The story of the Ebonyi Charter of Equity is, at its core, a story of a promise made and a promise broken. It is a story that begins with the founding ideal of men and women who dreamt of a state where power would be shared equitably across its constituent blocs. Sadly, that ideal, though only morally binding, ended before it even started. It yielded to the superior weight of political muscle. Understanding the charter, its origins, its betrayal, and its consequences is essential to appreciating why Ebonyi State, as it stands today, operates without any legitimate or enforceable zoning arrangement for its governorship. This is why every senatorial zone in the state is, both legally and morally, free to contest for the governorship in 2027.

For those who still remember, Ebonyi State was created out of the old Abia and Enugu states on October 1, 1996, by the military administration of General Sani Abacha. The agitation for the creation of the state brought together two blocs of people from the old Abakaliki Province and the Afikpo bloc. Their common plight created a shared purpose and a rivalry. The question of where the state capital would be located was deeply contentious, since it carried with it enormous consequences for economic development, government patronage, and political prestige. To resolve this potentially paralysing dispute, the leaders of the Ebonyi State Movement met at a landmark meeting on January 9, 1996, hosted by Senator Chris Nwankwo and chaired by Dr Agom Eze. The meeting produced a historic agreement on the hosting of the state capital and the first governorship of the state.

The deal that followed was a straightforward agreement which held that Abakaliki, from the Abakaliki bloc, would become the state capital, and in compensation, the pioneer governorship of the new state would go to the Afikpo bloc. This was the soul of the Ebonyi Charter of Equity. Those who drafted the charter also drafted a harmonised memorandum reflecting the new understanding, which was signed by members of both camps and submitted to the Federal Government’s Committee on Creation of States on January 12, 1996. This happened some days before the state’s formal proclamation by the military government of Gen. Abacha.

According to historical records, the charter was, by all accounts, a gentleman’s agreement. It was a moral contract, politically negotiated but not formalised into a legally binding charter. Chief Martin Elechi, a founding father and later governor, documented the broader intentions of the charter in his book, “The 39-Year Road to Ebonyi State.” In that book, he noted that the charter emphasised: “the principle of territorial spread both in official appointments and in elective offices, in the provision of infrastructural facilities and in the education of the people of the State.” In essence, therefore, the charter was a foundational covenant of fairness.

However, this ‘brotherly’ moral contract was systematically dismantled shortly after. This happened with the return to civilian rule in 1999. With the first gubernatorial election in Ebonyi State, the terms of the charter were conspicuously ignored. Rather than the governorship going to the Afikpo bloc as agreed, Dr Sam Egwu, from Ohaukwu in Ebonyi North, which sits firmly within the Abakaliki bloc, emerged as the first civilian governor. He served two full terms that ended in 2007. Ebonyi State has operated without the charter ever since.

As one account described it, when the state was created with Abakaliki as the capital, “new political manoeuvres took over,” and those from the Abakaliki bloc who had participated in drafting the charter conveniently fell back on the fact that the document was never formally endorsed. In their argument, the charter was not binding. The gentleman’s agreement, which was the moral force behind the charter, was vigorously dismissed. As a result, the Abakaliki bloc took both the state capital and the pioneer governorship. The Afikpo bloc was left empty-handed and lived with the pain of betrayal by their ‘brothers’.

That betrayal has become the forebear of every subsequent controversy around the Ebonyi Charter of Equity. It is, therefore, impossible to speak of any legitimate, functioning zoning arrangement in Ebonyi without first acknowledging this foundational betrayal. A contract cannot selectively apply to some of its parties while leaving out others. When the Abakaliki bloc disclaimed the charter’s central provision in 1999, it did not merely breach an agreement but effectively nullified the entire charter as a governing framework for power rotation in Ebonyi State.

What emerged in the years after was not a structured zoning arrangement but a coincidental sequence of governors from different senatorial zones. After Sam Egwu’s two terms representing Ebonyi North, Chief Martin Elechi from Ebonyi Central served two terms from 2007 to 2015. He was succeeded by David Umahi from Ebonyi South, who also served two terms from 2015 to 2023. Currently, Governor Francis Nwifuru hails from Ebonyi North, marking a return of power to the north. Proponents of zoning have cited this sequence as evidence of a functioning rotational arrangement under the charter.

However, Umahi, as governor, disavowed this at a meeting with Ebonyi founding fathers in 2022, at which he openly confessed that there was no charter of equity or power rotation agreement in Ebonyi State. At the meeting, Umahi called on the founding fathers to begin articulating a rotation formula for possible adoption. They ignored him. This admission, coming from the then-governor, is seen as the most damning evidence that the charter, as an operative instrument of power distribution, does not exist. This also means an admission that Ebonyi State does not operate a binding power rotation structure.

The logical conclusion that flows from this history is clear and unavoidable. It indicates that Ebonyi State has no enforceable or even conventionally respected zoning arrangement for its governorship. The jettisoned charter was a two-party agreement between the Abakaliki and Afikpo blocs, not a three-zone formula. The first and most fundamental term of that contract, which was that the pioneer governorship would go to the Afikpo bloc, was brazenly jettisoned. A charter that could not compel compliance in its very first application cannot now be resurrected to restrict the ambitions of any zone or of any candidate.

The reality implies that every senatorial zone in Ebonyi State is legally and morally free to contest for the governorship without being bound by any zoning rotation. No formal party document, no state law, and no constitutional provision mandates zonal rotation in Ebonyi’s governorship elections. The Nigerian Constitution also does not recognise informal zoning agreements, and no court has jurisdiction to enforce a gentleman’s agreement that was itself first desecrated by those who stood to benefit from it. If the Abakaliki bloc, which now encompasses both Ebonyi North and Ebonyi Central, could disregard the charter when it was inconvenient, it is untenable to invoke that same charter to exclude Ebonyi South from contesting whenever a new election approaches.

This is why there is renewed agitation for the governorship mantle to swing to Ebonyi South. This agitation gains popularity on the allegations of the abysmal governance performance of the incumbent, whose leadership is seen by the majority of the people as lacking in purpose and vision. The majority of the people now expect that the 2027 elections will enable them to elect a leader who is competent, credible and committed to creating wealth for the people through investments in start-ups, micro and small businesses. They look forward to a leader who communicates with clarity and is courageous enough to take bold decisions that are backed by leadership empathy. For them, Ebonyi State must transcend the leadership myopia of the incumbent and be governed by someone with character and a record of achievements in private business.

For this reason, most people in Ebonyi disagree with their elders, who want to foist the discredited charter on the 2027 governance recruitment process. Those who oppose this believe that resurrecting the charter will amount to gross cheating of Ebonyi South (Afikpo bloc), which has, since 1999, been unfairly treated in the governance equation. For this demographic, the new agitation is about purposeful governance, as the state can no longer afford to be sacrificed to incompetence and failure.

In essence, democracy is a game of competition where the best is voted for by the people. The position of a governor is not a family or communal allocation where the family or community places itself above the people. For them, the Nwifuru leadership has failed and offers no hope for the future. This is why young people of Ebonyi need visionary leaders to lead them out of the economic quagmire. They deserve an Ifeanyichukwu Odii who, everyone believes, has the competence, courage and character to govern with purpose.