Emelayo Nwosu.
The allegory of macabre dance is one that teaches very great and profound lessons in life. These lessons are also seen in politics. One of these lessons is that of mortality, irrespective of social status or level of spiritual attainment. AI offers more education on this, depicting macabre dance graphically as skeletons leading popes, emperors, and peasants to the grave, serving as a reminder of mortality that stripped away earthly power and vanity.
Macabre dance is also describes as “a toxic cycle where leaders engage in self-serving, destructive, or theatrical ‘dances’ of power while ignoring the suffering of the public.”
It is in this context that one views the decision of Hon. Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe and Hon. Martin Emeka Chinedu to contest the 2027 election for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte federal constituency as a macabre dance. Nnanna Igbokwe and Emeka Chinedu are the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Young Progressive Party, YPP, respectively, for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency in the 2027 general election.
Igbokwe represented Ahiazu/Ezinihitte for two terms at the National Assembly from 2011 to 2019. He contested and won election twice on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. As his second term was ending and realizing that the PDP would not give him ticket to run for the same position in 2019, he defected to APC.
He contested the election and lost to the PDP, Emeka Chinedu. He contested again in 2023 and lost to Emeka Chinedu. To remain relevant, this lawmaker whom Ahiazu and Ezinihitte sent to House of Representatives, accepted a condescending appointment as an aide to the Speaker. A forward looking politician would have nominated one of his constituents to take that position. Nnanna Igbokwe did not.
Again, our brother, Nnanna Igbokwe was available to lead a group that called itself National Forum of Former Lawmakers, NFFL, which played a very odious role that would have truncated Nigeria’s democracy by going to court to seek for the deregistration of the African Democratic Congress, ADC. This singular act painted Ndi Mbaise, nay Ndi Igbo in a very bad light.
These former lawmakers, led by Hon. Nnanna Igbokwe, also endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term. It’s within the rights of these former lawmakers to endorse whoever they want to support.
However, no mention of Nnanna Igbokwe would be made without making reference to Ahiazu/Ezinihitte. As the saying goes, the eyelid itches one whose brother/sister/mother/father dances badly at an event. (Onye nwanne ya n’agba ajo uri, oko iku anya ji ako ya.) Every right-thinking constituent of Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise should have itchy eyelids watching Nnanna Igbokwe’s actions.
To discerning minds and most right-thinking persons in Mbaise and Imo State in general, Nnanna Igbokwe’s reward for the role he has been playing in the NFFL was the reversal of the APC ticket given to Chukwudi Anyanwuocha to run for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Constituency. It is instructive to note that what Nnanna Igbokwe has done is to rob Ekwerazu clan of its due in the understanding among Mbaise clans in the zoning of the House of Representatives seat and the micro-zoning between Ahiara and Ekwerazu.
Equally note-worthy is the fact that Nnanna Igbokwe, after serving two terms, decided to become the Paul Biya of Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency. In 2019, after serving two terms and instead of allowing Ezinihitte to take its turn, he defected to the APC, contested and lost. In 2023, he contested again and lost. In other words, since 2011, Hon. Nnanna Igbokwe has remained on the ballot for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency. Although the people rejected him 2019 and 2023, he doesn’t seem to be reading the handwriting on the wall. The 2027 election will be the fifth time he is contesting for that position.
We thought we had seen it all with Nnanna Igbokwe. We did not know that Emeka Chinedu was nursing a similar idea to remain at the National Assembly.
Sometime this year, we heard that Emeka Chinedu had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. It was not surprising because most politicians in Nigeria cannot rely on their performance in office as the basis for any claim to return to office. Hon. Emeka Chinedu rode on the back of former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha to win election to the House of Representatives in 2019. He was reelected in 2023.
His defection to the APC was probably informed by the same thing that drives other Nigerian politician, which is the party of the president guarantees victory at elections.
He went against the understanding between Ahiazu and Ezinihitte and contested in the primaries of the APC. He did not get the APC ticket.
So, what is the next thing? Hon. Emeka Chinedu ran to the Young Progressives Party, YPP. He has grabbed the YPP ticket for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency, and he is campaigning to remain at the NASS.
At the dawn of Nigeria’s current democratic journey in 1999, the late Hon. Tony Anyanwu Jnr, scion of the Senator representing Owerri Zone in the Second Republic, late Chief Tony Anyanwu, was elected to represent Ahiazu/Ezinihitte at the National Assembly. He was a very visible lawmaker. I remember his motion calling on the federal government to dualize the Owerri-Umuahia road.
He spent just one term at the House of Representatives. He did not even contest in the primaries for the 2003 election. Information I got from a reliable source who was deeply involved in the politics of the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise at the time, indicates that Hon. Tony Anyanwu supported the man who succeeded him, the late Hon. Independence Ogunenwe. There was no rancour and the succession was smooth and seamless.
Needless to say that the Late Honourable Independence Ogunenwe performed creditably well at the National Assembly. He left in 2011.
Tony Anyanwu Jnr and Independence Ogunenwe understood that those who formulated the ‘egbe bere; ugo bere’ philosophy were wise. They understood, too, that being elected to represent one’s constituency is not the exclusive preserve of one clan or section, not to talk of an individual.
These two illustrious sons of Ahiazu/Ezinihitte served their people well and left when it was time for them to so.
The seat rotated between Ahiazu and Ezinihitte councils seamlessly. Politicians from these two councils that make up the constituency respected this rotation until Nnanna Igbokwe, and now, Martin Emeka Chinedu, tasted the gravy that’s on the table prepared for the Ahiazu/ Ezinihitte at the National Assembly and decided to screw themselves tightly there.
There is a psychological explanation of the actions of Nnanna Igbokwe and Emeka Chinedu. It is hubris syndrome, which describes a mental state of extreme pride and overconfidence. British physician and politician David Owen in 2008 decribed this condition as an acquired change in behavior caused by the intoxication of power.
Hon.Nnanna Igbokwe and Emeka Chinedu have started to believe they are special and above the rules. They now see themselves as beings who have no obligation to respect the understanding, agreements and arrangements their predecessors, Tony Anyanwu Jnr and Independence Ogunenwe, followed.
Their acolytes have given experience as one of the reasons why Ahiazu/Ezinihitte federal constituency should be the birth right of Nnanna Igbokwe and Emeka Chinedu. However, this particular reason is as peurile as it is illogical. They acquired experience there. If Tony Anyanwu Jnr. and Independence Ogunenwe had cited their experiences as reason, Nnanna Igbokwe and Emeka Chinedu would not have found themselves in the NASS at the time they did. Other persons can also gain experience when they get there.
Another point that those who are blind to the ill-advised moves by these two fellows is that they are well connected in Abuja. This is reprehensible. The only evidence of Nnanna Igbokwe’s connection in Abuja, if any, was the wresting of the APC ticket from Chukwudi Anyanwuocha. Nothing else.
Having spent the last 15 years in Abuja, there is nothing to celebrate about his being a serial contestant (and loser) for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte federal seat. The truth is, Nnanna Igbokwe is using the constituency as a means for survival. His motivation is not service.
The same goes for Hon. Emeka Chinedu. It’s not difficult to get into his mind and know what his driving force is. Since almost others who are contesting are from Ahiazu, he believes that he would garner a block vote from Ezinihitte and undermine the turn of Ahiazu.
Such political calculation will seem plausible, but it might be a strong nail on his political coffin. He is putting himself forward as someone who cannot be trusted . That’s quite sad for him.
Stakeholders in Ahiazu and Ezinihitte should call these two fellows and advise them properly. They are walking on a path that could create disharmony in the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency. Clearly, their motivation is self aggrandizing, not the interest of Ahiazu and Ezinihitte. It’s quite glaring.
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