The joke is on Chimaroke!

Omife e-rays the politics of Chimaroke Nnamani and how his Twitter tantrums show that the joke is on the Senator

I listened to Chimaroke Nnamani many times in recent times.

I like the former governor for one thing. During his tenure as governor, he empowered so many young people. Ike Ekweremadu. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. Ken Nnamani. Frank Nweke Jr. Sullivan Chime. Peter Mbah. Dan Shere. Festus Uzor. USA Igwesi. Ment Nomeh. Offor Chukwuegbo. Max Ngene. Gil Nnaji. Ayogu Eze. Ben Alukwu. And many others.

The same fate has befallen Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, aka Gburugburu. Once Chimaroke Nnmani returned to the Senate, he no longer saw any other person as greater than him. Not even the governor and leader of the PDP in the State! Emboldened perhaps by his newly customized grey hair and beard identity symbol, Chimaroke now saw himself as the father figure of Enugu politics. The governor says one thing, he says another thing.

After this, there is little else that excites or inspires me about the former governor.

In the early period of the current political dispensation, Nnamani perceived himself as the Lord and king of Enugu politics. And why not?

Significantly, Nnamani served an eight-year tenure as governor and one-term as a Senator. However, after further attempts to return to the Senate in 2011 and 2015 failed, he went into self political exile. Thereafter, nobody knew what he was doing for a living. Sullivan Chime retired him from politics, the same way that Nnamani retired his former godfather, Jim Nwobodo in 2003. The name Chimaroke Nnamani became virtually forgotten in Enugu politics.

Soon after, one of his benefactors, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi became governor of Enugu State. The governor, who perceived Nnamani like Zk of Africa, plotted his return to Enugu politics and his restoration to his former throne as the king of so-called Ebeano political dynasty. The story was that the Governor Ugwuanyi went beyond buying a form for Senatorial election primaries for Nnamani in absentia. He also went ahead to hold Enugu East senatorial primaries where Chimaroke was nominated, also in absentia, and was subsequently elected to the Senate.

So having received such royal and unprecedented political honour and privilege, Nnamani now saw himself on top of the world and rightly you might say as the re-established king of Enugu and PDP politics which for all intents and purposes revolved round the PDP at the time. It was a similar scenario with former governor Theodore Orji in Abia State for whom former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu bought governorship primaries form while he was in detention. Theodore Orji was eventually elected governor while in the cell.

What is the crime in Peter Obi contesting the presidency and winning in over 20 states for which the likes of Nnamani should applaud rather than impugn him? This is why I don’t take the Senator serious any longer, except for his jokes. I see him now as a political joker. The only reason I will not stop reading his tweets is because they make me happy and help to relax my nerves under the current social, economic and political tension in the country.

Thereafter, like Chimaroke in Enugu, Theodore Orji now saw himself as superior to every other politician in Abia State and grand commander of Abia politics. Soon after he was sworn-in as governor under PPA, Theodore Orji he changed camp to APGA. And just as quickly, he further decamped to PDP. I do not know whether he has reconciled with Orji Uzor Kalu since then.

The same fate has befallen Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, aka Gburugburu. Once Chimaroke Nnamani returned to the Senate, he no longer saw any other person as greater than him, including the governor and leader of the PDP in the State. Coupled with and perhaps emboldened by his newly customized grey hair and beard identity symbol, Chimaroke now saw himself as the father figure of Enugu politics. The governor says one thing, he says another thing.

Who can imagine that his party presented a presidential candidate of the party and Nnamani, rather than support his party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar, chose to support the candidate of another party, Bola Tinubu. This is something that other people could have surreptitiously done. Nnamani was open about it, to the extent that his name was listed among members of Tinubu’s campaign team.

It is on record that when Nnamani was governor of Enugu State, Tinubu was governor of Lagos. Both were therefore members of Southern Governors Forum. Nevertheless, it is doubtful that Tinubu has as much regard for Nnamani apparently as Nnamani has for him. If Tinubu had much regard for him, he couldn’t have lumped his name among the over 400 members of his campaign team. His name appeared among the very last in the list, showing he may have been added as an afterthought to fill up the list. But this is by the way.

Actually, I did not want to write anything about Senator Chimaroke Nnamani and his recent politics which is not worth my time. What prompted me to write are his post election jokes, which I enjoy so much.

First, he said it was Gburugburu who caused his failure in the election which made me laugh and laugh. Nnamani’s problem was that he did not know or understand that you can’t be a king and a king maker at the same time. His problem and the cause of his failure was that he saw himself as king of Enugu politics and thereby overrated himself.

Second, Nnamani said that Peter Obi set Southeast back politically. Why is it that it was after he lost election that he is saying this? Why did he suddenly become interested in Igbo political welfare? If he was truly concerned about Igbo political interest, why did he pitch camp with a Yoruba presidential candidate?

How did Peter Obi drag Igbos back, I ask.

When Zik contested for the presidency in 1979, he won three states out of 19 states for the NPP and leveraged the victory to enter into an accord with the ruling NPN from which so many benefits came to Igbos.

Throughout his life time, Awolowo operated within the confines of the West – under the Action Group in the First Republic and UPN in the Second Republic. He also used this to secure many benefits for the Yorubas.

So what is the crime in Peter Obi contesting the presidency and winning in over 20 states for which the likes of Nnamani should applaud rather than impugn him? This is why I don’t take the Senator serious any longer, except for his jokes. I see him now as a political joker. The only reason I will not stop reading his tweets is because they make me happy and help to relax my nerves under the current social, economic and political tension in the country.

So for all his jokes, Chimaroke cannot kill me. He makes me happy