By Emeka Ukpabi

The recently held South-East Political Summit 2010 in Enugu provided another opportunity for Ndigbo to contemplate their political future ahead of the 2011 presidential elections. However, the controversy surrounding its convening, in the days leading up to the 16th August summit date, sets the tone for an intuitive analysis of the emerging dynamics of Igbo political leadership – in the face of the raging national debate over the propriety or otherwise, of zoning the presidency.

For the purposes of this analysis, we turn to history and the origin of the term “Fifth Column”. According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, the term originated from a Nationalist General, Emilio Mola, who as his army approached Madrid during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, claimed that the four columns of his forces outside the city would be supported by a “fifth column” inside the city, intent on undermining the Republican government from within. Therefore, the term refers to “a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group’s solidarity from within, to help an external enemy”. Having determined the definition of the term, it is now time to read the emerging dynamics of Igbo political leadership contextually, establishing the various correlations in regard to the time, place, and circumstance of their occurrence.

Let us start by examining Ochereome Nnanna’s article in the Politics section of the Vanguard Newspapers edition of Friday, August 13, titled 2011: Igbo leaders sing discordant tunes ahead Enugu summit. In his view, as far as the zoning question is concerned, the Igbo political elite can be classed in four distinct groups, with three different perspectives. According to him, the four groups are The South-East Governors Forum, Ohaneze Ndigbo, The South-East Consultative Forum and The Enugu Summit Group. From his arguments, the three different perspectives can be opined to comprise of a covert pro-Jonathan stance, an overt pro-Jonathan stance, and an anti-Jonathan stance. It follows that the South East Governors, by disqualifying themselves from running for president or being available for vice president, in the 2011 presidential race, have covertly given their support for President Jonathan’s candidacy. The Ohaneze Ndigbo, by its pioneering effort at rapprochement with the former Eastern Region minorities, including its support for the creation of the South-South geo-political zone, its support for the creation of Bayelsa State, and its support for an enhanced oil derivation formula, from the time of General Sani Abacha’s Constitutional Conference until now, plus its support for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s acting presidency during the succession crisis of early this year, reveal an overt pro-Jonathan stance. This is ditto for the conveners of the South-East Political Summit 2010 i.e. The Enugu Summit Group. The South-East Consultative Forum on the other hand, by its support for the emergence of a northerner as president in 2011, has demonstrated a decidedly anti-Jonathan stance.

Now, in the context of General Emilio Mola’s army, the four distinct groups of the Igbo political elite can be likened to the four columns of the nationalist forces outside the city of Madrid. These four columns represent elements of the regular Nationalist Army, in its various configuration i.e. elite troops or Special Forces, veterans, auxiliaries, militia, and reservists (e.g. the Spanish Legion, the Regulares, the Carlists and Falangists, the sappers etc.). Consequently, we deduce, also, that a correlation exists between the “fifth column” of subversives and saboteurs inside the city and the before mentioned Igbo political elite.

Therefore, to establish which of the four distinct groups in the emerging dynamics of Igbo political leadership is operating as a definite force or as a “Fifth Column”, we must look to the way the Spanish Nationalist Army deployed its various configurations at the “Siege of Madrid”. The elite troops and veterans of the Spanish Legion and Regulares, because of their specialized training, experience, versatility, and capability, were the primary military force of the Nationalist Army, which duties included “direct action’ amongst others. This meant that they usually engaged the enemy first, and often delivered results disproportionate to their size. As a result, these elite troops and veterans formed the vanguard or First Column of General Emilio Mola’s army outside Madrid.

Having thus read the emerging dynamics of Igbo political leadership in the context of a Fifth and a First Column, we must now differentiate between Ochereome Nnanna’s four distinct groups of Igbo elite by scrutinizing their effective positions vis-à-vis the 2011 presidential race and the consequences for the national interest and solidarity of Ndigbo. The South-East Governors Forum, by its previous ambivalence during the acting presidency succession crisis, and its present neither here nor there position, represents a potential “Fifth Column” to the solidarity of Ndigbo ahead of the 2011 presidential race. The Ohaneze Ndigbo, by its inability to take a decisive position this far in the zoning debate day, is in danger of losing relevance in the fluid national political calculations ahead of the 2011 polls, and thus also represents a potential “Fifth Column” to the solidarity of Ndigbo. The South-East Consultative Forum, although worthy of commendation for taking an unambiguous position, albeit one that is contrary to the popular view of Ndigbo, is by virtue of this wrong decision capable of undermining the solidarity of Ndigbo; another potential “Fifth Column”. In the final analysis, effective scrutiny of the Enugu Summit Group’s position calls for a reprise of the views of certain conveners of and speakers at the South-East Political Summit proper.

Hon. Chief Mbazulike Amechi, a foremost nationalist and one of the conveners of the summit, explained that “the north has ruled Nigeria for 38 years and six months between Balewa, Gowon, Muhammed, Shagari, Buhari, Babangida, Abacha, Abubakar and Yar’Adua. The West has ruled Nigeria for 12 years and three months between Obasanjo, the soldier, Shonekan, and Obasanjo, the civilian. The South-East has ruled for six months, by Aguiyi-Ironsi, while the South-South only now got in and ruled for three months. If we consider that what is now called Bayelsa State was what was known as Brass Division of the Eastern Region, it means that while the old Northern and Western Regions have ruled Nigeria for 38 years 6 months and 12 years 3 months respectively, the old Eastern Region has only ruled for a total of about 10 months. In equity and justice, zoning or no zoning, it is the turn of the old Eastern Region to produce the next president. It should be left to the people of the old Eastern Region to internally decide whether the Igbo side or non-Igbo side should pick the slot at this time”. Here, Chief Amechi recognizes that zoning is not the real issue in this debate; in fact his speech stresses the point that zoning is a contradiction of terms, as the PDP NEC recently discovered. The appropriate phrase should be power sharing or rotation. Thus far, Chief Amechi’s argument for power to rotate to the old Eastern Region is the most powerful; equity and justice. Even the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) cites “social justice, equity, and fairness”, as the reasons the presidency should rotate to the North in 2011, but regrettably the scales of justice, in the estimation of the Enugu Summit Group, weighs heavily in favour of the old Eastern Region.

In his own contribution, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu recalled the 2005 South-East/South-South summit held in Enugu, saying that although an agreement for unity was then reached, it was not implemented. He then rationalized that the “present situation calls for the execution of that pact with every amount of sincerity. Igbo alone cannot be president, South-South alone cannot be president, but if we unite and eschew greed, and selfishness, amongst others, we will achieve the goals which we have set for ourselves and this will certainly impact positively on our future.”  Here, Chief Iwuanyanwu confirms the existence of an alliance between the South-East and the South-South, an alliance consummated by the mainstream of both parties. He inadvertently argues that if this very last of the alliances, between the Igbo and other ethnic groupings, was acceptable to Ndigbo in 2005, it should be acceptable to them now. Therefore, if the blueprint for the political alignment of the South-East and South-South has existed since 2005, then the old Eastern Region, as promoted by the Enugu Summit Group, may yet prove the best prepared in 2011.

Chief Nwafor Orizu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), revealed that he was happy that the so-called elected leaders and representatives of Ndigbo did not attend the summit, saying that they would have advanced their “personal and selfish interest if they had come. That is what is killing our zone and democracy; they come with unpopular views to suit their aspirations against the rest of the people. So for us it is a victory, because we the people were able to voice our opinions and speak freely”. Chief Orizu, by using the expression “we the people” borrows from the introductory words of the Constitution of the United States of America, the greatest democracy on earth. He reinforces the fundamental that, in a democracy, power belongs to the people, and which expression Ndigbo have inevitably found in the Enugu Summit Group.

Chief Ugochukwu Agballah, another convener of the summit, settled it when he said that the summit was borne out of the need for the zone to take a position, so that it will not be relegated in the scheme of things. “On the presidency in 2011, our support for Jonathan will not be merely because virtually everybody else appears, at present, to be doing so. Instead, it will be because Jonathan has agreed to pursue certain policies that will uplift the Igbo or address the injustices of the past.”

Need I say more! The Enugu Summit Group by recognizing the imperative of taking a position, and going on to take one so necessary to the future of the old Eastern Region, has shown itself to be the First Column of Ndigbo. Like the elite troops and veterans of the Spanish Nationalist Army, at the “Siege of Madrid”, it has engaged the enemy first, so to speak, and is poised to deliver results disproportionate to its size. Character is like smoke, for no matter how diligently it is covered, it always rises to the top. The same applies to specialized training, experience, versatility, and capability. Because a principled stand, driven by good conscience, is decisive, without prevarication, it bears no testing of waters, no checking of pulses, or flying of kites. This is the “sum of all hope” for Ndigbo; the final report.

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