by Okachukwu Diba
What you are about to read is an analogy emanating from the disquiets between
Mr. President and the governor of Rivers State, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) and Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi respectively on the one hand and the story of Julius Caesar of the Roman Empire on the other hand. Jonathan and Amaechi were citizens of the old Rivers State created by General Gowon on 27th May 1967; now separated by the creation of Bayelsa State by General Abacha in 1996, to which Mr. President is a native citizen. Both of them belong to the Nigerian ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which delineated Nigeria into six geo-political zones and both personalities fall under the South-South zone. Mr. President is the national leader of the PDP. Both of them are alumni of the University of Port Harcourt.
Before we dig deep, let us briefly state the basic characters of both personalities. Mr. President is a kind, humble, caring and soft-hearted man. But he is an Ijawman and a Nigerian politician. Mr. Governor hails from Ikwerre and he is also a Nigerian politician, however he may be a direct opposite to the rest of the parameters. Let me give you an example: I wrote a book on Ikwerre development and sent a copy each to Mr. President and Governor Amaechi. While Mr. President acknowledged his copy and supported my effort, Mr Governor did nothing; despite it was a book on how to develop his Ikwerre ethnic group. His answer would be that he is not tribalistic and he is governor of Rivers State not Ikwerre. How naïve! This could go a long way to assess these characters on how they relate with those other citizens under them they do not know.
So what are the issues between them that could not be amicably resolved to the extent that Mr. President is being accused of killing democracy in his former state and Mr. Governor accused of disrespecting Mr. President? It had been alleged in the media that Amaechi disrespected Mr. President by nursing Vice Presidential ambition (under Alh. Sule Lamido, governor of Jigawa State who would be expected to contest as the Presidential candidate come 2015 elections) without consulting Mr. President who may have presidential ambition come 2015. But I also heard that Amaechi had refuted the newspaper claim even though I have not read it. Nigerian politics is still very undemocratic and immature and that is why some people may ask: why should Amaechi be available to those who do not want Mr. President in 2015? In any case, it would have been nice if Amaechi had first consulted Mr. President on his VP ambition knowing that consultation and lobbying are political strategies. Mr. President’s anger is understandable since PDP’s zoning principle would not allow them contest in those capacities at the same time. This was my understanding that made me to write a personal letter to Amaechi advising him to quickly personally go and reconcile with Mr. President for not consulting him on his (Amaechi) purported ambition or deny it. If he had done this at that initial time when the rumor was fresh and new, Nigeria and indeed Rivers State would have been saved from all these anti-democratic actions being unleashed. In politics, at times you must stoop to conquer.
I know that some people would argue that Amaechi has every right to aspire for any political position in Nigeria. But given the pseudo-nature of Nigerian politics today, how many of us in Mr. President’s position would easily or happily accept Amaechi’s opposition? Nigerian politics since 1960 has never been about issues or ideas which Amaechi is playing to represent; it has been about personal interest in the core but hidden under regional or sectional interest.
Prior to this issue of political ambition and immediately thereafter, Amaechi has being suffering some indignities as a governor. First, his “official” aircraft was suddenly grounded by the Nigerian airport authorities. Next, the PDP Rivers State executive under Amaechi as state party leader was sacked by a court of law believed to have been master-minded by the central leadership of the PDP. In retaliation, the Rivers State House of Assembly under Amaechi sacked the Obio/Akpor Local Government Council for purported corruption. This was a case of the pot calling the kettle black: because over 98% of Nigerian politicians are very corrupt. The central leadership of the PDP responded by suspending the twenty-two Rivers State House of Assembly members who are loyal to Amaechi for sacking the Obio/Akpor Council. Later, Amaechi himself was suspended from the PDP. As if these were not enough, the PDP formed the PDP Governors Forum (PDP-GF) probably to reduce the political importance of Amaechi among the governors as Amaechi was the Chairman of the original and authentic Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF): a nebulous forum unrecognized by the Nigerian Constitution, but which provided a clearing house of ideas on common issues. After all, they have the right of association. Still not satisfied to have frustrated Amaechi well enough, the PDP recognized and supported governor Jang’s aberrational caricature NGF, formed by the anti-Amaechi governors who in June 2013 lost to Amaechi during the elections in the original forum. While Amaechi got 19 votes, Jang got 16 votes. Today, and within the PDP circle, the minority 16 votes now rule majority 19 votes! Thoroughly undemocratic indeed!
So, the PDP is now well pleased to be in control of two governor’s forums: PDP Governor’s Forum led by Governor Akpabio and the aberrational right-wing NGF led by Governor David Jang, all loyalists to the central leadership of the PDP. As the national leader of the PDP, it remains extremely hard to be convinced that in all of these, Mr. President has nothing to do with them and therefore does not know they happened.
Back in Rivers State, early in June 2013, Mr. President’s wife visited Rivers State and went round soliciting for electoral support for her hubby’s 2015 presidential ambition thus further making Amaechi anti-Jonathan and heating up the Rivers State polity the more. Next, the security personnel attached to Amaechi and the Speaker of the House of Assembly were withdrawn. The five anti-Amaechi members of the Rivers State House of Assembly (made up of thirty two members) and tacitly supported by PDP’s central leadership attempted to impeach the Speaker on the 9th of July 2013 but twenty-two pro-Amaechi members refused. On the 16th July 2013, four governors (Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Kwankwaso of Kano State, Nyako of Adamawa State and Aliyu of Niger State) from the North went to Rivers State on a solidarity visit to their fellow governor Amaechi and they were embarrassed by the presence of Rivers youths demonstrating at the Port Harcourt airport against their visit. Is the PDP central leadership not killing the fly with a sledgehammer? I think these are getting extremely too far, aren’t they?
Quickly, may I ask: was Amaechi’s only sin that of his vice presidential ambition under Sule Lamido? In any matured and progressive politics, this may not be a sin against Mr. President’s 2015 presidential ambition, just like late Abubakar Rimi contested for the presidency in 2007 against late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, all of the same PDP. This is why the alleged sins had become more worrisome. Moreover, some say Amaechi had sufficiently refuted it. I think the refutal was not well publicized; I am yet to find a national newspaper where this refutal was published. Notwithstanding, for the umpteenth time, Amaechi needs a World press conference on this matter at least to reiterate emphatically that he did not have such am
bition or that he has, so that the public can sufficiently know the bases of his travails. This would reduce the speculations, insinuations and dangerous sentiments built around the issue. On the other hand, Mr. President also needs to tell the World what exactly had Amaechi done to him to deserve all the embarrassments the PDP is causing Amaechi, so that the whole World can understand the basis of his anger against Amaechi. PDP central leadership could not have been acting out on Amaechi without Mr. President’s knowledge and approval. Impossible!
There are other alleged sins of Amaechi. They include his arguments through the NGF as Chairman against the manner the Federal Government manages the Excess Crude Account, his challenge of the loss of oil wells to Bayelsa State, his cross with Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan (Mr. President’s wife) over the Port Harcourt Water Front Project, his comments on the unimpressive work on the East-West road by the Federal Government, his disagreement on the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, his support for the state police etc. Probably for all these opposing views of Amaechi, Mr. President has not been happy with him. Let Mr. President tell the World that these are the bases of his anger against Amaechi; denying that he has no hand in killing democracy in Rivers State or in what Amaechi is passing through in the hand of the PDP central leadership cannot sell because Mr. President’s countenance and facial expression when he shook hands with Amaechi late June at the Port Harcourt International Airport easily betrayed his anger against Amaechi (see the front page of The Guardian of Sunday, June 30th, 2013 and Thisday of the same day). The time to speak is either now or it would be too late. If it happens later when democracy in Rivers State had been finally killed and buried, it would have been too late as the public may have made up their minds to support Amaechi wherever he goes. This was what happened in Rome after the killing of Julius Caesar, Brutus now comes up to explain to the Roman people why he killed Caesar; why did he not tell them before killing Caesar? He killed Caesar because Caesar was ambitious; democracy too is ambitious.
Already the general public had started having pity for Amaechi, thinking that what he is passing through has been unfair. This is the most dangerous aspect of the matter. This is where the analogy to the play Julius Caesar comes in. In the play, Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus, Cassius, Casca etc, thinking that after Caesar, Brutus would rule Rome and nobody thought of nobodies like Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar etc. On the day of Julius Caesar’s funeral, Mark Antony was able to make the Roman people have pity on Caesar seeing that he was unjustly or unfairly murdered by the so-called honourable men. It was this pity that caused the downfall of the conspirators and the rise of Mark Antony out of the rubbles of the fall of Julius Caesar.
In the instant case, democracy is what is being murdered in Rivers State by the conspirators in the PDP. If the words “unfair and pity” for Amaechi gain ground, then the PDP must be ready to face Nigerians and indeed the international community who strongly believe that Nigeria has become unmanageably too undemocratic, corrupt and unserious to relate with. Some World leaders would not mind if you are disciplined in the wrong thing you strongly believe in, than being indiscipline in the good thing you hardly believe in. This was probably why President Barack Obama would snob Nigeria twice? The killing of democracy in Rivers State could make Amaechi popular and boost his political career. If this killing is not stopped, I see someone rising from the rubbles of the failure of democracy in Rivers State to become an important political giant just like Mark Antony in Julius Caesar.
Yes Amaechi may have killed democracy in Obio/Akpor, but this is diminished when we compare it with the politics of the quasi-NGF, PDP-GF, the suspension of all the pro-Amaechi members in the Rivers State House of Assembly, withdrawal of security personnel to Amaechi and the Speaker, the seizure of his aircraft, demonstrations against dignitaries visiting Rivers State and the crucial fact that the issues Amaechi opposed Mr. President on were public issues.
By way of solutions, throwing the Presidential might on Rivers State via the actions of the PDP, security agencies etc are no solutions. The NASS taking over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly is no solution. Declaring emergency rule in Rivers State is no solution. Impeaching the speaker and Amaechi is no solution. Killing Amaechi is no solution. One solution lies in sound democratic behavior entailing sincere dialogue, debate and respect for opposing views. Let the arguments be argued, discussed and agreement reached as debate is the key solution to political conflicts. Another solution is for Mr. President to act like the father of the nation and leader of the ruling party by quickly and sincerely summoning Amaechi to his bedroom for a brotherly discussion. After all Mr. President needs Rivers votes as was the case in 2011 elections. A new governor in Rivers State without Amaech’s support may not be able to deliver that number of votes for Mr. President in 2015. During that discussion, Mr. President would tell Amaechi what the latter had done he did not like and advise him not to do so again given Mr. President’s interest. Such fatherly conduct tallies with an old Ikwerre philosophy that says it is the duty of the father to flog his erring child with his right hand and hold the child back with his left hand. Similarly, another Ikwerre proverb would ask: nnezi nu watakiri nne chikposi ifea? Meaning, an elderly or the younger person, whose responsibility it is to bring both together? It is primarily the duty of the elderly who in this case is Mr. President. When this is done, it is the duty of the younger one to respond and obey respectfully.
If due care is not taken, perceived unfairness and pity may project Amaech into higher political pedigree, just like it happened to Mark Antony who rose from the rubbles of the unjust killing of Julius Caesar to become one of the leaders in Rome.
In the global Nigerian politics, the Ijaw had distinguished themselves as a people who play courageous, conscientious and patriotic politics driven by Ijaw national interest. But the Ijaw needs the support of almost all her neighbors to succeed in reasonably achieving her ambitions in Nigeria. Let their actions now not show that they shall dominate and repress their immediate neighbor-ethnic groups if they succeed ( as it appears with their cold or near-no response to the Ogoni Revolution, their reluctance to implement the UNEP Report, their unacceptable drag to be part owners of Port Harcourt and their intention to balkanize Ikwerre into Oil Rivers State). If this sentiment gains ground, it may evoke feeling of injustice, unfairness and pity among her neighbors who may team up to promote sabotage to Ijaw interest. History had thought us so!
So, Mr. President “beware the ides of Rivers State”.
Okachikwu Dibia
Abuja.