There appears to be no end in sight to the war of attrition between former Rivers State governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi and his successor, Governor Nyesome Wike. Not a few observers of the politics of the state had pondered the very stiff political rivalry between the two former allies now best of enemies.
This is however explainable. The power game in Rivers has transcended
one of sheer interest or ambition; it might have become a personal
rivalry. And until the governorship issue is finally laid to rest by the
judiciary, the observing public must be prepared for more allegations
and counter-allegations from the two sides.
Another factor likely to be responsible for the sharp division between
the was captured in a recent unbiased article that x-rayed Rivers State
political development since the era of Dr. Peter Odili and written by
Ross Alabo-George, where it was noted that: “The intention of the
anti-Amaechi brigade is to bludgeon the governor to submission. However,
I do not think the governor has 'submission' in his DNA, so like a
stubborn child; he will rather fight till he dies. Those who understand
his psychology tell privately that he hates defeat.”
That is on one side, the other factor is the fact that like Amaechi,
Wike too is a dogged fighter. He also enjoys the backing of a lot of
people and even the wife of former president Goodluck Jonathan, Mrs.
Patience Jonathan and with that, he could meet any adversary power for
power and strength for strength.
Flowing from this background, issues surrounding the 2015 governorship
election, particularly the purported defeat of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) candidate in the election, Hon. Dakuku Peterside, the
number of APC supporters, who lost their lives during the period before
the election and other issues of electoral malpractices are some of the
disputes that have sustained the hot rivalry between the two estranged
allies.
Had the Rivers State Governorship Election Tribunal in its Saturday,
October 24 judgment come in favour of Governor Wike, probably the
tension would have simmered down a bit, but when the tribunal held that
Wike was not the duly elected governor of Rivers State, it became
obvious that the political battle in the state was far from over.
Matter was made worse for Wike when the three man Court of Appeal panel
sitting in Abuja struck out his appeal seeking a dismissal of the
judgment of the Rivers election petition tribunal, which sacked him as
governor of the state in a 110-page ruling delivered by Justice M.B.
Dongban-Mensem, where just as the lower court, the Court of Appeal also
ruled that the election of Governor Wike did not conform with the
Electoral Act and ordered a rerun in 90 days.
The declarations of the two courts have not totally dimed Wike’s hope
to retain his seat as governor of the state since he has approached the
Supreme Court in a final step of appeal against the judgment, insisting
that he was duly elected governor of the state. He has asked the
Supreme Court to set aside the judgment of the appeal court, arguing
that the lower court failed to consider the evidence that a proper
election took place in Rivers State on April 11 tendered before it.
The current state of affairs in the state, which seems to hang the hope
of the governor on judicial pronouncement and or another election in
some few days, is the one setting the tone for another fever pitch
antagonism resulting in claims and counter-claims from the opposing
sides and the long run design of most of the allegations, particularly
against Amaechi and his party, the APC by the Wike administration are to
discredit him and dissuade the people from supporting the party in case
the Supreme Court upholds the two other judgments.
Recall that Governor Wike commenced the probe of the administration of
Amaechi with a constituted seven man Judicial Commission of Inquiry
headed by Justice George Omereji to investigate alleged sale of some
state assets as well as the projects for which funds were allegedly
released but not executed. That action was against the backdrop of
claims by Amaechi’s former deputy, Tele Ikuru that the administration
under which he served was the most corrupt in the state.
Such scenario is a familiar terrain for politicians in Rivers State and
even those who had followed trend in the state would know that as each
day goes by ahead of the Supreme Court judgment, the antipathy will be
intensified. It will be the kind of bitter rivalry that was ignited when
Amaechi’s name came up among President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial
nominees and the state government did all it could to present the former
governor as a corrupt individual, who do not deserve to be in the
president’s cabinet.
Apparently in an attack targeted at further destroying Amaechi, a
statement by the Rivers State Information Commissioner, Dr. Austin
Tam-George, recently dragged Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka into the
Wike vituperation radar, when he said Rivers State would demand refund
from Soyinka if he collected cash from the N82million spent by Amaechi
on a dinner to honour him.
Describing Tam-George’s utterances as an “abominable distraction”, Prof
Soyinka said it has never been his business to probe into the “catering
and logistical implications” of the hundreds of recognitions he had
enjoyed worldwide and wondered why the Ameachi gesture has become an
issue under the “insecure” incumbent of the Rivers State government
lodge.
Taunting the government, Soyinka said: “I do however fully support the
Wikeleaks call for multi-directional probes. I recommend further that he
involves the services of INTERPOL to guarantee its extension to all
international organisations and governments to whom I owe uncountable
events of recognition – including birthday luncheons, dinners, cultural
receptions and events of real, fictitious, or simply opportunistic
flavouring – to which I have submitted myself.”
Soyinka said the EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies know his address and promised to wait for them!
Also reacting to the allegation, former Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, challenged the Rivers State Government to produce evidence that N82 million was spent on dinner to host Soyinka.
Also reacting to the allegation, former Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, challenged the Rivers State Government to produce evidence that N82 million was spent on dinner to host Soyinka.
She said it was not true that N82 million was spent on dinner alone and
challenged Tam-George to release the entire documents as contained in
“Mrs. Ibim Semenitari’s Memo REF: MOI/COM/C/82/Vol. III/227 to cover
Dance Drama by University of Port Harcourt Arts Village; Great Singha
and His Highlife Band; set design, stage lighting, costume design and
stage property; dinner; transportation and accommodation of guests from
outside the country and those outside Rivers State; decoration; travels
and Logistics and other.
“Rather than face his urgent job as Information Commissioner to see
whether he can help reposition an administration that is fast losing
credibility in the eyes of civilised people in Rivers State, Tam-George
would rather prefer to smear the exalted reputation of Prof. Soyinka, a
man whose shoes’ lace he would be unable to untie all his life,”
Semenitari said.
However, while the governor and his men are busy with their attacks
against Amaechi and his supporters, the former governor was cleverly
poaching the Wike political ranks with hundreds of People Democratic
Party (PDP) members in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government area of Rivers
State defecting to the APC recently. One of the prominent defectors was
a member of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by Wike, to probe the
Amaechi administration, Prof. Henry Ogboma.
As events unfold, many are watching and waiting to see how the Rivers
political face-off will eventually end. But where these two old friends
turned enemies have to head for another election, canvassing for votes
from the electorate is most likely to further open up the gulf between
them.
It is also noteworthy that the APC governorship candidate, who was
Commissioner for Works and the lawmaker that represented
Andoni/Opobo-Nkoro federal constituency in the House of Representatives,
Peterside is also not a push over in the politics of the state.This is because while many left Amaechi’s ship that appeared to be sinking in 2007, Senator Magnus Abe, Peterside and a few others were hell-bent on swimming or sinking with him and he has repeatedly assured his supporters that given a free, fair and credible election, he would defeat Wike effortlessly. And whether or not that is a statement of fact, it just might happen soon.
CREDITS: SHOLA OYEYIPO