Power the most seductive substance ever: Nigerians should learn from Ike Ekweremadu’s story
5 min read
Prince Charles III and Senator Ike Ekweremadu
By Emeka Ugwuonye
With the criminal trial of Ike Ekweremadu over, it is time to pause and ponder over the entire story of the sudden fall from grace of this former political power broker from Enugu State. It is not difficult to see how the Ekweremadu can be traced to unique characteristics of Enugu State politics.
Ike Ekweremadu was definitely one of the most influential politicians from Enugu State in the past 20 years. He wielded so much power within the highest range an Igbo man had gotten since the days of Dr. Alex Ekwueme. Ekweremadu’s hold to power was almost mystical. He rose from the modest levels in politics as a local government official through Governor Chimaroke government all the way to the Nigerian Senate. Even as Chimaroke faltered and faded, Ekweremadu waxed strong at both national and state levels. He became the Deputy President of the Senate, with his party at the presidency. He became chairman of rhe constitutional reform committee. All these were rare opportunities for Ekweremadu to become a genuinely great man of the old Enugu tradition.
At some point in his game of power, Ekweremadu felt confident enough to aspire to become the ultimate Igbo politician. But he was no so sure of his grip on the Igbo youths outside Enugu. He saw an opportunity in warming himself to the Igbos in diaspora. This led him to Germany where he had planned to meet the Igbos based in that country. But he forgot one important detail. He was not the only Igbo man seeking to control the heart and soul of the Igbos. Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB saw his moves as a threat. Hence, they beat him up and humiliated him in Germany. I recall vividly the image of Ekweremadu running for his dear life just like a school kid surrounded by a mob, as he escaped from some angry, frustrated Igbo people in diaspora. It was funny, but not quite funny.
Ike Ekweremadu, as a politician, was a man with selective dispositions toward conflicts. His was a practice of selective aggression. He stayed in power for as long as he did by knowing how to avoid certain fights. He avoided confrontations when faced with anyone likely to threaten him. However, when he faced the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, he could be quite aggressive and determined. Take for instance the manner he handled the public humiliation the IPOB members gave him in Germany. You would expect that being such a powerful man, he could have used DSS and the Nigeria police to identify a few of his attackers and make an example of them just to show every future would-be attacker not to mess with him. But he did not do that. Instead, he quickly announced that he had forgiven all those who beat him in Germany, including the leader of the IPOB that ordered his beating. But Ekweremadu did not always display such restraint when faced with people he knew had no capacity to challenge him. The way he acquired lands from people in Enugu was with incredible aggression that the land owners must sell their land for whatever Ekweremadu offered, provided he was interested enough. Also, the brutality with which he and Dr. Obeta tried to obtain a kidney from David Nwamini was totally contrary to the posture of humility or meekness.
Today, as we look back, we must ask: How many other Enugu leaders are like Ekweremadu? We can look 30 to 40 years back and we would see a different brand of Enugu leaders in C. C. Onoh, Udegbunem Anya, Esquire, Enechi Onyia, Esquire, Nwodo, Abdulaziz Ude, etc. These were Enugu leaders who cared more for their people than they did about themselves. They were nothing like the leaders of today who would rather sell Enugu to the highest bitter. The crisis we have witnessed in Enugu State politics in the past 20 years epitomizes this malaise. The Ebeano gang totally turned Enugu into a spoil of war for primitive acquisition without vision. Today, the key representative of that class of leaders that will sell Enugu in a heartbeat is Peter Mbah. Why single out Peter Mbah? He is their arrowhead at the moment.
As the last election approached, many interests, assuming that things must go their old ways, believed that PDP candidate would surely win the governorship elections. They poured in money to sponsor Peter Mbah as their candidate. Powerful money men from neighboring states who have always eyed the lands of Enugu saw in Peter Mbah the man they needed to acquire Enugu. They poured in money on a massive scale to help him on the understanding that when he came into office, he would remember and reward those who paved the way for him. Otherwise, have you ever asked yourself where Peter Mbah got the money for his campaign and why he was able to outspend other candidates by 10 to 1? You don’t need to be a genius to understand that whoever pays the piper dictates the tune. Whoever funded Peter Mbah would determine the fate of the people of Enugu. Peter Mbah is a puppet of those who paid for his campaign. That is because Peter Mbah is just an Enugu wannabe leader in the mold of Ekweremadu, Chimaroke and other alumni of Ebeano.
The lesson of Ekweremadu is a stark reminder that power is something no one should toy with. Those who lead and mislead Enugu must know that the people of Enugu have God on their side. And this time, the call of God’s name is not as in vain as when they abandoned their basic governance responsibilities and claimed to have left them in the hands of God. Otherwise, it would have taken none but providence to set Ekweremadu on the self-destructive path that led him where he is today. Chimaroke is dealing with forfeiture case in State of Florida over a 45 million dollar property that should never belong to him legitimately. And when the story of Chimaroke is told in full, Peter Mbah will be implicated.
The ongoing election petition cases will be another opportunity for deliverance of the people of Enugu from wholesale fraud which was perpetrated in the governorship election of March 18, 2023, and which was a continuation of a chain of fraud and pervasion that reaches back to the year 2002. The only reason INEC was paid so much to rig election for Peter Mbah was because his sponsors could not afford to lose.
Those who toy with power should learn from Ekweremadu story. At the peak of your power, you can be hanging out with the future King of the British Empire. But power being what it is, slippery and unreliable, you may be in prison before the Prince becomes the King. No wonder power intoxicates so absolutely.
