Nwodo: What's Wrong With the Igbo?

Comfort Obi

Wherever Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo is now, he should hide his head in shame. Nwodo is a classic manifestation of the saying: Once bitten, twice shy. Since his forced resignation as the National Chairman of the PDP on Tuesday, January 18, the questions I have kept asking are: How did Nwodo mess up a second chance given to him? Why did he allow power and ambition to get the better part of him? What’s wrong with the Igbo?
When in June 2010, Dr Nwodo was endorsed as the PDP National Chairman, it stunned not a few. Dr Nwodo, you remember, had been a National Secretary of the Party. He was removed in controversial circumstances. Along with a few others, Nwodo left the PDP, and entered a political cooler. But, he rejoined the PDP years later, and against all expectations, and odds – which included a security report alleging corruption – Nwodo emerged. The questions then were: How can a man who had just rejoined a political party be made its National Chairman? Will he be faithful to the party? Nwodo had a smooth sail. The Enugu state chapter of the PDP, led by the state governor, Sullivian Chime, and Chairman, Vita Abba, gave him a waiver, and endorsed him. That qualified Nwodo to the national Chairmanship. Chime organised a big party for him, attended by all the governors in the South east, including APGA’s Anambra Governor, Peter Obi. The honour was unprecedented. Here is why.
He was holding that position in trust for the Igbo. To be the chairman of the ruling political party is a big deal. It is a powerful position. If the occupant is level-headed, it attracts good things to the zone. Questions then are: How did Nwodo hold this position in trust for the Igbo? What did the Igbo gain from the Nwodo chairmanship? Answer: Nothing but bickering. Nothing but division.
Nwodo started off sounding tough. But it was empty. He started by rubbishing the PDP governors. He warned them off his residence. The interpretation is that he didn’t want them to come to his residence in order not to corrupt him. The governors were scandalised. His next target was a couple of state executive councils which were in place before he was even re-admitted into the party. When INEC raised observations about them, Nwodo had no defence for his party at the state level. He became more vocal in his condemnation of the chapters than INEC. In a move which had mouths agape, Nwodo declared the Enugu state PDP executive council, which gave him a waiver, illegal. He removed the chairman, Vital Abba, without referring to Chime, or his colleagues at Legacy house. When Enugu rejected it, and called his bluff, Nwodo became more vehement. He resorted to a public fight in the pages of newspapers with Chime. He forgot his exalted office. He forgot that if the Abba-led executive is illegal, then his position as the national chairman is illegal too. They gave him the waiver to become the chairman. When Chime said the fight was over positions, Nwodo publicly declared that he had no interest in any position. That he was concerned only with due process. So we clap? But not so soon. Nwodo was fighting for positions in the state. Because he is the National Chairman, he must dictate who occupies which position in the state. He was fighting for crumbs at the state level, and left the cake at the national level. The Enugu PDP which had only two factions before Nwodo, now has nine factions. In place of peace was anarchy. In Nwodo’s state, he allowed, and was instrumental to an illegal pararell governorship primary. The questions are: How much political clout does Nwodo have in Enugu state? How many delegates was he able to deliver to President Goodluck Jonathan, or Atiku, at the presidential primaries? How many delegates has his own preferred Enugu governorship candidate? Can Nwodo deliver Enugu to PDP? Everyone who is who in the presidency, including the political savvy, Dame Patience Jonathan, tried to intervene, to make peace. But Nwodo wouldn’t listen. In Nwodo’s Senatorial zone, the PDP still has no National Assembly candidates because he allegedly wants to handpick candidates. At the PDP national headquarters, the allegation is that he was running a one-man show, almost. Consultation was, allegedly, not in his dictionary. Nwodo was blinded by power and ambition.
During one of his trips abroad, his colleagues at the Legacy House were rumoured to be planning to remove him, he did not read the handwriting on the wall. When peace refused to reign in Enugu, even after Jonathan’s intervention, and alleged 50-50 sharing formular with Chime, Nwodo still didn’t read the hand writing on the wall. When an Enugu High Court, ruling on an injunction brought by one Collins Amalu, obviously a Chime sympathiser, suspended Nwodo from being the National Chairman, Nwodo behaved arrogantly. Instead of obeying the court order, he appeared at the PDP presidential primaries, pretending the court order had been vacated, forcefully took the microphone from the Deputy National Chairman, who was already declaring the convention open, and mischievously, took over. The implication is that if the PDP leadership had not intervened and stopped Nwodo, the primaries would have been declared illegal. As if that was not enough, Nwodo stood by as his sympathiser, Senator Annie Okonkwo, got an Onitsha High Court, to give an order, restraining the Ag. PDP National Chairman, Dr Haliru Bello, from performing his duties. Does Nwodo want the PDP grounded? When the South east caucus of the PDP met and passed a vote of no confidence on Nwodo, he dismissed it as illegal. He only started running from pillar to post when it became obvious that the PDP has had it up to its neck with him. He was lucky to be allowed to resign.
With this forceful resignation, the Igbo have lost out. Why are the Igbo so cursed by this crop of politicians? When the Senate presidency was zoned to the Igbo, they messed up. It became a case of musical chairs. Within a space of four years, the Igbo mass-produced four Senate Presidents. Three of them were rubbished. The fourth, Pius Anyim, refused to be rubbished. He held on, believing in God. Now, this. With the chairmanship zoned to the Igbo, two – Prince Ogbulafor and Nwodo – are already down! What’s wrong with the Igbo? God forbid!