda,” as it is now commonly referred to. May I say categorically that in a democracy, all institutions have their own statutory functions and each should be allowed to perform without undue interference?

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, it is paradoxical that whereas our zones have endured great social, political and even environmental injustices, we have been the pillars on which the Nigerian nation has stood and continues to stand. We know for sure that the South is the life-blood of the Nigerian economy and a major reservoir of the nation’s human capacity. I make bold to say that the problems of Nigeria’s underdevelopment lie in the dissonance between the nation’s economic base and its political power base. If, over the years, the political leadership had originated from the same area as the economic base, the trajectory and story of our development would have been different, and, surely, more positive. It is because this has not been the case that the story of our zones has been one of political and economic exploitation and marginalization.

It is instructive that Nigeria’s journey to economic, political and even psychological recovery, after years of plunder and misadministration, is being engineered – and ably so – by one of us. Since becoming president in 1999, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has set about the task of clearing the massive rot of nearly 40 years of poor management and creating the necessary environment for the actualization of Nigeria’s enormous potentials. In every sector of Nigerian life, he has brought his vision, courage and reformist zeal to bear such that today, we can justifiably say that not only is Nigeria a better country, but also that we are, at long last, on the march towards our manifest destiny. We may not have attained the Nigeria of our dream but if we look at communication, power generation, education, agriculture, healthcare delivery, physical infrastructure, international relations, worker’s welfare, including pensions, etc., the story is that of radical improvement. Perhaps, more significant is the President’s profound effort at promoting a new culture of public administration, management and leadership, manifested in his dogged pursuit of transparency, accountability, due process and the anti-corruption crusade.

The historical significance of the Obasanjo presidency is that it has opened for us a vision of the enormous opportunity which good and purposeful leadership can activate. It is clear that Nigeria’s future and prospects of greatness depend on the continuity and consistency of good leadership. For our great country, there can be no alternative to a leadership that is visionary, courageous, diligent, selfless, hardworking and honest. The challenge to us is to be active, and even pro-active actors, in the enormous and noble task of generating the brand of leadership which is consistent with our national aspirations.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the People’s Democratic Party, the party to which I belong and of which I am Chairman, Board of Trustees, has it own constitutional provisions in relation to zoning and power rotation. The decision of the party on these matters is binding on all members, and I want to say unequivocally that I subscribe fully to any decision taken by the party. Permit me, however, to emphasize that our zones have an abundance of competent persons to lead this country and, indeed, that on the grounds of equity, fairness and justice, the next President of Nigeria, after President Obasanjo should come from the Southern zones, particularly the South-South zone which has never had a president, military or civilian, since 1960.

My dear brothers and sisters, let me enjoin you to continue to support the government and policies of President Obasanjo. Our historical and political experience demands that we give him the maximum cooperation to succeed in transforming this country into a stable and prosperous industrial nation. His success will be our success and a testimony to the greatness of our people. We must not labour under the illusion that we can be spectators in the bold and necessary drama of national reconstruction, or worse still, align with those who seek power for their own sake rather than for the good of our people. We must stand with the just and in due course the just will be vindicated.
I hope and pray that this conference will become established as a formidable instrument of Southern solidarity and national development. We must not let it be a mere talking shop or jamboree.

May the good Lord bless our enterprise and may God bless Nigeria.



• This speech was delivered by Chief Tony Anenih at the Southern Leaders Summit held in Enugu.