By TUNDE RAHMAN

When the 2023 presidential election results were announced, many analysts and commentators gave a largely unanimous verdict regarding the voting pattern in the South-east. The region had voted almost entirely along the ethnic line. The figures told part of the story: Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party swept the zone with over 1.8 million votes. In comparison, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress recorded just about 127,000 votes across the five South-east states.

Three years into the President Tinubu administration, that electoral map is already being redrawn – not by rhetoric, but by landmark projects, appointments in strategic positions and deliberate political engagement. The South-east has historically complained of federal neglect, specifically in relation to federal presence. President Tinubu has moved to close that gap with visible infrastructure projects.

The federal projects, completed or ongoing in the zone, are now too numerous and one could easily lose count. They include the renewed federal push on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Calabar-Ebonyi-Benue Trans-Saharan Superhighway, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, and the Second Niger Bridge access roads.

For a region whose economy runs on trade, fixing these arteries will directly impact businesses in Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi, and other commercial hubs in the region. I saw some of these iconic roads and the high quality of work being done during a recent National Media inspection tour of the federal and state government projects in the South-east organised by the Renewed Hope Ambassadors in collaboration with the Presidential Media Team.

President Tinubu has also committed to the Eastern Rail Corridor from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, under which the South-east segment is prioritised. This revives a transport mode that collapsed decades ago. The import becomes even more significant when some facts are considered. Some of the projects now being brought to life under President Tinubu, according to the Minister of Works, Engineer Dave Umahi, were conceived during the colonial era but left unrealised for decades.

Such renaissance is not limited to road infrastructure. On energy, the inclusion of South-east states in the Siemens Power project and renewed attention to gas infrastructure to power industrial clusters in Aba and Nnewi is important. During the inspection tour, we visited the ANOH gas project (Assa North-Ohaji South Gas project), one of Nigeria’s largest natural gas development projects and a cornerstone of the Federal Government’s decade-long gas initiative. The processing plant, operated by ANOH Gas Company as a 50-50 joint venture between Seplat Energy Plc and Nigerian Gas Infrastructure Company, a subsidiary of NNPC Limited, was inaugurated by President Tinubu on May 15, 2024. It is already supplying processed gas to offtakers like Indorama Petrochemical Company.

The road and rail projects that crisscross the South-east landscape are not campaign promises. They are budget lines with contractors on site.

In politics, delivery takes slogans for lunch. Inclusion in government and important appointments for South-easterners also matter. The 2023 figures showed APC’s vote deficit. However, the 2023-2026 appointments show a deliberate effort to correct the representation deficit.

Key South-Easterners now hold strategic positions in foreign affairs, defence, works, science & tech, and security agencies. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, from Anambra State (although Enugu-born), for instance, is today the biggest female political appointee in the Federal Executive Council.

Beyond the titles, the message is clear: the South-East is being brought to the centre of decision-making, not kept at the margins. This has started shifting the conversation from “exclusion” to “what more can we get done together.”

The President’s economic reforms, such as unification of foreign exchange rates, removal of fuel subsidy, and recalibration of tax, may be tough. Still, the South-East is positioned to benefit most from the pivot to production and exports.

Aba’s Made-in-Nigeria campaign, Onitsha’s trading network, and Nnewi’s manufacturing base are being linked directly to federal grants, CBN intervention funds, and export support. And with the recent formal handover of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, to the concessionaire, the region’s logistics and commercial hub dream has received a massive boost.

The Tinubu administration is treating the South-east not just as a voting bloc, but as Nigeria’s industrial engine.

In terms of political realignment, the numbers are also moving up. Elections are about addition. In 2023, APC polled 127,370 votes in the South-east. The goal of the Tinubu administration for 2027 is not to win every state on day one, but to grow that base state by state, LGA by LGA.

That growth is already visible: from not a single state in 2019, two states in 2023, APC has now moved to three. The other two states in the zone are not opposed to President Tinubu. Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and his Abia State counterpart, Governor Alex Otti of the Labour Party, are strong supporters of President Tinubu, his reforms and reelection plans.

All the governors, not only South-East governors, acknowledge and say President Tinubu’s reforms have freed resources to the subnationals, which have, in turn, enabled them to engage in infrastructure projects.

Governor Hope Uzodimma, who is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors, has remained vocal in his support for the President and loud campaign for his second term. Uzodimma is the Director-General of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors, the main campaign group for Tinubu’s reelection.

Speaking at a state dinner for the National Media Team comprising over 50 journalists, editors and members of the Presidential Communications Team in Owerri, Imo State capital, two weeks ago, Uzodimma described President Tinubu as the Lee Kuan Yew of Nigeria.

“In President Tinubu, I have seen another Lee Kuan Yew,” he said, praising the President’s bold economic reforms and expressing confidence that his performance would secure him a second term in 2027. “The old order is gone and there is now a new order. President Tinubu knew exactly what he came to do. He started implementing the reforms immediately because he understood the task before him,” he said.

Importantly, governors and stakeholders in the South-east zone are now in regular dialogue with the Presidency. Federal projects are being inaugurated with bipartisan presence. Youth and business groups who sat out in 2023 are now engaging with APC structures because they see tangible projects in their communities.

Politics in the South-East has always been pragmatic. Where federal presence is felt, political alignment follows. The 2023 electoral map showed where President Tinubu and APC were. Now, President Tinubu’s governance story in the South-East is showing where things are headed.

By linking infrastructure delivery with political inclusion and economic empowerment, the administration is redrawing the South-East political map from one defined only by election-day figures, to one defined by roads constructed, factories powered, and people included in governance.

The South-East deserves to be at the centre of Nigeria’s growth story. Under President Tinubu, I dare say that repositioning has begun.

•Rahman is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Special Duties.

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