Madumere, Imo D-Gov At 51: An Interesting Story Of A Leader, And The Man Of Caves And Slums
On Saturday, the 4th of July, Imo state was agog with the presence of elite personalities amidst pumps and pageantries, as the deputy governor of the state, Prince Eze Madumere, celebrated his 51st birthday. In addition, the entire Owerri political enclave held its breath as the Owerri Zone organized a grand reception in honour of the No.2 citizen as the political leader of the zone.
To make it more interesting the deputy governor’s birthday coincided with a moment when the governor, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha and his deputy are forming the next government. So lobbyists might have been seeking for such opportunity like the deputy governor’s birthday to at least show some kind of loyalty and goodwill no matter how hypocritical. This alone made the day of the twin celebrations a day to watch.
Traditionally, the birthdays of political office holders, the powerful men and women of the society and their family kit and kin, are always a time for the elites to showcase their affluence amidst pumps of exquisite drinks and continental dishes. For a man as powerful as the governor or the deputy governor of the state, such special occasions are most assuredly the most perfect opportunities to burnish his ego and grow his political life. It was expected that the entire state would stand still as high society men and women of all categories, including all those seeking political, social or economic favours, were expected to perform the rituals of adulation and ego worship to gain his favour as I noted earlier.
Unfortunately, I doubt if many of these elite guests of the No.2 citizen of the state expected what they saw, except for those who already knew the deputy governor’s way of going about things. I actually watched out for surprises because I knew he was set to surprise his guests with some shocking contradictions as he has always done in the past on his birthday celebrations. Unlike many of his guests, I knew that If the deputy governor would insist on his past tradition, then the best place to wait for him on his 51st birthday would be in the caves and slums- the prisons and homes of the destitute, the poor and the less privileged all around the state. He would want to go and give them a sense of belonging. Surprised?
I once stumbled upon the powerful treatises written by the legendary mafia lord, Gugliamo Suarez, as a piece of admonitions to his son. He told his son that all mafiosa are the same because they all seek power, money and influence with ruthlessness, but that some mafiosa are different because of the kind of use to which they put their money, power and influence. He told his son that while some mafia men seek money, power and influence for the sake of these things, others seek them for the sake of others. The later seek money, power and influence so that they can touch the lives of others, especially the ordinary people, in ways that write their names in the sands of time. This is why the birthdays of the deputy governor of Imo state, His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere, is always a symbolic moment.
For an average politician a birthday is a time to bring together the cream de la cream of the society to advance one’s political interest. But in the case of the deputy governor, It is always a time to celebrate his personality as a leader of the common people and lover of the poor, the imprisoned and the less privileged of the society. It is a time to leave the magnificent palaces of power and marbled tables of exotic wines and intercontinental cuisines to meet and interact with the poor in their caves and slums.
At 51, the life of the deputy governor of Imo state seems to be a piece carved from the lines of the Lord Gugliamo Surez’s timeless admonitions to his growing son. Like every other politician there is no doubt that Prince Eze Madumere seeks money, power and influence, but in direct contrast to the life of an average politician, the No. 2 citizen of the state is a practical demonstration of what Lord Suarez told his son about the mafia who seek these things for the sake of others. Again, the son will always have a spark of the father in him. Prince Eze Madumere’s attitude towards the poor, the commoners and the less privileged might be ascribed to his tutelage under his boss and the governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha whose life of philanthropy and simplicity and benevolence towards the poorest of the poor is the most celebrated in the country.
During the electioneering campaigns of the 2011 political season, the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, always kept his audience and even political adversaries thinking by making a particular statement. “Even without any government support and without holding any political power I sent over 5000 children to school with full free education from primary to tertiary all over the country. Imagine what I will do if you give me the opportunity to be your governor. I will make sure that education is free for the children of the poorest of the poor”.
This and similar campaign rhetoric won the governor his victory in 2011. And the governor has justified the confidence reposed in him by the masses as a result of this campaign statement. Maybe, sometime in the future, Prince Eze Madumere’s life of philanthropy and his attitude towards the poor and commoners as exemplified by the manner in which he cares for, relates with and celebrates his birthday with them will one day be looked upon as the one great reason to give him more power to do more.
Aside his stint as a person with compulsive inclination towards philanthropy and social services to the poorest of the poor, the deputy governor’s dramatic emergence from the sidelines to broad-spectrum stardom in politics, leadership, administration and strategic management makes his 51st birthday and his grand reception by the people of Owerri zone as their supreme political leader a landmark moment to celebrate a figure of many sides.
Born a wartime child during the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, the deputy governor grew up a hustler and an independent-minded fellow with strong inclinations towards technical life, administration and management. Without digging too deep into his exploits as a teenager, the deputy cut a stint in business management in the United States of America while working with Pepsico and other notable firms, including his personal businesses.
No wonder the Nigerian Institute of Strategic Management, one of the most influential think tank institutes in Nigeria in the area of strategic management and business administration, honoured him with the prestigious investiture as Fellow of The Institute of Strategic Management, FISMN, just a few days before his 51st birthday. However, what has distinguished the Mbieri- born politician is his startling exploits in the field of politics which have marked him out as one of the most influential emerging statesmen and a classed strategic thinker of some sort.
Informally, the deputy governor, while in the service and tutelage of his current principal and executive governor of Imo state, Owelle Anayo Rochas, had already stamped his fingers on the pages of the Nigeria politics. However, what began the definition of his role and image as the emerging No.1 political leader of the Owerri zone and the No.2 political leader of the state was his role in the cascade of events that shaped the outcome of the 2011 elections. This same feat was also repeated during the just concluded 2015 elections. There was no doubt that the No.1 figure to watch among governor Okorocha’s fieldsmen in the 2015 political season was the deputy governor. He stood out as the governor’s chief political strategist and principal negotiator of the governor and the APC party.
The strategic role of Madumere in the 2011 elections that brought his boss to power after defeating the then incumbent Gov. Ikedi Ohakim in a tightly contested election, and his exploits in the polity since the inception of this administration, including his role in the just concluded 2015 polls, marked him out as the guy to watch closely in the new political dispensation. Furthermore, the unarguable significant role of the No.2 political leader of the state, Madumere, in helping his boss reshape the political landscape and steer the ship of governance in the state immediately after the elections 2011 cemented deputy governor’s grip on the polity and gave him the image of a magic maker.
As the 2015 elections approached with admixture of events, close watchers were right to believe that Madumere was the greatest threat and obstacle to the opposition forces who were scheming to unseat his boss. As a smart bargainer and thoroughbred political negotiator, the APC party relied on him as its best political strategist and the go-between with the common electorates and interest groups.
Political analysts, including those allied to the opposition were of the view that based on Prince Eze Madumere’s strategic role in the 2011 elections, his subsequent seamless exploits in the system since his time as Chief-of Staff to his appointment as the deputy governor of the state, and his subsequent popularity which had gripped the polity years before the 2015 elections, the deputy governor stood out at the national level as one of APC’s best and most aggressive political strategists. And he justified this view.
The Imo deputy governor is widely seen as the most consummate and most trusted insider of the Okorocha political family despite an increasingly tensed in-fighting among government officials and allied political elites in which the deputy governor has taken much brunt of blackmails and negative media propaganda. However, the emergence of the deputy governor after the dramatic exit of his predecessor radically redefined what it means for a deputy governor to be resourceful or effective in the system. At the surprise exit of the then deputy governor, Sir Jude Agbaso, Prince Eze Madumere, who was the then Chief Of Staff to the governor, was chosen without a blink by Gov. Okorocha as the most credible replacement to his ex-deputy and the most fitting figure into his idea of governance and administration, specifically the Imo Must Be Better Agenda.
As soon as Prince Eze Madumere was sworn-in as the deputy governor cum commissioner for works he left no body in doubt of why the governor chose him as his deputy. The governor needed someone who understands the duties of a deputy governor and the nature of the responsibilities assigned to that office. The immediate evidence was that the governor and his team experience a dramatic relative peace, and a commendable stability in the polity.
First, the deputy governor changed the boss-staff relationship environment in a way that engendered productivity, passion and individual commitment of staff at all levels. But beyond all these, the deputy governor practically demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that as a deputy to a governor you are rather a partner instead of an opposition to the governor. For him, as the deputy governor he is called to service to his boss in an atmosphere of humility and untainted loyalty.
Aside his unbeatable scorecard and impeccable credentials in human administration and management, he is also a thoroughbred negotiator and a wizkid in conflict resolution as symbolized by his role is the resolution of the famous Irete Crisis, among many other such cases he undertook on behalf of the government, especially among the communities in Owerri zone. This again contributed greatly to the definition of his image as the zone’s political leader.
On his one year in office anniversary, the deputy governor told his audience that his primary objective when he assumed office as the No.2 citizen was to commonize the relationship of his office with the staff and the ordinary people in a way that would allow any Imolite reach the government of Gov. Okorocha with their daily problems and challenges. But beyond that, the deputy governor has used every occasion to communicate to his staff, his supporters and the masses that he has no agenda of his own except to help the governor realize his aspirations for the Imo people. However, the fact is that the deputy governor has appeared within the polity as a very resourceful figure and the best fieldman to his boss.
The personality of the deputy governor, Prince Eze Madumere, as a resourceful person did not just start now or only when he became the deputy governor. As the governor’s Chief of Staff from back in the days in Abuja to immediately after the 2011 elections, he has always been known as a very resourceful figure and a strategic thinker of some sort. Of course, the person who emerges a governor’s or a president’s Chief of staff at the first few years or months of the leader’s administration also makes a whole lot of difference in determining how the entire administration is going to navigate the dangerous rifts of running between practical governance and naked politics.
Ordinarily, a Chief of Staff who knows his job is, by factual rating, the chief political negotiator and principal administrator of labour and productivity in a governor’s cabinet. His ability to manage these two polarizations goes to a great extent to determine his ability or failure to move the machinery of governance efficiently and effectively. When the governor takes office newly and the paths are almost uncharted, with boundaries yet to be defined, the man who emerges as the chief of staff to the governor is one of the most critical choices on the governor’s desk. But leave that aside for now.
In the first place, His Excellency Madumere’s image as a man who can deliver in any given task both politically and otherwise, gives him the image of a magic maker before his boss, the political class and the common electorates. This magic maker image was there before his appointment as the governor’s first COS immediately the governor swept to power in a tightly contested election in 2011.
Before the 2011 elections, Prince Madumere served as Director for Women and Youth Mobilization for Owelle Rochas Okorocha's campaign in Imo State under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 1998 gubernatorial elections in Imo state. He was later to serve as Chief Strategist on Media and Logistics for Anayo Rochas Okorocha's Presidential bid under the ANPP in 2002–2003. He served as an aide in the Presidency, working as the Chief of Staff to the Presidential Adviser on Inter-Party Relations, when the incumbent governor occupied that position. At the demise of Senator Amah Iwuagwu in December 3, 2005 he ran for the Senate seat in Imo East Senatorial District (Owerri Zone).
During the 2015 electioneering campaign, the deputy governor, often in the company of the former PDP chairman, Prince Marcon Nlemigbo, worked to galvanize the entire Owerri zone, especially the members and supporters of the APC party. But more importantly was his role in giving the APC a foothold in Owerri zone to create a bulwark against the opposition parties who chose their guber candidates from the zone, especially the PDP and APGA.
Moving from one community or group to another, the deputy governor traversed the entire Owerri political landscape calming the frayed nerves of warring factions in the new formed APC party, or intensely wooing and lobbying other political forces to join ranks with governor Okorocha and the APC. He had a singular appeal to the people of Owerri zone and especially the Mbaike clan, that aside the fact that governor Okorocha had done well for the zone, the governor’s victory would offer a better chance to the Owerri people to produce Gov. Okorocha’s successor by 2019.
The deputy governor’s message had a powerful appeal. Sooner than later, different political forces bought into it including the Owerri Zonal Political Forum, OZOPOLF, fell into line. OZOPOLF, is seen as the zone’s highest political force in the agitation for Owerri governor 2019. Its men were the forces behind Captain Iheanacho and Rt.Hon. Emeka Ihedioha’s guber campaigns. As soon as OZOPOLF’s secretary general, Barrister Kingsley Ononuju, joined Madumere’s campaign trail to campaign for Gov. Okorocha and APC, the game was up.
The Mbaike clan, the very clan where Madumere comes from, played very significant role in the outcome of the 2015 elections. Mbaike, made up of Mbaitoli and Ikeduru, is the highest voting block in Nigeria, while Mbieri, the home town of the deputy governor, is among the towns with the highest volume of votes in Nigeria. Kano municipal is the next block. Being the political enclave with the highest volume of votes, securing victory in the Mbiake clan is central to the overall victory of any party in Imo guber elections.
Aside the inroads and the gains already made before the presidential and national assembly elections, the defeat of President Goodluck Jonathan by the APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari offered a new vista for possibilities. The deputy governor capitalized on this new window and intensified his effort to woo pro opposition political forces within the zone to join the APC wagon and elect him and his boss for a second term. This yielded great fruits as the governor swept to victory in Owerri zone, especially the Mbaike clan.
For every Owerri man who understands the dynamics and intricacies of the political events that have reshaped the political landscape of the zone, Madumere is an unsung hero of the Owerri zone politics. Hence his grand reception is seen by many as no surprise by all means. So, as the inmates of the Nigerian prisons, the homes of the less privileged and the common people celebrated in their caves and slums in honour of Prince Eze Madumere, the deputy governor’s image as the No.2 leader of the state and the No. political leader of the Owerri zone stands out.
Okwuaku. A.I.Okwuaku