By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

Political leaders from the former Eastern and Midwest regions met in Asaba in two different sessions last Sunday to ponder their options in the face of continuing political challenges collectively facing them.

Asaba, the Delta State capital which has recently gained prominence as a favourite shooting location for Nigeria’s movie makers was the scene of two major political acts last Sunday.

Act one, scene one was an economic cum political initiative towards integration by the states comprising the former Midwest and Eastern Regions.

Act two, scene two was a robust caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the South-South to strategise and position the region ahead of the 2015 round of general elections.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State was host of the two meetings and director and producer of the two energy sapping productions that saw an unprecedented gathering of some of the country’s major political actors.

The first meeting comprised essentially of the governors from the regions of the Midwest and Eastern regions which today have now been rearranged into the South-South and Southeast geopolitical zones.

 Governors Theodore Orji (Abia); Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa); Liyel Imoke (Cross River); and Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) at the South-South/South East Governors meeting held in Asaba, Delta State. Photos: Henry Unini.

The meeting which was across party lines had in attendance Senator Liyel Imoke of Cross River, Peter Obi of Anambra, Chief Theodore Orji (Abia), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Hon. Serikae Dickson, Bayelsa and Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta.

Also present were Chief Martins Elechi (Ebonyi), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Rochas Okorocha while Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State was represented by his deputy, Engr. Tele Ikulu.

The only exception was Comrade Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, who that day received a chieftaincy title from his people. Remarkably, he is also the only Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN governor in the two geopolitical zones.

The meeting which some tried to downplay as not essentially political was supposedly an opportunity to foster regional integration.

It is believed that the plan to find areas of mutual economic cooperation could also dovetail into the quest for greater economic self-determination as has recently been championed by south-south governors through the BRACED commission.

However, given the political tension in the land it would have been foolish for anyone to totally overlook politics in the meeting of the ten governors.

Indeed, prior to the Sunday meeting, political leaders of the Southeast geopolitical zone met in Enugu supposedly on routine consultation.

But if partisan politics was not directly an issue, the security challenges that have recently developed brought the governors to a convergence.

It was as such not surprising that the summit ended with a strong denunciation of the violence in the north and a robust endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Collective consciousness
In the communiqué issued at the end of the one day meeting that took place at the Government House, the South-South and Southeast governors condemned the behaviour and antics of Nigerians and those they described as their “evil collaborators,” who according to them, have decided to assault the collective consciousness of the nation by waging terrorism on the country.

Governors Godswill Akpabio (A-Ibom); Theodore Orji (Abia) and Peter Obi (Anambra) at the South-South/South East Governors meeting held in Asaba, Delta State. Photos: Henry Unini.

It was undoubtedly a confidence building measure by the governors to tell their citizens and perhaps the president that they were not ignorant of the challenges that some northerners and their external collaborators have waged on the country.

For Governor Uduaghan, the meeting was perhaps an opportunity to project the dream of making Asaba a nexus for the economic renaissance of the two regions.

It is one issue the Delta administration has laboured to drive using as a platform, the Asaba airport which it hopes to drive the economy of the states in the region.

The PDP caucus meeting that followed the governors meeting   understandably had a more surreptitious agenda which eventually unfolded in the hall. Present were PDP governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives national and zonal officials of the party from the zone.

The meeting was to forge unity, not just among themselves, but as it emerged, towards the zone’s leading political office holder, President Goodluck Jonathan.

The party’s leading enforcer, Chief Tony Anenih did not waste time as the meeting progressed to lay down the script that the zone must not join the cacophony of voices directed against the president.

Anenih in his remarks upbraided party members who he said have become susceptible to the antics of opposition parties and especially condemned the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF which he said has derailed from its original purposes and become a weapon for confronting the Federal Government.

Chairman of the NGF, Amaechi was not at the meeting and was represented by his deputy.

Anenih’s speech also touched on other party affairs including discipline which he said has completely collapsed across all levels.

He also made a strong case for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan who he said has become a target for negative profiling by opposition parties who were being helped by renegade PDP members.

While calling for greater unity in the face of the evolving merger of some of the nation’s leading opposition parties, Anenih, nevertheless dismissed the proposed All Progressive Congress, APC as a house built on sand which he said would collapse with the first drop of rain.

Though the communiqué released fell short of declaring an endorsement for President Jonathan’s second term it, however, did not disguise its abhorrence for those who have recently mounted a campaign to intimidate the president from seeking a second term in office as the summiteers gave a ringing endorsement of his achievements so far in office.

The Southeast and South-South governors and the South-South PDP leaders may have through the two major acts played out in Asaba last weekend demonstrated to all that they have had enough.

How the drama unfolds is another thing.