Ekweremadu’s transition prognosis and book presentation politics

The major pivot of Deputy President of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu’s treatise in his recent book, was his advocacy for the blending of the 36-State structure of the present Nigeria’s federation into six broad zones. What Ekweremadu was proposing does not sound new, because it merely seeks to extend the stature of second republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s six geopolitical zones initiative.

Furthermore, having served as the chairman of National Assembly Constitution Review Committee, Ekweremadu’s thoughts as encapsulated in his hurriedly minted book, puts him forward as a partisan politician in need of transition to statesmanship.

But the positions taken by him would be hard to forge. In actual fact, Ekweremadu’s book should be seen for what it is: it was intended to dress him in the robe of forward-looking intellectual that has the interest of the nation at heart. Yet, underlying that façade is the unintended purpose of raising his credentials for the subtle scramble for the post of vice president by some ambitious politicians from the Southeast.

There is the possibility that after the well attended similar book presentation by current minister of science and technology, Dr. Ogbonnia Onu, the DSP may have been inspired to walk in similar path to up his standing in the eyes of Southeasterners that fall for the aura of intellectuals in politics.

It is this attempt to use public intervention in book form for other ends that may detract from the import of the DSP’s postulations. After all, from the privileged position as chairman of the review committee on the never-ending attempt to amend the constitution, the fourth term senator had ample opportunity to push his ideas.

However, it is obvious that the views he expressed and condensed in the book were informed by recent occurrences in the polity. The DSP contended that condensing the 36 states into six regions or administrative zones was the only way to check the current challenges facing the states in the area of meeting their fiscal obligations.

Ekweremadu’s transition seems to be very sudden because records show that he has been on the side of the perennial agitation by the Southeast geopolitical zone for equality of states as basis of sharing the nation revenue. The DSP was also practically involved in the attempt to create one or two additional states for Nd’Igbo.

Erudite academic, Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, who was the chairman of the organising committee for the public presentation of Ekweremadu’s book, explained that the project was the DSP’s “modest attempt at dissecting the problems facing Nigeria”, stressing that the senator was eager to “share his own ideas on the way forward.”

Amucheazi, who spoke to journalists during a pre-event briefing in Abuja, had further disclosed that “this intellectual discourse will provoke ideas that will boost governance at all levels for the benefit of all Nigerians; we solicit your support to make the occasion a success.” He added that the ideas contained in the book were generally to beseech Nigerians to engage in good-faith discourse on how to make the Nigeria project work for all, as well as, “challenge leaders and citizens to find creative solutions to the myriad of problems confronting the country.”

He disclosed that part of what motivated Ekweremadu to put his ideas on paper was the non-assent to the 4th Constitution Alteration (Amendment) Bill, by former President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that the senator wanted to present the book immediately after the 2015 election.

On Wednesday April 27, 2016 when the book, “Who Will Love My Country: Ideas of building the Nigeria of our dreams,” was finally presented to the public, Ekweremadu in his remarks, reiterated a reduction in the number of federating units and the devolution of more powers to the federating units as the centre has, obviously, bit off more than it could actually chew.

He said his argument was that it is best for the nation to return to the regional arrangement with six geopolitical zones as federating units, contending that “this will help us to shrink the size and cost of government and to increase the volume of resources available to the regions.”

“It will cut down the cost of governance drastically and help the federating units to benefit from economies of scale, particularly in mega-development projects. With just six regional capitals, the current states can serve as small provinces for administrative convenience,” he noted.

While praising the nation’s founding fathers, including Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello for adopting federalism, Ekweremadu lamented that the arrangement had, over the years been foiled by the reckless derailment of the country’s federalist structure by successive military governments.

According to the author, suggestions that fiscal federalism would bring about distorted growth were untenable, pointing out that even in a forest, not all trees are equal. He added: “The major blame for our fumbling and abortive federalism should always be laid at the doorstep of the military. From the first military coups d’état and the promulgation of Decree 34 of 1966 to the termination of the last military rule on May 29, 1999, the Nigerian armed forces snatched away, not only the nation’s democracy, but also her federalism…

“Unless we reform the nation’s federalism, Nigeria might never recover, because the current arrangement results in underdevelopment, inequity, bad blood, corruption, maladministration, incompetence, ineptitude, and indolence. Many things have gone wrong with our brand of federalism.”

Without elaborating the fundamental difference between self-determination and secession, which most young people in the Southeast have been agitating, the deputy president of Senate declared: “I am a staunch disciple of self-determination; however, at the risk of sounding contradictory, we must be frank enough to admit that the number of states we have today, or plan to create, is simply not sustainable.

“They have put so much pressure on the scarce resources because the states, as we know them today, are not platforms for wealth creation, but for wealth sharing. The more the number of states and local government areas a people can boast of, the greater the chunk of the ‘national cake’ they take home every month.”

It is left to be seen how governors and people of such states as Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Osun, Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Gombe, Ekiti, Delta, Kogi and Nassarawa could respond to Ekweremadu’s formulation. Most importantly, it is doubtful how his prescription could receive ready converts in Southeast, where the DSP is perceived as a political dealmaker.

Within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to which Ekweremadu belongs, the position of presidential candidate has been zoned to the north and chances are that the lot for presidential running mate may fall either to the Southwest or Southeast. Not that alone, recent speculations that the powers that be in APC are insistent that the current president of senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, should be convicted, have given rise to the possibility of a replacement. And the DSP is said to be interested in trying his luck to step into Saraki’s shoes, following Senator David Mark’s rejection of such contest.

In the light of those projections, the possibility that Ekweremadu’s quick make of less than 200 pages, could as well be an exercise in political positioning by other means is not unlikely. Could it then be his way of warming himself to the presidency to remove any recriminations should Saraki fall? For the politician, all things are possible, but Nigeria may have gone past the level of retreating or transiting to yesterday in search for regional redefinition of Nigeria’s federalism.

Politics aside, Ekweremadu’s prognosis being a slight deviation from the popular call for restructuring of the country into a true federation of states and local councils, shies from the substance, while pursuing the less controversial in the guise of chewing on the statecraft.

When the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and current Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, decide to capture their own thoughts in book form, it would be obvious that the scramble for vice presidency has begun in the Southeast.

In 2015, Southeast politicians were charged to reject any offer of vice presidency. What makes 2019 more auspicious to play second fiddle than a year ago? Perhaps, books are the best way to clear political confusion and announce intellectual capacity to think about the nation. Ekweremadu has discharged his own burden.