By Ochereome Nnanna

WHEN Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji finally decided to dump the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) he was widely expected to return straight to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He chose instead to embrace the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

He obviously did not reckon with the surprising return of Chief Orji Kalu to the PDP. His calculation was probably that in a three-cornered fight between a factionalised PDP, an emptied-out PPA and incumbent APGA, he would have the upper hand.

Many people are stunned by the prospects of a governor decamping twice in two months. It makes party politics in Nigeria look like a child’s play. The truth is that it is. Political parties in Nigeria of today are nothing more than platforms for contesting and winning elections. Other normal attributes of a political party – vehicle for political education and articulation of ideas for the development of society – are nowhere to be found.

If we had a virile and credible party system zoning would not be the issue of the day. Aspirants to the highest office in the land would be enlightening the public on how they would activate the manifestoes of their political parties to make life more abundant for the people. Because politicians are only interested in the easiest way they can win elections, that is why presidential aspirants, General Ibrahim Babangida and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar are insisting ridiculously that President Goodluck Jonathan should rule himself out of the race next year and zone the presidency directly into their laps.

In the same vein, Governor Orji’s carpet crossings are primarily for the purpose of getting a chance for a second term in office. But there is more to it than that. If it were simply a matter of getting the ticket of a party, that of APGA was his for the asking. And with the power of incumbency and a PDP that is in separate pieces, his chances of success were as good as anyone’s, especially if he is able to execute a number of visible capital projects that would shore up his performance rating between now and elections time.

His anticipated return to PDP has a bigger tactical import than being a mere matter of jumping ship. It is part of a strategic regional positioning for relevance in 2011 and beyond. For instance, the new National Chairman of the PDP,
Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo will consider the upping of the number of states controlled by the PDP from three to four during his tenure as a personal achievement. It will increase his stake and voice in the party. It will also increase the number of delegates that will be coming to the national conventions of his party from his home geopolitical zone.

That is why Nwodo is bending himself in two to meet the conditions Governor Orji tabled, one of which is the dissolution of the Abia State executive council of the party to enable him take over as the leader of the party in the state.

The second person who will benefit from this carpet crossing is whoever the South East decides to support for the presidency. The zone has decided to put all its eggs in one basket in choosing whom to support. Its governors have jointly disqualified themselves from the presidential race, making it clear that they would not offer themselves as running mates in 2011. They have opted to negotiate with and support anyone who will help in stamping the federal presence in the zone, which has been lacking since the civil war ended.

Even though final decision has not been made as to whom to throw their weights behind, I am aware that the governors have approached President Goodluck Jonathan with these demands. I am also aware that some long-neglected federal projects are being revitalised and pursued with uncommon expedition in the zone since Jonathan was promoted to President, Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

These include the completion of the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway, the restarting of work on the Onitsha Port , the dredging of the lower River Niger, among others. These are projects that enemies of Igbo progress paid lip service to over the decades and abandoned, thus hastening the mass drift of virile population from Igboland to other parts of the country in search of opportunity.

One of the issues the governors tabled before President Jonathan was the need for all the oil and gas resources of the South East to be unlocked from the so-called federal strategic reserve status to enable the states earn revenue. In this matter, the case of Abia is pathetic.

The state is not being paid derivation royalties for over 70 oil wells which were declared “seized” before the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua was persuaded to “un-seize” them. However, the processes to enable the state earn its deserved revenue from those oil wells have been bogged down in red tape. Part of the envisaged benefits of TA’s PDP return includes the restoration of Abia’s rights, and also a lasting solution found to her crippling debt burden that dates back to the Second Republic . By the time these problems are solved the revenue profile of the state will rise and there will be more funds to work with.

Yar’ Adua and Jonathan have shown willingness to close the chapter of our history defined by the 1966 coups and the civil war as it pertains to the Igbo people in Nigeria . TA is returning to the PDP to seal a regional deal for the advancement of his state and geopolitical zone. After all, the South-South is a creation the Igbo intelligentsia, and if one of them is leading this country, the Igbo people owe it a duty to make the necessary sacrifices required.