Tracing Enugu State's identity politics and the "gang-up" against Ugwuanyi

The 1991 state-building effort that split former Anambra State into two was primarily aimed at addressing the socio-political dichotomy between former Enugu State and present-day Anambra State.

In the old order, while present-day Anambra State had more educated and established businessmen, old Enugu had a huge population that was available for easy electoral triumphs. The fact that the state capital is also located in the same area remained at the heart of political pugilism in the original Anambra State established by General Murtala Ramat Mohammed in 1976. Upon the country's return to multi-party presidential democracy in 1979, the question of which section - the populous Wawa or the enlightened "Ijekebe" should reject the governor - sparked contentious arguments within the two main political parties - the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). At the end of the day, as Chief Jim Nwobodo beat Moses Ibiekwe to clinch the NPP gubernatorial ticket, Chief Christian Chukwuma Onoh defeated Dr. Alex Ekwueme after a hotly contested NPN gubernatorial primary. Ekwueme was later to emerge as Alhaji Shehu Shagari's presidential running mate. While the NPN won the presidential poll, the NPP led by Rt Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe took the governor's seat. It was against this mixed cadre that the NPP and NPN began their proxy political battles for control of Anambra State through Governor Jim Nwobodo and Vice President Ekwueme. As the battle raged between federal forces and the home front, the 1983 general approached. The search for second-term mandates raised the stakes, especially since the NPP, through Nwobodo, wanted to retain Anambra, while the NPN, through Onoh and Ekwueme, was determined to deploy legendary federal might to take over the state. When the election was held, President Shagari and the NPN won a landslide victory, although Anambra State was also snatched. Nwobodo and NPP cried murder blue and challenged the result in court. After the Federal High Court ruled in favor of NPP, Onoh waited for certified copies of the judgment and went to the Court of Appeal, where his election was upheld. However, while the political dichotomy raged within the former Anambra State, a kind of clan rivalry continued around the 'Wawa' enclave, particularly in what constitutes present-day Enugu State. The subtle maneuvering of the politicians of the first republic, especially in the demarcation of constituencies, is what gave rise to the revival of identity politics in present-day Enugu State.

There are two local councils that political intrigues have caused to overlap, becoming a kind of pawn in the power game of political actors in the first and second republics. They include Isi-Uzo and Ukehe. Challenged by the Onyeama family's enormous political influence in Eke, Udi Division, Chief John Ugwu Nwodo, who respectively served as a Member of the Eastern House of Assembly, Minister of Works, Commerce and Industry, separated his community, Ukehe, from the Ojebeogene Clan of the Udi division and aligned it with Nsukka. The strategic decision was ostensible to appropriate the electoral block of Nsukka during the elections in order not to be in the shadow of Onyeama. Moreover, as General President of the Federal Union of Nsukka, Nwodo, who later became the traditional leader of Ukehe, consolidated the integration of his community in Nsukka.

After separating Ukehe, the other communities around, Ukehe's relatives including Affa, Egede, Awhum and Ukana were left in Udi's division. But, like everything that is done out of political expediency, in order to compensate for the modification, when the state of Enugu was created, in order to find a balance in the senatorial districts, Isi-Uzo, which made formerly part of Nsukka Division, had to be separated from Udenu, to join Enugu East Senatorial District. It was therefore because of this socio-political reorganization of the constituency by Okwuluoha II that the zoning of the Enugu State Governorate seat became controversial. The people of Isi-Uzo mounted serious campaigns to get the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) guber handed over to them. Led by the former President General of Ohanaeze Nd'Igbo, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, Isi-Uzo stakeholders have claimed that since the establishment of Enugu State, they have not represented the district Enugu East Senate at the Governor's Seat. Therefore, they lobbied Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, urging him to support Isi-Uzo's lawyer Chijioke Edeoga for the governorship contest in 2023, because according to them, they have decided that no one from the local council should obtain the Senate nomination form. As the attempt to influence Governor Ugwuanyi was underway, stakeholders in the Enugu East Senate District, to which the governorship was zoned, engaged in a close...