Jonathan’s Snag and Bianca’s APGA
M. O. ENE
Sunday, December 11, 2011
T
he
fact of the matter is that someone did not think things through thoroughly. Let
us give it to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) that he had slated
beauty-full Mrs. Bianca Odinaka Odumegwu-Ojukwu for an ambassadorial position
before her husband, the Great Ikemba, embarked on a long journey recently. This
is possible since our sister was in his entourage to France (with Peter Obi),
and she never lost the Diaspora adviser position. Even when all other advisers
were shoved aside and new ones appointed, her position was never mentioned and
no replacement was ever announced. Indeed, the office must have been tailor-made
for her and for obvious reasons. For that, GEJ gets kudos.
However, on the release Bianca’s name as an ambassador-appointee should get the
knocks. The Ikembress deserves to be spared such insensitivity. Someone wrote a
piece titled “Badgering Bianca”; I wouldn’t go that far, even if the
alliterative title is alluring.
No matter how we dice it or slice it, someone should tell the President to
revisit and resolve this issue It cannot
be swept under the rug; or, definitely, it will come back to bite Bianca's
political future. This is the sort of action that Reuben Abati would rain on
while op-eding at The Guardian. Why
Abati could not bring this to the attention of his boss beats all senses of
propriety. In Igbo tradition, there are certain no-go areas for any woman at
this stage of her bereavement. I bet the Ijaw have similar sociocultural
boundaries that enclose certain rituals.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Senate President, is Bianca’s rep at the
Senate. He should call the Secretary to the Federal Government, Senator Pius
Anyim, and arrange to straighten the records: Yes, Bianca's name was in the
midst of nominees submitted to the Senate long before her husband passed. Now
that she will not in any immediate future present herself for confirmation while
in mourning, her name will be shelved. We apologize for the error of not
removing her name before making the list public; it was not intentional. We
apologize to Bianca, the Odumegwu-Ojukwu family, and Mr. President.
Okwu agwu!
Yes, even if the error came from the Presidency, the Senate could make it go
away by making similar announcements and to the effect that the institution
would not impose on the Ikembress while she mourns her husband. Senator Ayogu
Eze can handle it very well -- if he is still the Senate spokesperson. Even if
he is not, his services are needed here to craft a befitting retreat that will
make the matter just go away.
If the name stays and the senators proceed to invite her for confirmation,
Bianca must decline. She must. She needs to give her husband at least NINE
months before stepping back into the national limelight. By November, another
birthday bash could be organized with the “First Ikemba Memorial Lecture,”
probably delivered by former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, the only living
former head of state that recognized Biafra. A week or so later, the one-year
anniversary celebration of Ikemba's life would kick off. Thereafter, she will be
ready to move on with her life. Anything before these events will be seen as in
bad taste by men and women of Igboland.
Yes, a widow needs to get out and work to put food on the table for her
children, but this gold-fish situation merits the decorum not demanded of
village veronicas and appolonias of this world. Bianca can keep drawing quietly
on her diaspora advisory role without fanfare. With the exception of the United
Nations, ambassadors do not make earth-shattering changes; in any case, there is
no posting that couldn’t wait until this time next year.
The next 12 months will afford Bianca time to reflect on how to preserve
Ikemba’s lasting legacies. So, in the long run, my advice to Sister Bianca is
simple: Quietly thank Mr. President for
all his help and goodwill but
DECLINE
any position
offered by the ruling PDP.
If Bianca wants to keep Ikemba’s legacy alive and well, she must decline the
ambassadorial position. She will have little choice but to step up and lead
APGA. She has political pedigrees oozing out from both flanks; she must put it
to the services of Ndiigbo.
How?
APGA without Ikemba needs a very charismatic figure. Bianca fits the bill. I
have said so before. I don't think Governor Peter Obi is cut out for such a
role. Note the charming closeness of Governor Peter Obi (APGA) to PDP’s Goodluck
Jonathan. The President will reward Peter Obi handsomely with any posh position
he so wishes -- even a ministerial position, once Peter Obi serves out his term
in Awka, Anambra State. Already, Obi serves in GEAJ's economic team, and he is
highly regarded in Aso Rock.
This all well and good for Obi and for
Anambra Statre, but we need a solid political party to help solidify our
democracy. In Enugu State, the local government elections took place yesterday.
Those I called cannot name anyone who was running -- and these are not ordinary
jobless Joes! PDP has lined their 17 “first-eleven” for LGA chairs; the other
parties just “siddon dey look”!
If Obi were serious about building APGA, he could have directed the national
body to step into Enugu LGA elections and just make some noise with a few
councilor seats in the bag. This would neither rub the President nor Governor
Sullivan Chime the wrong way. On the contrary, it will boost his standing before
them. Then again, he is yet to conduct one LGA election since he came to power!
As for Imo’s Rochas Okorocha, his heart and soul are embedded in PDP; he only
used APGA to remove drowning Ikedi Ohakim. Just like Ohakim before him, who used
and dumped Orji Uzor Kalu’s PPA, Okorocha will somehow… someday return to PDP.
If the scenario plays out, APGA will be strapped to clutches… just like the
Biafran Veterans that begged for pennies along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.
Let’s face it, it took Ikemba to keep APGA alive in Anambra State during the
last election. It is on record that Ikemba himself pleaded with the people to
grant him that lastr request: reelect Peter Obi governor. He got his wish,
thanks—ironically—to the mostly reviled Dr. Maurice Iwu of INEC.
Many prominent Igbo people kept away from APGA while Ikemba was around. We know
why. With Bianca as the face of APGA, many will fly over any hurdles to get in,
especially the younger politicians shut out by the “timbers and calibers” that
bestride the path of progress in PDP. This is one legacy that Bianca must strive
to keep. She owes Ndiigbo that much, to the memory of her father and now her
husband—neither of whom belonged to the ruling PDP, the party now dangling a
three-year ambassadorial posting in her tear-full face.
Beyond all that, personally and professionally, the appointment will be
detrimental to her beauty business and law firm, not to talk of the prospects of
being the first woman to lead and grow a serious political party in Nigeria. She
will get the plumpest of positions and to any major country of her choice
whenever she retires form active politics. For now, she is too valuable
apolitical jewel to waste on some outpost in some capital city of our world.
Simply put, the political relevance of southeastern Nigeria is currently in her
hands. Quote me: O di n'aka Bianca Onoh! However, first thing
first: I wish her well through these trying periods of funeral and mourning.
It’s never easy, but this too shall pass.
Post Script:
It never ceases to amaze how people pay little attention to details when paying
tributes to Dim Chukuwemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu... not "chief" please.
First, the man’s last name is “Odumegwu-Ojukwu”; long, yes, but that has been
his surname since he came to national prominence. Second, Ikemba was NOT a
warlord; he was the Head of State of now defunct Republic of Biafra. Thirdly,
then Colonel Odumegwu-Ojukwu did NOT start the war. He was in Enugu struggling
the heal souls and mend many broken bodies when Gowon embarked on his
ill-advised “police action.” Gowon started the war. Fourth and finally for now,
Odumegwu-Ojukwu was the General of an army. Regardless of the fact that Nigerian
army pegged his rank at lieutenant-colonel, it does not unmake his rank of
General of an army. A general is a general is a general.