Political balkanization is not about Party divisions but a development that left the Southeast Region without an effective voice. How will the region get its voice?
By Ogbuagu Anikwe
When Nigeria’s Fourth Republic began in 1999, the Southeast stood tall like an Iroko. The five States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo were governed by men. For all their political flaws, they understood the weight of history on their shoulders. For this reason, they emerged as a bloc with shared purpose and regional consciousness. It helped that they were from one political family, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). They spoke with one voice, especially when the lives and interests of Ndigbo were at stake.
The golden years
We look back with nostalgia to the year 2000 when northern governors began implementing Sharia in their States. Predictably, a wave of religious and ethnic violence ensured. Again, the whipping boys, the Igbo, became targets of harassment, imprisonment, and, in many tragic cases, death. We look back at this period with nostalgia because something that would have been unthinkable today happened. There was a response – swift retaliatory attacks that erupted in battle-tested cities like Aba and Owerri.
Blood answered blood. Fear fed fear
But this was not all. President Olusegun Obasanjo was in charge. Rather than face the iniquitous religious attacks, he turned around to chide the southeast governors for not controlling the reprisal attacks. Another thing that would have been unthinkable today happened. The governors reacted by calling for a confederation, since it appeared the federal authorities cannot guarantee the safety of people venturing beyond their ethnic enclaves. Obasanjo’s accusation hit raw nerves, seen as a painful betrayal of a region that gave him solid votes just a year before. The southeast governors declared that if Nigeria could not guarantee the safety of its citizens in all regions, then perhaps it was time to reconsider the union. The Houses of Assembly in Anambra and Imo promptly passed motions in support of this radical suggestion.
Message from the East
When this democracy began in 1999, the message from the southeast was clear: the region was not to be trampled underfoot. For all the internal challenges of governance and intra-party squabbles, the governors forged an unbreakable bond of political solidarity to challenge existential threats. They met, they conferred, they acted.
What do we see happening today? It is a fact that democracy has endured for 25 years, which is an achievement worthy of celebration. Unfortunately for the southeast, this continuity has birthed political disintegration. The region that once spoke with one voice is now stumbling in confusion, its leadership divided not just by ideology but by party affiliations and personal ambitions. How did it come to this?
How Balkanization of Southeast began
It is easy to suggest that the problem began with the political balkanization of the Southeast. The region is no longer governed by one party but by four. APGA, PDP, and the Labour Party each control a single state while the APC flag is now hoisted in two States. It can be argued that this political dispersal weakened the region’s collective voice. Southeast Governors still meet, but their meetings have become largely ceremonial, producing communiqués devoid of weight or action. On critical issues—security, economic development, political marginalization—they fail to speak with clarity, much less unanimity.
Nowhere is this fragmentation more symbolic than in the actions of Ebonyi State during the tenure of Governor (now Minister) Dave Umahi. In a move that shocked many, the state leadership publicly distanced itself from the idea of Igbo solidarity. It was a gesture heavy with meaning. If one of the Southeast’s own could renounce the collective struggle, what hope remained for unity? The consequences are obvious and painful. With each passing year, the Southeast finds itself further marginalized in federal appointments, infrastructural development, and national decision-making.
The Consequences
The lack of a unified regional front has made it easier for federal actors to divide and rule, playing one governor or party against another. In addition, the eroding regional cohesion emboldens power brokers from outside the region to now pull strings in the Southeast. Is it any surprise that many Southeast governors no longer answer to their people? They run like headless chickens, tethered to Abuja by the strings of political survival. In a desperate bid to stay in power or gain influence, they have traded away their autonomy and the dignity of their offices.
This stands in sharp contrast to the boldness of the first-generation governors. Those early leaders were far from perfect, but they acted like men aware of their historical burden. When the moment called for courage, they found it. They confronted a sitting president who was also from their party, passed resolutions, and dared to challenge the fragile architecture of Nigeria’s unity. Today’s Southeast governors are yet to meet such a moment with equivalent resolve. Instead, we hear murmurs where we once heard roars.
The unity that Southeast needs
The spirit of collective bargaining that once gave the region some leverage has now been lost. And yet, the need for unity has never been more urgent. The Southeast faces a new set of challenges: economic stagnation, a growing youth population frustrated by lack of opportunity, insecurity fanned by non-state actors, and continued exclusion from the core of Nigerian power. These are not problems that can be tackled in isolation. They demand a coordinated regional strategy, a rediscovery of the voices that once thundered in unison from the States of Abia (Orji Uzor Kalu), Anambra (Chinwoke Mbadinuju), Ebonyi (Sam Egwu), Enugu (Chimaroke Nnamani), and Imo (Achike Udenwa). Let it be said that the political balkanization that occurred in southeast is not merely about party divisions; it is about the erosion of purpose. A house divided against itself cannot stand—and a region divided cannot lead.
The Southeast must remember what it once was, and rediscover what it can be. Unity is power. When a region speaks with one voice, even an imperial presidency will be forced to listen.