I have carefully followed the arguments on zoning in Okigwe North Federal Constituency as advanced by the camp of the APC candidate for the House of Representatives, Mr. Uche Agasu, who insists that it is the turn of Onuimo Local Government Area to produce the next representative of the constituency. Having read their arguments, I am left with the impression that the proponents are either deliberately setting out to create mischief or are simply unfamiliar with some of the recent political events in the constituency. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand how anyone conversant with the political history of Okigwe North would arrive at the conclusion they are canvassing. I have no interest in the candidate or the political party involved in this argument. My interest is simply to interrogate the claim against the facts and history of the constituency.
Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, Okigwe North has operated a rotational arrangement among its three component Local Government Areas: Onuimo, Okigwe and Isiala Mbano. Onuimo had the first opportunity, producing Hon. Morris Ibekwe and later Barr. Mike Ohia, who represented the constituency from 1999 to 2007. Okigwe followed with Hon. Matthew Omegara from 2007 to 2015, after which Isiala Mbano took its turn with Hon. Obinna Owubuariri from 2015. This sequence is not in dispute. What is important, however, is what happened when Owubuariri’s tenure was interrupted by the courts and a fresh election was ordered in 2020.
At that point, Onuimo had a very clear political choice. It could support Owubuariri and allow him to complete the second tenure that had accrued to Isiala Mbano, after which the seat would naturally return to Onuimo in 2023. Alternatively, it could support Princess Miriam Onuoha, whose political promise at the time was that she would serve for only one tenure. Onuimo made its choice. The election result is there for anyone to verify: the PDP candidate, Obinna Owubuariri, polled 3,026 votes, while Princess Miriam Onuoha of the APC polled 5,758 votes and emerged victorious. That choice cannot now be detached from the zoning conversation simply because its consequences have become politically inconvenient.
Those of us who warned at the time that a promise of a single tenure was not bankable were eventually proved right. Princess Onuoha did not stop at one term. She returned in 2023, secured the APC ticket, contested the election and was declared the winner. That development fundamentally altered the political sequence. If each LGA is entitled to eight years within a rotation cycle, then the first cycle effectively ended with Isiala Mbano, and Princess Onuoha’s return in 2023 meant that the second cycle commenced from Isiala Mbano rather than from Onuimo. By that logic, Isiala Mbano still has four years to complete its second turn before the seat moves to the next LGA.
This is the part of the argument the Onuimo camp appears unwilling to confront. Rotation is not simply about counting names on a list while ignoring the political circumstances that produced them. The events of 2020 and 2023 are part of the history of Okigwe North, and they cannot be wished away. Onuimo made a legitimate political choice in 2020, but every political choice has consequences. It chose Princess Miriam Onuoha over an arrangement that could have seen Owubuariri complete his second tenure and paved the way for Onuimo in 2023. It cannot now demand that the consequence of that choice be erased. In simple terms, Onuimo had its choice and ate its cake; it must live with the political consequences of that choice.
There is also a need to place this argument within the broader history of mutual accommodation in Okigwe North. Isiala Mbano has consistently respected the principle of rotation, even when doing so did not necessarily serve its immediate political interest. When Hon. Morris Ibekwe of Onuimo died in office, Isiala Mbano supported the position that his replacement should still come from Onuimo. It also supported Hon. Matthew Omegara of Okigwe throughout his eight years in office. The same principle informed its conduct in the Senate, where, after producing Senator Ifeanyi Ararume, Isiala Mbano did not insist that the seat must immediately return to it, but supported Senator Patrick Ndubueze of Okigwe LGA. These actions demonstrate that the principle of rotation is not a convenient argument invented by Isiala Mbano because of the 2027 election.
It is also worth noting that Isiala Mbano has a larger voting population in the federal constituency, yet that numerical advantage has never been weaponised against the other LGAs. Our politics has survived because communities have chosen equity and mutual respect over the crude politics of numbers. If the zoning understanding is deliberately abandoned, however, the inevitable consequence will be a return to the politics of numerical strength, and that is a path none of the three LGAs should desire.
Let me say that nothing here suggests that an Onuimo son or daughter is not qualified to contest the House of Representatives seat. Everyone has the constitutional right to aspire. The issue is not eligibility but the political understanding that has sustained peaceful power sharing in Okigwe North. If the proponents of the Onuimo position believe that the existing rotational arrangement should be abandoned, let them make that argument honestly. What is difficult to accept is the attempt to rewrite recent political history and then use emotional blackmail to make a claim that the facts do not comfortably support.
The 2027 contest should therefore be approached with facts, history and logic, not sentiment. Political choices have consequences, and the choices made in 2020, followed by the events of 2023, are now part of the political history of Okigwe North. Anyone seeking to determine whose turn it is must account for those events rather than selectively remembering the history that suits his argument. That, to my mind, is the only fair and honest way to approach the zoning question.
