By Chinedu Aroh
The book, CLASH OF INTERESTS by renowned journalist, Sheddy Ozoene, is a treasured document for all seasons; a table shaker any day. Unveiled just six months ago, it has proved to be the most definitive account of Enugu State politics of the past 30 years. The more one reflects on the unfolding political events of today and the projections into 2023, the more one is able to analyse them against what has become a recurring phenomenon as established in the book.
The book details the rise of godfatherism and how the keen contests for political power have been conducted along less-than-altruistic interests and the consequences on internal democracy and good governance.
It is not fiction, but a well-researched book that took five long years to write. Although it focuses on the state’s political history from the days of the old Anambra state, those of us who are not from Enugu will find something in it to enrich their knowledge.
The book details the series of political contests starting from the Onoh vs Nwobodo governorship battles of 1979 and 1983 in the old Anambra State. It reflects on how both men introduced godfatherism in Enugu state by carrying their rivalry into subsequent governorship contests. The godsons they annointed eventually turned godfathers who annointed other godsons who also became godfathers, et cetera.
The phenomenon subsists to this day, and has fuelled the recurring political crisis in the state, usually during and immediately after the installation of a new governor.
As someone who played a part in the 2015 campaigns in Enugu state, Ozoene first started writing the book in 2016 merely as an account of the election of Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. But somewhere along the line, the storyline changed dramatically when Governor Ugwuanyi and his godfather and sponsor, former Governor Sullivan Chime, parted ways.
Quarrels between incumbent governors and their predecessors who helped them to office have become a familiar occurrence in Enugu state, but many did not see that of Ugwuanyi and Chime coming. The focus of the book therefore shifted as he started digging into the causes of those quarrels and the political crises they foist on the state.
The research, in the tradition of investigative journalism, ravealed the whos, the whats, the whys, the whens, the whichs and the hows of the political intrigues.
Not only did Jim Nwobodo play godfather by installing Chimaroke Nnamani as Enugu state governor, both men fell apart immediately after the 1999 election, so much that Jim quit the PDP altogether and joined the UNPP in 2003. Chimaroke also played the godfather and annointed Sullivan Chime as governor in 2007, but they turned out immediately after to become bitter enemies. Chimaroke was not only pushed out of the PDP, he joined the PDC under which he contested and lost the Enugu East Senatorial contests in 2011 and 2015.
Six years ago in 2015, it was the turn of Sullivan Chime to pick his godson, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as his replacement but their godfather/godson romance lasted less than two years before they parted ways. Today Chime has abandoned the PDP he led for eight years in Enugu state and joined the rival APC.
The pattern has been the same since 1999. The book reveals that it is a result of clash of Interests between the godfathers and their godsons.
There are other chapters too. One Chapter deals with Ugo Agballa’s unsuccessful rebellion against Chimaroke in 2003 and how his Ebeaneje platform could not prevail against the Ebeano machinery. There is also a Chapter on what has become the Ekweremadu factor in Enugu politics.
There is a Chapter on Okwesilieze Nwodo’s turbulent tenure as PDP national chairman, a 7-month period best remembered for how a party’s national chairman engaged his home governor in a celebrated struggle for political territory. Nwodo who became the state’s first Governor in 1992 on the wings of the old NPN led by CC Onoh had failed in his first attempt to play the godfather by installing Nduka Agu as Governor in 1999 so he viewed his headship of the ruling party as an opportunity to realise that ambition in 2011.
That permutation led to a loud bickering in his home state which ultimately led to his ouster from Wadata Plaza in January 2011. So died the ambition of his preferred governorship aspirant Anayo Onwuegbu and several others who had lined up for National and State Assembly seats under his faction of the party.
There is a Chapter on the Harvest Of Impeachments during the Chime days. Political bad blood had led to the “chicken” impeachment of Sunday Onyebuchi as Deputy Governor, the unsuccessful impeachment of Gov Chime himself in 2014 and the attempted impeachment of House Speaker Eugene Odo two weeks after for having the temerity to lead the plot against Chime.
There is the Chapter on the travesty of internal democracy, how governors railroad party stakeholders under a questionable party nomination process to fix their cronies as Local Government Chairmen. There is also a detailed report on Chimaroke Nnamani’s 11-year journey to the political wilderness and the issues that led to his political rebound in 2018 and eventual election as Senator the following year.
There are many, many more revelations in this book of over 260 pages with all the graphic details.
As Osita Okechukwu (DG Voice of Nigeria) wrote in the Foreword, no one book or historical account can be exhaustive on its own, but it is good that the book opens a new intellectual vista for those interested in the state’s contemporary history. It provides the basis on which readers can best understand the state’s political history, interpret those recurring political crises and the pervasive culture of political godfatherism in the state.
For a book whose accounts are factual, balanced and definitely not written from a partisan standpoint, Okechukwu insists that CLASH OF INTERESTS is “a treasured addition to whatever exists regarding the political history of Enugu state, one that every discerning reader should be proud to read”.
• Aroh is an Enugu-based journalist and former Editor of Enugu LGA News.