A Glimpse Of Hope For Our Democracy By Ewah Otu Eleri

It was about 6.30PM Saturday evening on the Election Day. The rain was merciless. It was as if the women were boiling in the heavy downpour. Young girls, old women – just everybody was dancing in a frenzy as I drove up the path to the Enohia village square on my way to see a cousin.

The women in wild jubilation were singing “Maria, Maria, Maria is our leader – in death or in life, Maria remains our leader”. Enohia, a small village in Afikpo North Local Government Area was only one of several villages I drove through on my way from my polling station in Amachara village, my ancestral home. Everywhere I drove through, people in beer parlours, village squares, including rival political camps were celebrating the victory of Maria.

Maria Ude Nwachi stood for election into the Ebonyi State House of Assembly. She had gone to the dominant PDP for a ticket but due to the crisis that ensued between Elechi and his deputy, many, including her, were disenfranchised and did not take part in the PDP primary election. The party also had also zoned the seat to another ward in the LGA claming that it was not the turn of her area. The seat was not vacant in Governor Martin Elechi sponsored Labour Party. A candidate that supports the Governor in the fight to impeach him by a faction of the State House of Assembly was currently occupying the seat. The party cannot afford to take chances. The show of shame between Governor Elechi and his estranged deputy was more important.

Maria went to the PPA – a party with no known presence in Ebonyi State. The party was only happy to splash its ticket on any lonely soul. And of course, the political establishment laughed at Maria’s chances. My friends, several of them “chieftains” of the national ruling party told me how everything was “under control” and how impossible her victory was. But not the Afikpo people.

At the end of the Election Day, Maria scored 7,730 votes; and all other candidates for the seat, including PDP and Labour Party combined could not match this figure. In my own polling vote, she scored 273 of all the 330 votes. Both the federal government supported PDP and the state government bank-rolled Labour Party was trailing far behind. One thing was curious. In my polling station, Maria’s PPA also “won” the governorship election, scoring 173 votes with both Labour and PDP even at 53 votes each. Mark you, Maria was not standing for the governorship election.

In fact I asked one of the women leaders in my village why they voted for Maria’s party even though she was not standing for the Governorship election. She apologised and told me the older women had asked “Why not? Maria should be both Governor and House of Assembly member. Do Governors have seven heads? She should also become governor”, they insisted.
How did Maria get here?

For over four months in 2014, the two Local Governments of Afikpo North and Afikpo South had had no electricity supply. Part of the 33kva line leading to the two LGAs had been destroyed. As December approached, and the well-known Igbo Exodus to the village began to set in, Maria told friends that she can’t stand our people returning home to a dark Christmas. She approached the Enugu Distribution Company and asked for an assessment of the cost of restoring power to Afikpo. Out of her own pocket, the young lady paid nearly two million Naira to bring light to her people. That’s how we had power during the last Christmas. So today, if electricity comes on in Afikpo, an entire people, especially children erupt in the chorus, “Maria aa!”

As Maria was talked into running for office, frustration began to slowly brew within the Afikpo political establishment. Normally, people who represent us are never really seen by the people. Their proxies share rice, cups of salt and some money before elections. After the election, all you hear about them is how rich they have become; how much contract money meant for our development is flowing through their bank accounts; and how many people they have shot dead; or how many, including their friends who have fallen from grace have been beaten up by their boys.

One narrative is that Maria saw a political opportunity by paying to restore power to Afikpo last year. But that’s wrong. I met Maria for the first time in 1999 at a party in her apartment in an up market neighbourhood in Manhattan, New York. It was spectacular. Nearly everybody in the party was from Afikpo. Most of them had been sent a ticket; and those that paid their way got reimbursement after the party.

Maria is crazy about Afikpo people. When she returned from the US, she settled at home and built the Maria Island Resort – part her own home, part event centre and guest houses. She established businesses for young people. At some point about ten years ago, she distributed 12 cars to young boys in one day. My sister had her restaurant completely made over with a new generator and refrigerators. My sister was not alone. Several others had businesses established for them. She never asked them to pay back. She paid hospital bills for people she never even met, trained kids in school and cleared farm roads long before she ever thought of running for office.

Over a drink the day after, I and some friends pondered over some of the lessons of the Maria-mania in Afikpo. Why are the people crazy about her; why is the political establishment jittery about her; can she maintain the momentum of public support; and what are the implications for good governance in our local government?

Perhaps there is something fundamentally shifting in Nigerian politics that goes beyond the APC change narrative. One is the opening of the democratic space. Votes are beginning to count. Village people are beginning to exercise the right to choose their own leaders. Secondly, there is an incontrovertible evidence that we have a surging middle class.

As I watched in my polling station, there were fewer old people asking for help to identify the party of their choice. Most identified Maria’s party symbol without help. It is a new day. The election of 2019 is bound to see more Marias. There is a glimpse of hope.

Ewah Otu Eleri, Abuja

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