HURIWA backs zoning of political offices in Enugu, warns greedy politicians 

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), yesterday, raised the alarm that Abuja political forces bent on undermining good governance in Enugu State, have started a campaign to malign Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

It alleged that their aim is foist their moneybag as the next governor in 2023 by disregarding the zoning formula in the state.

In a statement issued by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the group claimed the political desperados attempted to bribe the rights group to join other non-government organisations to launch campaign of calumny against Ugwuanyi, but HURIWA refused to be part of such scheme.

It also decried reports of some political desperados also recently attempting to buy members of the Enugu State House of Assembly by offering them huge amounts of money to endorse a certain individual whose origin is not deserving of the zoning arrangement in 2023.

HURIWA described the development as “despicable and reprehensible” just as it urged Enugu people to back the governor in his effort to deliver democracy dividends.

The group insisted that there was an agreement and zoning formula in Enugu State since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 and anything outside that was anti-people and aimed at undermining the charter of equity, stressing that such move should be resisted in order not to destabilise the political serenity of the state.

The Guardian recalled that former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, who hails from Enugu West zone, recently declared his intention to run for the governorship position in 2023, saying there was no zoning agreement in the state.

But HURIWA’s Onwubiko said: “It is not true that there is no zoning arrangement in Enugu State. We urge Ekweremadu to consult the contemporary political history of Enugu State in which he is a major stakeholder to confirm that there is indeed a written agreement on zoning.”

At the end of his two terms of eight years, former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), handed over to Sullivan Chime, who also handed over to Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in 2015, due to the zoning arrangement.

“And all things being equal, Ugwuanyi will complete his two terms next year and hand over to a successor, who will also be chosen through the same fashion that has come to define Enugu State leadership recruitment process,” the statement added.