By Alabi Williams
Rotimi Amaechi, former minister and governor of Rivers State, at a public lecture on Thursday, October 26, sounded rather melancholic. For a man who has been in government since 1999, first as two-term speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly and later as governor for eight years, before he served as minister of the Federal Republic for another eight years, all on a platter, the privileges he amassed do not justify the grief he attempted to offload. And he was most unfair and incorrect as he tried to blame the polity’s woes on the people.
That same week, Port Harcourt was in turmoil as former governor Nyesom Wike vainly and desperately sought to protect a so-called political structure he claimed to have built. In a democracy, do individuals own political structures to the exclusion of the political party? And whose resources did he deploy to build the structure, Rivers’ taxpayers’ monies?
Back to Amaechi, it is true that politicians are enduring
different stages of political frustration after the parties’ primaries and the
general elections. Many invested resources and lost but have taken such with
equanimity and have moved on. Others are now in a hurry to key into President
Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, a concoction they do not understand and
never believed in. They have to survive.
From an Amaechi, one expects a little pretense at role modelling
for sake of preserving the polity since it’s not yet Armageddon. Some who
listened to aspects of the speech considered it a morbid verdict on democracy,
and a reason to be depressed for Nigeria. That message provoked unwholesome
troll on X (former Twitter), especially for those who took the minister’s
speech as the gospel. Some expressed loss of confidence in the system. Some
need therapy as we write.
In that clip, which is still available online, Amaechi picked on
different subjects, some offhandedly, which shouldn’t be allowed for public
consumption if his media handlers had gone through his notes. He said he had
been approached by different media to say things, but had declined for two
reasons: one, his publicist advised him not to speak and the second reason is
the fact that Nigerians don’t react to issues.
He said Nigerians know that many politicians didn’t attend
universities, earn certificates or participate in the national youth service,
yet Nigerians still vote for them. Therefore, there is nothing new for him to
say. He said Nigerians choose whom to vote and not to vote, that even if you
come to a man’s house and kill a man’s wife, the man will continue and nothing
bothers Nigerians. So, why should he waste his time? He said he has chosen to
stay in his house quietly.
Hear
him: “I chose not to speak again because there is nothing to say and because
Nigerians will do absolutely nothing. If you say it’s a lie, line up 10
Nigerians and shoot them tomorrow, nothing will happen. The worst about
Nigerians is that when you claim you’re not committing any crime, they will say
he’s a thief, and Nigerians will chorus it and you will go to prison for
nothing.” The clincher: “it’s a hopeless situation.” He wants the people to
react to things the way they do in Ghana and Kenya. Really?
It’s a bit of some complexity trying to contextualize and figure out
what political mindset could instigate such evocation, especially for a
political leader who has managed the affairs of seven million plus people of
Rivers State for eight years as governor and attempted to also manage the
affairs of Nigeria’s over 200 million people.
What’s the leadership mindset that propelled him to sound so
hopeless and chaotic? He even prayed that more Nigerians will get depressed as
a result of the strangulating state of affairs and end up committing suicide?
What is the recruitment process that prepared them for leadership in Rivers
State and indeed the whole country? How come there is no empathy and compassion
for the suffering millions who are struggling to survive?
It is not true that Nigerians are all docile and without mojo. They
are very easy-going people who do not ask for too much from the leadership.
When the price of bread goes up, the people adjust, get busy to earn more money
instead of rioting like they do in Lebanon and Venezuela. Since the price of
petrol has gone out of reach of the ordinary man, Nigerians have not protested.
When they are supplied three hours of electricity instead of 24 hours, they
simply find ways to improvise and move on. Does that make them docile and
candidates for suicide? I do not accept that toga.
Shall we say that the people who fought the military to a
standstill in the heydays of General Abacha were so unintelligent and stupid?
At that time, some among Amaechi’s political class were nowhere near the
hotbeds of pro-democracy protests across the country. They were not counted
among students’ union activists who skipped classes to join rallies outside
campuses.
What has happened to the Nigerian psyche since 1999 is a tragedy
that is still unfolding. At the end of the day, the eyes of the people will
open and they will thrash their newfound overlords and oppressors. It will not
even require violence. The situation is such that governors since 1999 have
been appointed by godfathers who have pocketed the states. The godfathers own
the legislature and the judiciary. In the case of Amaechi, he was appointed by
the Supreme Court in the first instance. So, he cannot appreciate the power of
the people.
When
elections do not count, when you do not need the input of the people to approve
your budgets as a governor, because you own the legislature, you cannot
understand and appreciate the agonies of a people. In eight years, you could
not give them basic amenities in a sustainable manner. In 24 years of
democracy, with multiple resources of revenue – 13 per cent derivation, taxes
from oil servicing companies, federation account and sundry internally
generating revenue, you could not give them good roads, schools, safe drinking
water, primary healthcare beyond skeletal services; and you want them to go and
die in mass protests because you haven’t become president? Not fair.
Whatever happened at the presidential primary of All Progressives
Congress (APC) has little to do with the people. It was strictly a party affair
and delegates determined the game on the basis of market forces.
Between Amaechi and Wike, they have some explanation to give to
the people of Rivers State. Apart from Lagos, Rivers is supposed to be a very
rich state. With appropriate corporate governance, Rivers could compete with
Lagos. Unfortunately, and as it is in other states, there is little or no
accountability in government. Governors connive with the other arms of
government to rob the people, spend their resources recklessly and turn round
to despise them.
There is a deliberate amnesia over the era of Peter Odili, who was
governor between 1999 and 2007. At that time, matters of accountability and
transparency were not prioritized. The man ventured into the presidential race
of 2007 but the efforts and resources he deployed did not yield dividend.
President Obasanjo frustrated that bid and Odili left the political stage and
won for himself a rare judicial privileged not to render account to the people
of Rivers State.
Both Amaechi and Wike also pursued unsuccessful presidential bids,
and Rivers State people have not summoned them to render account for the
resources they lavishly deployed. The resources Amaechi channelled to support
Buhari’s presidential bid in 2015 are said to be huge. He was a sitting
governor.
No group in Rivers has asked the former governors to account for
monies they spent chasing political power at the centre. Maybe that’s the
reason for Amaechi’s lamentation, of a docile people who cannot demand
accountability.
The story is told of a former governor who spent weekends attending
a law course in the UK, flying the state-owned aircraft fuelled and maintained
by taxpayers. Another former governor flies another state-owned aircraft from
Abuja every weekend to supervise and babysit his anointed governor in Port
Harcourt, from his mansion deliberately positioned behind Government House.
Before the fracas and the fire set to the Rivers State House of
Assembly, former governor Wike, who is now minister had one leg in Abuja and
the other in Port Harcourt. The man couldn’t realize that his tenure as
governor had ended. Because he assisted Governor Siminalaye Fubara in the civil
service and installed him governor against all democratic tenets, he kept
breathing down the neck of the young man. Wike appointed the SSG and Chief of
Staff for Fubara. If there are 18 commissioners, Wike nominated 17. Fubara and
Rivers people can’t breathe because Wike’s knee is on their necks.
Wike is in a hurry to replicate the Lagos template, where the
Jagaban is the sole administrator of the resources and politics of the state.
But the crude manner and rush to impeach Fubara has exposed Wike’s lust for
power. In just five months, he says impeachment is constitutional and that he
wants to keep a tight hold on the political structure in the state. Wike is doing
to Fubara the same thing he will not take from anybody.
It’s time Rivers State people heed Amaechi’s rebuke and begin to
demand accountability. The resources politicians use to hold the people down
belong to the people. Say no to political bullying in Rivers!
*Williams
is a commentator on public issues
No comments:
Post a Comment