End of the Nzeribe Phenomenon in
Nigeria?
By Jonathan Elendu
Exclusive commentary for USAfrica The Newspaper,
Houston
USAfricaonline.com
and NigeriaCentral.com
Maverick politician, Sen. Francis Arthur Nzeribe, was suspended
indefinitely from the Senate on
October 22. He contested for the Senate seat and won on the platform
of the All Nigeria People's
Party, ANPP. Earlier this year, he resigned from the ANPP and joined
the confused and ruling
People's
Democratic Party, PDP. Watchers of the Nzeribe legend were confused
by this move as
the man has demonstrated over the years that he prefers to belong to
organizations he can control.
His role during the disgraceful Gbenga Aluko's motion that nullified
all the indictments against
senators, who were involved in contract scams and other shenanigans,
indicated that Francis
Arthur Nzeribe was up to something. His tone at that sham of a debate
on the floor of the Senate
was uncharacteristically conciliatory.
To those who really know and understand Nzeribe, the man was in his
element. Followers of
Nigeria's
recent past would remember Nzeribe as the man who, single-handedly
denied late
billionaire business mogul, Moshood Abiola's ambition of being the
President of Nigeria. Abiola is
believed to have won the June 12, 1993 Presidential election reputed
to be the freest and fairest
election in the history of Nigeria. In Abiola's calculations, he did
not factor in the Nzeribe
phenomenon. How could he? Abiola was a friend to all the top military
officers in the country,
including the ruling junta headed by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. In fact,
Abiola and Babangida were
business partners.
Abiola was also an internationally acclaimed business man-- a
philanthropist whose generosity
touched people and causes all over Nigeria. Who was Arthur Nzeribe to
get in the way of his
ambition? Nzeribe and some Igbo politicians who belonged to the
defunct Social Democratic
Party, SDP, believed they had been insulted by Abiola and the
leadership of the Party. They were
reported to have asked for an apology and some concessions from
Abiola and the Party
leadership, but instead were scorned. That made Nzeribe vow that
Abiola would never be the
President of Nigeria.
A few months before the 1993 Presidential elections, I interviewed
Abiola in Aba for my
television talkshow. The then Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Agunwa, was there.
There were also other prominent Igbo politicians at the residence of
Elechi Ikoro, where this
interview took place. Ojo Maduekwe was one of them. I asked Abiola if
he really said he did not
need Igbos to rule Nigeria. He denied it and sweeping his hand across
the room said: "How can
anybody say that a group that has produced people like these are
irrelevant in Nigeria?" So how
did the story start? He did not know but waved it off as nothing
serious. There is no doubt that
Abiola miscalculated and underestimated Nzeribe. I am sure that at
some point while in prison he
wished he had taken Nzeribe more seriously at the initial stage of
his campaign. Nzeribe's
Association For Better Nigeria, ABN, got a court order that nullified
Abiola's election to the
Presidency of Nigeria.
Recently, Nzeribe has started to show his game plan. He wants to be
Senate President. Pius
Anyim, whom he helped install as Senate President has disappointed
him and he is ready to take
him out of the throne. Anyim and other PDP stalwarts should have seen
this coming. The
proposed Obasanjo impeachment which everybody thinks is supported by
the National Assembly
leadership is the opening a man with Nzeribe's talents and resources
needs to upstage Anyim who
is not known for his political astuteness.
I was a very big fan of Nzeribe. Growing up on the streets of Aba, I
was very familiar with the
Nzeribe legend. He was the man I wanted to be, the only human being
for whom I desired to
work. His romance with Aminu Kano and Zik during the second Republic
stood him out as a man
of power and great influence. He is the first man I know who donated
airplanes to his political
party. His life story as told by Dillibe Onyema in THE MAKING OF
AN AFRICAN LEGEND
reinforced the Nzeribe myth. To this day, nobody can really say
how rich this man is nor how
many businesses he owns. We only know that Francis Arthur Nzeribe is
rich beyond the
imagination of the ordinary mind. At our first meeting on the tarmac
of Portharcourt International
Airport in 1992, I was disarmed by his simplicity and attention to
his environment. I eagerly
accepted his invitation to visit his country home in Oguta.
Like many Nigerians, I was saddened by the annulment of the June 1993
elections. After
reviewing Nzeribe's role in that sad episode of our history, I lost
all respect and affection for the
man. Until recently, I have been disgusted by the man's utterances
and actions in the Nigerian
Senate. I am still not crazy about the man but I remain impressed by
his consistency. He
understands the use and dynamics of power. He is always willing to
mobilize his resources to any
cause he believes in. He is one Igbo man who can challenge anybody in
Nigeria. He is not afraid
to speak his mind on any issue.
Nzeribe's ambition has always been to rule Nigeria. He participated
in Babangida's option A4
charade and was among the disqualified presidential candidates in the
truncated 3rd Republic.
Shortly after Abacha took over the reins of power in Nigeria, Nzeribe
gave a press interview
where he solemnly declared that he knew he would never realize his
ambition of being the
president of Nigeria. However, he declared that nobody would rule
Nigeria without his support.
Ironically, he has supported everybody who has ruled Nigeria since I
became an adult. He formed
a movement that would have helped Abacha transform into a civilian
president but was schemed
out by forces that backed Kanu's movement.
There is no doubt in the mind of any Nigerian that Nzeribe is a very
ambitious man. Those who
do not respect him, fear him. Pius Anyim, Nigeria's Senate President,
has been an incompetent,
sluggish leader. He succeeded Chuba Okadigbo, who was removed because
of alleged corrupt practices.
Anyim seems not to have learned any lessons from that episode. He has
shown that he is power
drunk, vindictive, and is also reputed to have taken advantage of his
position to enrich himself. He
has political troubles at home as he is locked in a battle with his
State governor, Sam Egwu. He
wants the President impeached and has alienated some of his
colleagues in the Senate.
It is my considered opinion that Nigeria, and indeed Ndigbo, will
benefit more from a mature and
visionary leadership in the Senate. The Senate has not been an
inspiring institution because of
Anyim's leadership. Nothing has come out of that body that one can be
proud of. If anything, they
have continued amassing wealth at the expense of ordinary Nigerians.
No bill that directly and
positively affects the life of the ordinary people have come out of
the Senate chambers. Anyim has
clearly demonstrated that he lacks vision and leadership. In some
ways, we should blame those
who installed him for this lackluster performance. Anyim is one of
the least experienced people in
the Senate and should not have been chosen to lead the body, except
of course, he was chosen for
that particular reason. In other words, he was programmed to fail.
Could this have been Nzeribe's
original plot?
The Nigerian Senate has been led by Igbos since the inception of the
4th Republic. Evan Enwerem
was the first President and was forced out in disgrace. Same for his
successor Chuba Okadigbo.
Anyim may be in his final days as the Senate President. The above
scenario is the reason I do not
support the call for an Igbo Presidency. I want a Nigerian President
who is of Igbo extraction.
There is a difference in the two positions. The Senate Presidency was
zoned to Igbos and what
have we done with it? In what way have Ndigbo benefited from having
the position of Senate
President?
It may not be out of place to liken Igbo politicians to Nigeria's
national football team, the Super
Eagles. Individually, they are skillful, very experienced, and high
achievers. As a group, they lack
cohesion, are timid and indecisive. They try to pull each other down
at the slightest opportunity. If
truly our senators wanted Ndigbo to benefit in this dispensation,
Pius Anyim should not have been
chosen to lead the Senate. He is not the most experienced or
qualified person we have in the
Senate. They chose him because he was considered the least
threatening. He had a good
opportunity to show maturity and statesmanship. Instead of
victimizing those that oppose him he
should have reasoned and negotiated a peaceful settlement.
Fighting with other Igbo senators and politicians only exposes Anyim
as a man who has little, if
any, leadership skills. Jonathan Zwingina, the man who moved the
motion for the suspension of
Nzeribe was Abiola's campaign manager. Anyim may be fighting Abiola's
battle, unbeknownst to
him. None of these petty squabbles has produced any meaningful
benefits for our people.
Accusation and counter accusation of corruption between Pius Anyim
and Arthur Nzeribe
perpetuates the erroneous view held by other tribes that the Igbo man
or woman would sell his
kith and kin for money. Besides, it is easier to believe that an
allegation of corruption against
Anyim is true than it is to make such a case against Nzeribe.
The Zwingina connection makes one wonder if Abiola has come back to
hunt Nzeribe. Could this
suspension be the end of Nzeribe on the Nigerian political stage? I
don't think so. It is my
considered opinion that Anyim's victory will be short and costly in
the long run. Nzeribe is a man
with a long memory and his antecedents show that forgiveness is not a
word he understands. This
promises to get uglier and Ndigbo is the worse for it.
Elendu is a contributing editor and columnist for
USAfricaonline.com and USAfrica The Newspaper
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