RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

Rivers State is going down, reckons Josef Omorotionmwan

When we think of Rivers State, we are quickly reminded of The Everly Brothers, particularly in one of their chart bursters of the mid-1960s, “So sad to watch good love go bad”. 

Essentially, Rivers State can only be meaningfully discussed within the context of Greater Rivers – the geographical expression that has been loosely separated into Rivers and Bayelsa States. This is one small space in Nigeria where God left a large deposit of the good things – both human and material.

On the human side, even a casual observer soon sees among them people of higher intelligence; courageous people; people of stoic discipline. People who know what they want and how to go about them. They realize that only the best is good enough for them. That is one way of explaining why they aim high and work hard.

In these discussions, we shall restrict ourselves to modern history. We sometimes ponder if it is by accident that in virtually every recent election cycle, more than from anywhere else, we have had men from this small enclave almost becoming the President of Nigeria. 

We remember the Constituent Assembly of the President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida years. While some of us were yet busy pinning those motions and resolutions together, Chief Pere Ajuwa who represented Yenagoa/Sagbama Federal Constituency was busy seriously oiling the machine for his presidential ambition. 

At the expiration of the Assembly, Ajuwa assembled a crack team made up of some of the best brains from the Assembly and outside to work on the project. He created a formidable team backed by strong connections from the highest quarters that only a superior political machine of the IBB Junta could have torpedoed. 

[Enter Gov. Peter Odili – Renowned medical doctor turned politician].

While his contemporaries were still parading the corridors of their government houses, looking for crumbs that fell off the Governor’s table, Odili had finished his two tenures as Governor of Rivers State. Odili was not done yet.

By May 29, 2007, Odili could easily have been sworn in as the President of Nigeria. But only time and place could bring a big change.

Clearly, that year’s election was Odili’s to win. But it must have taken a lot of pleading, appealing to and what have you, to get Odili to see that after eight years of a Southern President, Olusegun Obasanjo, the only sensible way to go was to the North. That was how he yielded to the entry of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

We may never know the full ingredients that went into the mix in getting Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan to be Yar’Adua’s running mate; and ultimately, the President of Nigeria. For all we know, he was from the small enclave, Greater Rivers and he could not have been sleeping at Otuoke when they woke him up to come and become Vice President. 

Besides Jonathan’s forays at the Presidency, the nearest that Rivers ever got to the exalted office was in the immediate past election cycle, 2023. Staring us in the face, a win-win situation in which each of the major political parties were to produce two candidates contending with each other. 

At the National Convention of the PDP, former Governor Nyesom Wike was already coasting home to victory before the last-minute maneuvers of Governor Aminu Tambuwal, which resulted in his withdrawal from the contest and the declaration of support for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

On the APC side, former Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi was already in clear lead at the convention before the last-minute maneuvers through the instrumentality of the Northern Governors. Barring the last-minute maneuvers on both sides, it was to be Rivers versus Rivers. Head they would win; tail, they would not lose! 

Initially, there was no cause to worry since by our reckoning, Rivers people were steadily inclining towards the presidency. Next time around, they will clinch the position. But we were wrong. Their gallant gamble has since ended in the dust, no thanks to the greed and avarice of a few.

All the gains of the past have been totally consumed by the current terrible rumble in the jungle pervading the enclave. 

Essays of this nature cannot end without a prediction. That’s where we are now. After the Wike/Fubara imbroglio, Rivers will not be the same again for a long time to come. We may never know all the initial undercurrents that went into the Nyesom Wike/Siminalayi Fubara clandestine arrangement.

For all we know, Fubara knows, or he ought to know, what he was getting into.

At first, some thought Fubara was deaf and dumb. During the electioneering, Wike did all the talking and made all the presentations. Apparently, Wike paid all the expenses, including the purchase of the necessary forms. It was a perfect example of the feeding bottle democracy.

As they say, there is no free lunch, even in Freetown. Did Fubara not know that at a point, Wike would name his prize? If such a prize includes asking Fubara to jump in front of a moving train, should he look back before jumping?

It is the more painful watching the derailment of plans put in place by our heroes’ past. To paraphrase the Everly Brothers, it is so sad to watch a great state go down. 

It is a sordid affair, and it gets messier by the day. And they are pulling everyone along. In the process, men have lost their reasons. 

See how they wrong-footed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu into over-riding the Supreme law of the land – the very constitution that he swore to uphold. 

In what looks like an obvious case of modern “Gbomo-gbomo”, Tinubu would rather accept the illegitimate children brought to him; ask their parents to dissolve their existing marriage; and go before those illegitimate children to have the marriage re-enacted.

In using the most foolish things to confound the wise, Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court can no longer decipher the difference between a Federal High Court judge and a State High Court judge, at least in their jurisdiction. He would rather be a meddlesome interloper in a state case that has no federal colouration whatsoever! 

In furtherance to his adventurism, he will soon get to the Customary Court, oust the judges and takeover their functions! In a rumble in the jungle, anything goes.

Initially, Fubara rode on the crest of the popular support of the leaders and supporters of Rivers State. He soon messed everyone up at the altar of “No price is too high to pay for peace”. He could as well be referring to the peace of the graveyard, who knows. 

Apparently, there must be things Wike and Fubara know that are unknown to others; and that’s how it should be. 

Whichever path they choose, it is not going to be a walk in the park. The PDP doesn’t look like a safe haven anymore. And if they choose to empty themselves into the APC, the Emeka Beke/O.C.J. Okocha imbroglio is waiting to ambush them! In any case, let them save the Rivers people the unnecessary aggravation!

Omorotionmwan writes from Canada