By Ikechukwu Amaechi
In his 1961 book, The Theatre of the Absurd, Martin Julius Esslin, a Hungarian-born British journalist and professor of drama, lamented what he called absurdism, “the inevitable devaluation of ideals, purity, and purpose.”
*Fubara and WikeEsslin, who died in London,
United Kingdom on February 24, 2002, aged 83 years, couldn’t have had the
oil-rich state of Rivers, Nigeria, in mind when he wrote his famed book 63
years ago.
But nothing captures the state of affairs in Rivers State today more profoundly than Esslin’s “theatre of the absurd”.
That Rivers State has become a
theatre of the absurd in the last one year is an understatement. What is worse,
the situation is getting more bizarre by the day, a situation which the theatre
critic further labelled “the absurdity of the absurd,” with impunity walking on
all fours.
What manner of democracy is this
where one man captures an entire state and all citizens become mere pawns on
his political chess board?
Adept at self-deceit, on June
12, the Federal Government rolled out the drums in celebration of democracy. At
the end of the day, it amounted to idolisation and deification of the powers
that be with the unveiling of a large painting portrait of President Bola
Tinubu at the Eagle Square, Abuja, touted as a message of hope for Nigerians
and the African continent.
How a painting, even if it is
the world’s largest painting portrait on a canvas as claimed by the promoters
could translate to a message of hope for Nigerians and the African continent
beggars belief. But it is typical of the theatrics of the new kids on Nigeria’s
power bloc and the country’s descent into the odious valley of
hero-worshipping. But I digress.
Back to Rivers State where the
Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, would rather let the state he
ruled with iron-hand for eight years burn than let go his “structure of
criminality,” apologies to Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the
Labour Party in the 2023 election, be dismantled.
But dismantled, the structure
must be, if the state will have any fair chance of breathing and making any
appreciable progress. And this is not about Governor Siminalayi Fubara but the
health of the country’s much-abused democracy and public good.
Truth be told, no one captures a
state in the manner Nigerian politicians are doing and use same in promoting
public good. It can only be for self-serving purposes and that is exactly what
has happened in Rivers State.
This week, Rivers is burning and grenades are exploding, a very dangerous
dimension to the lingering political crisis just because local government
chairmen whose three-year tenure expired recently are refusing to gracefully
bow out.
And they are demonstrating
unchallenged because the police that had earlier warned against such public
nuisance are looking the other way all because they don’t want Wike’s structure
to be dismantled.
Like the axiomatic tortoise on a
senseless journey, which said it will not return until it has been thoroughly
disgraced, the former chairmen are spoiling for a war in defence of their godfather’s
political structure.
Explaining what he did at a New
Year luncheon in his country home, Rumueprikom, Obio/Akpor Local Government
Area on Sunday, January 7, 2024, Wike said: “Those who open their mouths to
talk don’t know anything. I was the one who paid for the forms for anybody who
wanted to run for elections as governor, House of Assembly and National
Assembly. Let one person raise his hand and say he bought forms.”
Nobody disputed his narrative
because it is true. He also mentioned those who were at the meeting where he
unilaterally took the decision to include 71-year-old Chief Onueze Chukwujinka
Joe (OCJ) Okocha, OFR, SAN, JP, DSSRS, former Attorney-General and Commissioner
for Justice, Rivers State, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association,
NBA, life member of the Body of Benchers, former member of the National
Judicial Council, NJC, and one-time Chairman of the Council of Legal Education;
72-year-old Sergeant Chidi Awuse, traditional ruler of Emuoha Kingdom and
chairman of Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council; and 65-year-old Sir
Celestine Ngozichim Omehia, a senior lawyer who was called to the Nigerian Bar
in 1986 after obtaining a Masters Degree in International Law, LLM, from the
University of Hull, England and former governor of Rivers State, who was
already Commissioner for Education in 1992 when 56-year-old Wike was an
undergraduate at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology.
Apparently, none of them saw
anything wrong in the idea of a democracy where only one man usurps the role of
the people in deciding who governs them.
Boasting about how he
single-handedly made Fubara governor, Wike thumped his chest: “If I had wanted
another person, nobody would have stopped me. Nobody had what it takes to even
be near me… If I wanted an Ikwerre man, nobody would have stopped me.”
This is not the language of
democracy which is a government where people exercise the power of deciding who
governs them.
Granted, godfatherism is a
global phenomenon. But godfathers elsewhere use their personal resources to
influence, not dictate, electoral outcomes. They support their preferred
candidates by throwing their considerable weight behind them using moral
suasion but they don’t foreclose competition because the ultimate decision lies
with the people.
But here, those who have never
worked anywhere else other than in government, corner the resources of the
state entrusted in their care for the promotion of common good and use same to
subjugate the people.
Take the case of Wike, for
instance. He had barely graduated from the Nigeria Law School where he
proceeded to in 1997 after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in law from Rivers
State University of Technology before he became chairman of Obio Akpor Local
Government Area in 1999. In 2007, he was appointed chief of staff to Governor
Rotimi Amaechi and in July 2011, he became Minister of State for Education
under the Goodluck Jonathan presidency, substantive Minister of Education in
September 2013 and ultimately two-term governor of Rivers from 2015.
There is no evidence that he
inherited any family fortune that would account for the wealth he is using to
finance the structure that has become a problem for Rivers State.
Yet, as at the time Wike left
Port Harcourt for Abuja to assume duty as the Federal Capital Territory
Minister, the entire Rivers political superstructure that included governor,
state lawmakers, federal lawmakers, judiciary, local government chairmen and
council of traditional rulers, was in his pocket.
As it were, his godson, Fubara,
was supposed to be in government, a mere figurehead, while he will be wielding
the ultimate power from Abuja.
But there is no perfect crime.
Wike didn’t realise that the man he thought would be the strongest link in that
conspiratorial chain of state capture, Fubara, would fall through the cracks
sooner than later and the minister is battling to reconfigure his political
structure, which he has vowed not to surrender.
The people must ensure that that
does not happen. For Rivers to survive, Wike’s political structure must be
dismantled because it is not for the common good. The structure was set up in
order for someone to maintain a vice grip on the resources of the state for
personal aggrandisement and to service political loyalty.
The quarrel between Wike and
Fubara is a divine intervention and the people cannot afford to sit on the
fence. It is not going to be an easy battle because a lot is at stake but that
is one battle that the people of Rivers must win and decisively too.
But beyond Rivers, Nigerians
must fight against this cancer of malevolent godfatherism and culture of state
capture, without which this democracy is doomed. Freedom does not come cheap.
It has a price, which in the immortal words of Thomas Jefferson, philosopher,
statesman, U.S. Founding Father, who served as the third president, is “eternal
vigilance.”
*Amaechi
is the publisher of TheNiche
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