Madumere: He Who Laughs Last…

In functional politics, there are so many unpredictabilities than in any other human endeavor.

According to V.O. Kay, a renowned political Scientist of American extraction, “since politics centers round the behaviours of human beings and since human beings are very unpredictable, there is no reason to have a firm reliability on the collective or individual behaviour of persons or individuals”.

In fact, whether we are talking of politics in America, Britain or in any other polity in Africa, unpredictabilities are common occurrences.  The differences are that in Africa, mainly in Nigeria due to our own political circumstances, such unpredictabilities become more manifest than in other political environments.

More so, if this could be narrowed down to Imo state, since the creation of the State, in 1976 circumstances surrounding the office of Deputy Governor have been a matter the outcome has been of complexities.

For example, when Chief Sam Mbakwe was nominated to run for the office of the Governor, because he was from Okigwe zone, it was imperative on him to pick his running mate from Abia in order to balance the ticket. He picked one Dr. Bernard Amalaha, then senior lecturer in Alvan Ikoku College of Education.

After the election, Chief Sam Mbakwe of NPP won with a landslide victory. Unfortunately, his opponent, Dr. Nwakama Okoro, from Umuahia zone, went to court to protest.

His argument was that since Amalaha was not properly qualified to run with Mbakwe because he was found deficient for not paying his tax as and at when due, he was not qualified.

However the court did not find it proper to nullify the election of Mbakwe on that ground, rather it disqualified Dr. Bernard Amalaha and allowed Mbakwe’s election to stand due to what the court termed, in the interest of political justice and not legal justice.”

Of course, if the court had nullified the election, in fact, the entire State would have been thrown into unmanageable precipitation and anarchy, because of the popularity of Chief Sam Mbakwe.

Mbakwe was asked to nominate another Deputy Governor. He nominated perhaps one of the oldest persons in Imo to hold that office, one Chief Isaac Uzoigwe, whose greatest performance to Mbakwe’s administration was to be “blessing Kola nuts at every function where the Governor or the Government was involved.”

He served Mbakwe until when his government was truncated along with the Federal Government of Shagari.

The second Deputy Governor was a very fine gentleman, Dr. Douglas Achilonu, an easy going person who contested the election with Chief Evan Enwerem. Unfortunately, Chief Enwerem’s government was truncated by General Sani Abacha in 1992.

The third Deputy Governor was Engineer Ebere Udeagu, who ran with Achike Udenwa in 1999. Udenwa’s Government was very lucky, it enjoyed uninterrupted two terms of eight years.

When it was time for Udenwa to go, there was uncertainties surrounding the selection of Ebere Udeagu. Although there were so many speculations about his selection to replace his boss, Achike Udenwa. So many persons showed up to vie for the position.

Ordinarily, if Achike Udenwa has stamped his feet on the ground, Ebere Udeagu would have sailed through. But he did not because of what many political pundits and insiders termed the solid opposition to Ebere Udeagu by the Governor’s wife, who wielded a lot of power within the “palace”. Besides, Udenwa could not overcome such mountainous challenges, when the election came, there were so many katakata in PDP to the effect that even to select a governorship candidate was problematic. There were about sixteen Governorship aspirants.

The party could not solve the problem. They carried their wahala to Abuja where the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo twisted their hand and made a choice for them, tossing Chief Ikedi Ohakim.

Of course there were so many inconclusive jingoism which went on resulting in Ohakim of PPA winning the governorship race in a heavily PDP dominated State. He chose for the first time a female Deputy Governor, Dr. Mrs. Ada Okwuonu from Mbaise because he was looking for Mbaise block votes.

He, Ikedi Ohakim completed his first term of four years and was going for second term. He dropped Ada Okwuonu and instead picked a towering female professor of biological sciences, Professor Viola Onwuliri from Mbaise.

Of course, Ohakim’s campaign did not fly because of intricate and multiple conspiracies against him, people believed was as a result of his role of not supporting Jonathan when he was struggling to become the president when President, Yar’ Dua was sick. Majority believed that the failure of Ohakim to be re elected must be laid down at the door step of Goodluck Jonathan. Of course, many have different opinions.

But if one may read a book entitled, “Democracy by Military tanks,” by Okere, one could confirm or change one’s perception and conclusion. Owelle got the ticket to run under APGA, which many believed would have gone to Agbaso, who in twists and turns of political maneuvering nominated his younger brother who had absolutely little or nothing about the chemistry of Imo politics.

Okorocha out smarted the two Agbaso brothers and ran with Jude Agbaso as the Deputy. Many believed that he did that merely to buy time. And at the appropriate time, he used the most docile House of Assembly to impeach the Deputy Governor on Phantom charges. He was removed. And indeed the most preferred person, Prince Madumere was chosen as the Deputy Governor to Okorocha.

It was the opinion of the generality of the members of the public, but for the outstanding personal qualities of Prince Madumere, including his inexhaustible patience and undiluted loyalty, he would have been pushed out by the overbearing First Lady of the State.

Indeed, when Prince Madumere became the Deputy Governor to Owelle in March 2013, nobody ever thought that his relationship with Owelle would take a beating for the worst for so many reasons. He was a very good confidant of Owelle long before Owelle became the Governor. Their relationship was not only tight but also invincible. Evidence are bound that he contributed substantially to Owelle’s ascendency to the type of success he accomplished, including becoming the Governor.  

–Dr. Osuji,  wrote in from Owerri, Imo State

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.