The exchange of brickbats between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, following the hosting of the latter to an elaborate reception at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on August 2, 2015 did not come as a surprise to any keen observer of political development in Rivers State. The hauling of invectives by the All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party have also followed a predictable pattern.
And those who hoped, even faintly, that the crisis in the oil rich state would be thawing out soon would by now have seen the futility of their dream. Instead, Rivers State and the entire nation is daily confronted by a supremacy battle, which unknown to the key actors, followers and sponsors may blossom into a conflagration capable of threatening the foundations of the country.
The consequence, sadly is the abandonment of critical social infrastructure, polarisation of forces, increase in criminality, proliferation of rival cult groups, political assassinations, pilfering of the patrimony and public treasury as well as open display of brigandage propelled by a bloated estimation of self worth and ego.
Those expecting that the recourse to litigation and the judiciary as the last arbiter in the crisis may also discover in the not too distant future how puerile their thoughts are. For they fail to appreciate that what is at stake is more than politics, greater than a classic case of when a woman is scorned, is more deep rooted than ethnic rivalry or a supposed proxy fight on behalf of former First Lady, Dame Patience Faka Jonathan.
Whereas many have often sought interpretation in high sounding political jingoism, they often miss the point and obfuscate those of us who have become unwilling spectators in a maze whose end has become intractable. But this needs not to be so because if a spade must be called a spade and not by any other name, it should have dawned on everyone that what stands between Wike and Amaechi is nothing other than treachery or betrayal by a friend. Perhaps the following statement by Buddha may provide the right illumination : “An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast, a beast may injure your body but an evil friend will hurt your soul”.
Flashback to the past
Many commentators and analysts have tried to paint the picture that Wike was the commander of the thugs used by Amaechi to win all his elections. I find no evidence to substantiate the claim. More so because it was only the 2011 second term governorship election that the former governor actually won by his direct control. And by that time both antagonists – Wike and Amaechi were already daggers drawn, if not publicly.
Unknown to many, Rotimi Amaechi did not campaign vigorously to become a legislator in 1999. His opponent, Uche Okwukwu of the defunct All Peoples Party subsequently won the election. But the former went to court to challenge the victory on the ground that Uche was not eligible to contest in the first place, a claim which the electoral panel upheld. Amaechi’s success thereafter made him a legislator and Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, a seat, he occupied for eight years.
In 2007, then President Olusegun Obasanjo out rightly stopped Amaechi from becoming governor. This was in spite of winning the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party. Celestine Omehia, a relatively unknown political gladiator was drafted by the apparatchik of the party to supplant Amaechi. Omehia subsequently won and was sworn in as Governor on May 29, 2007.
But Amaechi challenged those who stole his mandate in court and regained what rightly belonged to him. So it was only the 2011 governorship contest that may have proved quite tough. But the power of incumbency and a perceived populist mien made the attainment of the trophy not so difficult after all. He successfully served out his two terms. Except that he must have chewed the gum bitterly when it became apparent that his anointed heir, Dakuku Peterside, would not be succeeding him. Instead, an arch rival, Nyesom Wike, was the one who mounted the saddle as successor to Amaechi on May 29, 2015.
What is however not in doubt was that both men, now antagonists, were once bosom friends and scions of the Dr. Peter Odili political dynasty, which interestingly has been battling for control of Rivers State since the exit of the former governor from office in 2007.
Odili’s political family
Dr. Peter Odili rose to political limelight in 1991 when he emerged deputy to erstwhile Governor Rufus Ada George. Though that tenure was shortlived as a result of the outcome of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and its subsequent annulment by former President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, there is no question as to the sagacity of Odili in transforming into a political collosus despite the termination of the process by the military oligarchy.
With the advent of civilian democracy in 1999, Odili emerged as governor of Rivers State. He also effectively entrenched himself on the country as a political gladiator of note. So powerful did he become that everyone concluded that the ticket of the PDP Presidential primaries was his to take. But Obasanjo, unleashed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the machinations of several unseen forces to stop Odili’s emergence. It was one night of long knives that ardent students of contemporary politics and history would not forget in a hurry.
Yet Odili remains a major force in Rivers State politics mainly because of people he brought from obscurity to limelight, “boys” that he turned to “men”, those empowered overnight and his disposition to protect or stand by those close to him. The former governor reportedly stood by Amaechi even when Obasanjo made it clear that he was not wanted
But while he held sway, the medical doctor turned politician nurtured a political family which today is in fierce control for the soul of Rivers State, albeit from different divides. And it is the contest among Odili’s boys that is fuelling and sustaining the Amaechi-Wike brouhaha.
Aside Amaechi and Wike others who belong to the family include former Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche and Austin Opara, ex-minister Lee Meeba, Senators Magnus Abe and Abiye Sekibo among others, sometimes referred in the past as Odili’s kitchen cabinet. There are those who prefer to call this group a mafia or cult. But there is no denying the fact as to the impact or consequences of the actions of these men on the political landscape of Rivers State.
Unveiling the coda nostra
The Italian society became famous or notorious mainly because of the activities of the mafia. Known as the Cosa Nostra, Italy is believed to be run by families which peddle influence and operate as gangs. A close knit unit, the Cosa Nostra is held together by oath of secrecy, territorial boundaries and several unwritten rules known only to the initiated.
Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather and other bestsellers popularised the activities of th e mafia in Italy and especially the United States of America. And one common thread is the fate of anyone found or suspected to have violated the oath, which is death. But no member of a Cosa Nostra can kill his “brother” except by mistake or the godfather orders it.
The Mafia Manager, A Guide To The Corporate Machiavelli by V however elucidates one of the poignant rules of the mafia: “If you can’t win by fighting fair, fight foul. Or have a third party do your fighting”. It also adds: “The best defence against the treacherous is treachery”. Two rules that Wike seem to have imbibed and made a personal mantra.
Dissecting Wike’s mind
Many people have disagreed with Wike’s style. They contend that there’s no end to his antics. But the incumbent Rivers State helmsman has not hidden his.
Machiavellian disposition, vacillating always towards effective vengeance, no matter how crude.
Whether in the deployment of federal power through Patience Jonathan, seeking to impeach Amaechi with only five legislators, getting Ameachi”s deputy, Tele Ikuru to betray the former speaker or allegedly employing unscrupulous elements in the Independent National Electoral Commission, the motive was the same: infect a known enemy with the most betrayal. It is doubtful if Nigerians would see any let up in the plot of a devious mind.
Amaechi’s faux pas
It is not in doubt that Amaechi, immediate past chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and frontline leader of the All Progressives Congress grossly underestimated his arch rival’s capacity for mischief. This perhaps explains why Wike seems to always pull the carpet from under each time the former NGF chairman is perceived to be winning the supremacy battle.
Amaechi trusted Wike enough to appoint him Chief of Staff. Then an alarm went off that the EFCC found N3 billion in one of Wike’s accounts. The boss defends his COS and thereafter nominated him for ministerial appointment. Soon, the man became spokesman of President Jonathan and his who were in arms against Amaechi, taking up front row in the events that saw his boss leaving PDP for the APC.
Nonetheless, last week’s face off between the rivals was clearly avoidable. And I am still at a loss as to the objective of the reception organised by top echelon of the APC giving that the director general of the party’s presidential campaign is yet to be rewarded with an appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari. Or was it a dress rehearsal for a more elaborate event after the job has been announced?
On one hand, the former DG accuses Wike and his cohorts of plotting to block him from getting a federal appointment on grounds of extreme corruption and pilfering of Rivers State resources. In another breadth, the same Amaechi allows his friends to organise a reception during which insinuations suggesting that he provided more than 80 percent of the money spent to elect Buhari as President.
Imagine accusing a man of eating dog meat and he denies only for him to admit that he uses his teeth to cut tendons of the animal and share to anyone interested. Clearly, Amaechi is oblivious of another important rule of the Mafia Manager: “Be prepared for betrayal from anyone on your staff, but especially from those you have the most trust in. Every betrayal must be repaid as quickly and as publicly as possible. If you should let a betrayal go unpunished, you are through as a leader”. Could our man be stoking his own fire without knowing it?
Remembering Awolowo-Akintola feud
The late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo is regarded by many as being almost infallible. But his decision to allow the late Chief Ladoke Akintola to be Premier of Western Region has been described as a tactical blunder. The bitter feud between both political giants polarised the South West, resulted in an orgy of violence and ultimately led to the collapse of the first republic.
Akintola interestingly formed an alliance with Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa’s Northern Peoples Congress to secure a dubious win over Awolowo’s Action Group precipitating the famous “Operation Wetie” in 1963.
Wike on his part relied on the backing of widely vilified President Jonathan and deployment of security forces to upstage Amaechi and Dakuku Peterside who was projected to win the governorship race. The latter had hoped that the APC tsunami which handed Buhari victory in the March 28 Presidential election would be an effective catalyst to stop Wike and the PDP from getting into the Government House in Port Harcourt in the April 11 polls. How wrong the APC goons were.
The fear now is that both parties are not about giving up in the near future. Neither are the leaders of the PDP and the APC conscious of the consequences of playing the ostrich while Rivers State is gripped by an infamy with implications for everyone in that part of the South South zone and the entire country. And while it is easy to say some of the actors visited the problems on themselves, the refusal or seeming indifference of patriotic Nigerians and statesmen to intervene and stop the festering crisis may prove costly or catastrophic. Definitely no one contemplates such a tragedy.
. Ofou is Managing Editor of The Southerner newspaper.
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