President Bola Tinubu’s first trip to the Southeast in 2025, which lasted only one day, was not your typical trip. From the exuberant response to the ensuing nice remarks, it was full with meaning. No one was unaware of the significance of this visit or its many noteworthy features. Although the visit has been well received and praised by many, it also raises some concerns.
Is President Tinubu’s visit to Enugu, the former Southeast capital, on January 4, 2025, marking a new phase in his connection with the Southeast geopolitical zone? During his tour, he made significant announcements and officially opened the historic projects of Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
Does the President’s trip across the Niger shift the course of events and serve as a subliminal clue as to what the South East’s citizens would expect from him going forward?
Similar to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Southeast has not been thrilled about President Tinubu. Naturally, the zone’s political distance from the two leaders is evident from the outcomes of the elections in 2015, 2019, and 2023.
Following events leading up to the 2023 presidential election and the outcomes that followed, the Southeast was especially unimpressed with Tinubu’s presidential ambition. The Southeast threw all of its political eggs into the basket of homeboy Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, who had defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to become the Labour Party’s presidential candidate.
The Southeast had been somewhat captivated by the raucous behavior of the Obidients, as Peter Obi’s fans had called themselves. In the 2023 election, any Igbo who sung a different tune was viewed as an outsider.
The kind of harmony that ought to have prevailed was not permitted by Peter Obi himself. In order to gain political advantages, he openly proclaimed his Christian beliefs and ran on the basis of his Igbo ethnicity. The Igbo cast their votes for him in large numbers throughout the election, indicating a close relationship between Nigerian elections, religion, and geography.
Obi and his LP received 1,952, 998 votes from the five Southeast states, accounting for an astounding 89.62% of the region’s total votes, according to a geopolitical analysis of the results of the 2023 presidential election. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, received 90, 698 votes, or a pitiful 4.16% of the vote, while President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress received 127,370 votes, or a pitiful 5.85% of the vote from the region.
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Obi’s 2023 presidential campaign was mostly a Southeast affair, notwithstanding his remarkable achievements outside the region, like as his victories in Lagos, Nasarawa, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
He and his ethnic supporters stayed in their cocoons, or the false reality they created, following the election. They denied victory but pretended that Obi had won the election. The Obidients didn’t appear to want to hear the term Asiwaju Tinubu, much less President Tinubu. Even after Obi’s legal challenge to President Tinubu’s win was unsuccessful, this pattern persisted. Every action taken by the president was criticized and denounced.
President Tinubu made concessions to the region when he took office. For example, he appointed Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, an Enugu native, as Chief of Naval Staff. He also appointed important ministers, including Senator David Umahi from Ebonyi State as Minister of Works, Hon. Uche Nnaji as Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, and Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, the first Minister of Trade and Investment who is now Minister of State for Finance.
Interestingly, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, the late Ikemba Nnewi’s wife, were among those appointed by the president when he reorganized his cabinet in October of last year. She was given the position of Foreign Affairs Minister of State. In an important step to encourage and quicken the development of the area, President Tinubu also created the Southeast Development Commission.
Those two appointments were enough to pardon President Tinubu’s alleged transgressions against the Igbo, according to a prominent journalist who is friends with him from the Southeast and a fervent Obidient who had never concealed his distaste for Tinubus.
In light of this, President Tinubu agreed to Governor Mbah’s request to launch a few of his initiatives in the upcoming year.
President Tinubu delivered important remarks that made the Igbo people happy during the opening of Governor Mbah’s projects and during a meeting with Southeast leaders.
The President emphasized during the Command and Control Center’s inauguration how crucial it is for the federal government and the subnationals to work together in order to propel growth.
Promotion
“This Command and Control Center is a powerful example of what we can do when we work together. It gives me comfort to know that more money coming to local and subnational governments is being used for development rather than waste.
“We have dedicated leaders like Peter Mbah who are guiding Enugu toward the growth of the twenty-first century, elevating the city to new heights, and creating our tomorrow now.
“The sight of the kids I just met at the Smart Green School will never leave me. I’ve witnessed vehicles and devices equipped with 21st-century technology. Indeed, you are working for the present, the future, and tomorrow.
The International Conference Center, the Command and Control Center, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the GTC Smart Green School, and 150 patrol cars equipped with security cameras were also opened by the president. At the Enugu State Government House, he also virtually launched other noteworthy projects.
Later, during an interactive meeting with leaders of the Southeast, President Tinubu pledged that his government would support the development of the Anambra Basin as a major energy reserve that could contain up to 30 billion cubic feet of gas and one billion barrels of oil, as well as finish the Eastern Rail line that would connect Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. During the interactive session, he made the pledge in response to appeals from Chris Ugoh, an Enugu State native, and Professor Chinedu Nebo, the former minister of power.
Nebo had praised the Tinubu administration for finishing the Port Harcourt to Aba segment of the Eastern rail line and had urged the President to give the remaining rail link segments top priority in order to promote non-oil product exports and spur regional development.
Governors, traditional leaders, business leaders, and current and previous National Assembly presiding officers from the region, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani, were among the dignitaries who attended the session.
President Tinubude displayed political maturity and his commitment to supporting developmental strides from any section of the country, by any governor, or by any stakeholder, with his visit to Enugu and the emphasis he placed on the invitation from PDP Governor Mbah. His determination to prioritize the nation and his nonpartisan disposition were boldly demonstrated by the visit. He praised Governor Mbah profusely for exhibiting “an irrevocable commitment to human development.”
In a similar spirit, President Tinubu declared, “I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend,” after spotting Abia State Governor Alex Otti at the Enugu event. Abia State’s Alex Otti is also performing admirably. It has nothing to do with linguistic and geographic distinctions.
“The mother tongue is not under our control. God made us, and you might be in Lagos, Onitsha, or Enugu. Although we all reside in separate rooms of the same house, we are all part of the same large family known as Nigeria. In order to meet our present and future demands, we must construct this home.
Governor Mbah had characterized President Tinubu as a true federalist dedicated to Nigeria’s development prior to the launch of his projects.
Your credentials as a true federalist are impressive, and your accomplishments will garner you a lot of praise for a long time.
“You liberalized the production, transmission, and distribution of energy by signing the energy Act (Amendment) Bill. He added, “It is significant that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC transferred regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That one act will always stand as an enduring legacy.” That illustrates how quickly we are working toward our objectives.
The governor stated that the Southeast Development Commission would complement the numerous development advancements taking place throughout the state by addressing the ecological and infrastructure issues in the area.
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Perhaps the visit’s main themes were development and governance. However, considering everything that happened during the visit, observers believe that President Tinubu and the Southeast geopolitical zone may have unintentionally launched a new chapter in their relationship. They note that this reunion could be a precursor to more significant developments for President Tinubu from the zone, especially as we approach the 2027 election.
*Rahman serves as the President’s Senior Special Assistant for Media Affairs.
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