THE MAKING OF A MILITARISED RIVERS – EVIDENCE OF NIGERIA’S DIRTY POLITICS

By Emeagi Emeka Williams

We all stood as entertained or dismayed spectators as the political battle of wits between Nyesom Wike and Siminalayi Fubara (one a former governor, the other a current elected governor) ensued.

We either clapped or shuddered as the dramatis personae acted on the absurdity theatre.

With keen attention as Nigerians, we waited for the climax, until a bang happened on the 18th March.

This day, the oil rich state became partially democratic and “unfree” for normal civil life.

The President of the federation had adopted the doctrine of necessity and declared a state of emergency to certainly contain the escalating political feud, obviously laden with the tendency to disrupt “national peace”; especially as ex militants began to threaten hell.

Suffice it to therefore state that the road to the emergency rule with a six – month life span was paved via condemnable power interest.

In my view, just two major contenders fanned the embers of “war” in a once thriving state.

Then the war raged attracting more participants – those I want to call state enemies, because the fight was not ( actually ) for the good and growth of Rivers state.

But permit me to separate the key warriors by their roles so as to establish the antagonist or protagonist.

Of course, His Excellency, Fubara is the elected Rivers governor with a legitimate mandate to steer the ship of the affluent state.

Nyesom Wike is the serving minister of the FCT, Abuja.

To view the situation literally, the kilometers separating the beats or duty posts of the duo should leave no room for a clash.

One therefore wonders the “jurisdictional” clash that made a governor serving in the South South, and Minister serving in the North to lock horns.

Even a toddler can point who the antagonist or protagonist is seeing this picture.

Shouldn’t a governor mind and man his state, having been elected by the people?And a Minister should also be engaged with quality service or leadership delivery at his own beat thousands of kilometers away!

In the wake of this arrant mess, the machinery of the state did not receive proper oiling, neither did the citizens there get full gains of governance, as their governor engaged multiple fiends who aligned with his arch enemy.

The sorry story behind the gory political cacophony is multiple, all hinged to power, control, money, ego and more.

The Rivers saga is synonymous with political stories everywhere in Nigeria.

It is akin to the quest of political forces waring for the soul of Nigeria just to achieve a hegemony for domination and aggrandisement.

If it is not a president freezing the account of a state or the governor stealing LGAs funds, it will be INEC chair or the judiciary aiding malpractices to heighten corruption, malgovernance or tension in the leadership space.

There is none in Nigeria today who is not aware of the painful barrier that the political leaders have constituted to thorough nation building, unity and harmonious coexistence.

Had Wike gone to Abuja to coerce the authorities to finally clean up Ogoniland and make other places paradise, because the state contributes huge oil revenue to the nation’s purse; or had he put aside the control of LGs , state assembly and other interests aside, to give true development backing to his successor, soldiers would not be flogging or intimidating the people of Rivers today; the wheel of her democracy would not have met the clog presently hampering it.