The impeachment of Eze Madumere, Imo State deputy governor, by the state House of Assembly on July 30 may well mark the culmination of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s all-out effort to fight back his detractors and regain full control of the All Progressives Congress (APC) structure in the state, but it also signals what lies ahead in Imo in 2019
The party structure in the state had temporarily slipped off Okorocha’s hand after Madumere coalesced with Ifeanyi Araraume, two-time senator and perennial aspirant to the Imo governorship seat; Osita Izunaso, then APC national organising secretary; Ben Uwajumogu, a former speaker of Imo State House of Assembly and now senator representing Imo North; Hope Uzodimma, senator representing Imo West who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling APC in April, and other party “strongmen” to hijack the congresses in the state. The Allied Forces, as they were called, were opposed to Okorocha’s moves to impose his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, as the party’s governorship candidate in 2019. Both Madumere and Araraume are interested in the ticket. They had, therefore, gone ahead to elect party officials of their choice at the ward, local government and state congresses, leaving the governor out in the cold.
In desperation, Okorocha had cried out to both the presidency and the party national leadership, but it appeared that all he got were cold shoulders and more kicks in the butt, especially from the latter. Amidst these travails, there were speculations that Okorocha, who is nursing the ambition to go to the Senate, had begun to seek political shelter in an alternative platform.
Okorocha was fast sliding down the path of total irrelevance, with the “hijackers” already gloating that they had demystified the governor. In the meantime, the governor’s men had approached the Federal High Court in Owerri urging it to nullify and set aside the results of the congresses in the state.
Then came the party’s national convention held in Abuja and Okorocha’s colleagues in the Progressives Governors’ Forum, a union of the APC governors of which he is chairman, came to the rescue. With the support of the APC governors, Emma Ibediro, an Okorocha ally, defeated Izunaso by 1,749 votes to 1,459 votes to emerge as the national organizing secretary.
On July 5, a Federal High Court sitting in Owerri nullified all the previous APC congresses in the state and ordered the party to conduct fresh elections in accordance with its guidelines.
“They should go back and conduct fresh congresses in accordance with the constitution of the party; they should be responsible and save our democracy,” said the presiding judge, Justice Lewis Allagoa.
Armed with the court judgment, Okorocha went on to conduct fresh congresses in the state, with the ward congress holding on July 20, local government congress July 21, and state congress July 23.
With the party structure safely back in his hands, it was now time for Okorocha to deal with those who tried to pull the rug from under his feet. And Madumere was a good place to start.
Love affair gone sour
A former governor of Imo State is reputed to have once said that in politics, loyalty always trumps efficiency, the reason being that you can teach a loyal person to be efficient, but you cannot manage a disloyal person no matter how efficient he is.
Speaking of loyalty, Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr., the 38th Vice President of the United States (1965-1969), once said, “Anyone who thinks that the vice-president can take a position independent of the president of his administration simply has no knowledge of politics or government. You are his choice in a political marriage, and he expects your absolute loyalty.”
Perhaps, Madumere did not factor in the above when he elected to form an alliance against the man who brought him to political limelight.
The relationship between Okorocha and Madumere goes back in time, and it had been cordial all the way – at least from what the eyes can see.
Records have it that since his return to Nigeria in 1998 after his studies in the United States, Madumere has worked with Okorocha. In 1999 when Okorocha ran for the governorship primaries on the PDP platform, Madumere served as director for Women and Youth Mobilization of the Okorocha Campaign Organisation. In 2003 when Okorocha made an unsuccessful presidential bid on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Madumere was chief strategist on Media and Logistics for the campaign.
Madumere would go on to serve as Okorocha’s chief of staff when the former was appointed special adviser on Interparty Relations by then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Subsequently, Madumere served as chief of staff to Okorocha in the latter’s capacity as chairman of Rochas Foundation. He was also Okorocha’s chief of staff in the latter’s capacity as president of Nigerian Red Cross Society.
It was, therefore, not surprising that when he was lected governor in 2011, Okorocha would appoint Madumere as his chief of staff. Madumere was elevated to the position of deputy governor in 2013 following the impeachment of Jude Agbaso, Okorocha’s running mate in 2011. In 2015, Okorocha retained Madumere as his running mate and both went on to win a second term of office.
Against this background, some political analysts reason that Madumere displayed disloyalty by ganging up against Okorocha. For them, therefore, the impeachment did not come as a surprise. It was only a natural course by a principal who feels he can no longer work with his deputy.
While it may have been easy for Okorocha to endure the gang-up by the others, it is not so with Madumere’s involvement. Like Julius Caesar, Okorocha must have gnashed his teeth and grieved, “Et tu Brute?” It was a killing stab.
The drama goes on
So began subterranean moves to give Madumere the boot. It began with allegations of gross misconduct, which included dereliction of duty for three months without reasons or official permission, failure to perform constitutional duties, failure to attend meetings with the governor and other government functionaries, and concealment of felonious act in the United States of America, all of which Madumere had dismissed as cheap, spurious and deliberately contrived to undermine his person.
Last Monday, following an impeachment motion moved by Lugard Osuji (Owerri Municipal), majority leader, and seconded by Victor Onyewuchi (Owerri West), and supported by 19 lawmakers, the Imo Assembly impeached Madumere. In his stead, Callistus Ekenze, Head of Service, who had been nominated by Okorocha, was cleared by the Assembly to occupy the seat.
On Tuesday, however, reports had it that the chief judge of the state refused to swear in Ekenze as deputy governor, citing a retraining court order asking that the action be put on hold. The reports said a High Court sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, had stopped the swearing-in of Ekenze. The court was said to have come in on Tuesday morning just as Ekenze was about to be sworn in.
A page from the past
About this time five years ago, Madumere was a beneficiary of a similar “mistreatment” of another deputy governor, Jude Agbaso.
Exactly on March 28, 2013, lawmakers in the Imo State House of Assembly voted to impeach the then deputy governor, Jude Agbaso, over allegations of grave corruption, including the demand of a bribe of more than N400 million from a contractor, Jpros Ltd. Jude Agbaso was deputy governor but doubled as Commissioner for Works.
However, sources had said the real reason for the impeachment was that Okorocha fell out with his benefactor, Martin Agbaso, and so desired to severe relationship with the Agbasos and take his political destiny in his hands.
Prior to Okorocha’s emergence in 2011, Martin Agbaso, Jude Agbaso’s elder brother, was the face of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Imo. It was said then that he actually gave the APGA governorship ticket to Okorocha on the agreement that Okorocha would pick Jude as his running mate, among other conditions.
When the impeachment moves began, the then embattled deputy governor had reportedly filed a suit asking a High Court judge to bar the legislators from acting to impeach him, arguing that he was a victim of political intrigue and blackmail, but the court had refused to intervene, leaving the room open for the lawmakers to send Agbaso packing.
Following Agbaso’s impeachment, Okorocha had nominated Madumere, who was then chief of staff, to replace the impeached deputy governor. Two months later, in May 2013, Okorocha formally moved to the then emergent APC with his entire political structure.
Lesson for the opposition
Governor Okorocha will stop at nothing to have his way in Imo State in 2019. With the defeat of the Allied Forces within his own party, he is gearing for the battle ahead. He has said he would match the opposition force for force, money for money. He was once quoted to have said in a political rally, “If they come with truckload of money, I will come with trailer load too.”
Only a coalition of opposition forces can defeat Okorocha and his allies in 2019.
