Rivers is a state of political warriors who are addicted to crises. It is a wealthy state; richer than many others put together. Its wealth has brought it fortunes, development and progress, to the envy of its peers across the lopsided federated country.
But, the reason there is so much crisis in the Southsouth state may also be due to its wealth. Its pride is its limitless oil from vast fields. Its gas is still being flared, to the consternation of those who scolded successive Federal Governments for a shortfall in vision and productivity.
The summary is that those in the corridors of power, who have access to the state’s wealth and resources, are also in the vantage position to deploy them into the war of supremacy and egoism.
So rich is the state that in the last 23 years it has made progress under its three governors under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Dr. Peter Odili, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nyesom Wike. In fact, many expect the state to soar to a greater horizon of progress under Governor Siminalayi Fubara because he has models to emulate. His career as a civil servant was like an indirect tutelage under the previous administrations.
Rivers State is also reputed for the ambitions of its governors. The three former governors were presidential aspirants who fought hard battles in their bid to secure the tickets of their political parties. The pillar of their aspirations may have been the deep purse of their oil-rich state. But the tickets eluded all of them.
A permanent feature of the state is successor-predecessor crisis. It has become a tradition and culture that is inherited and transmitted from one dispensation to another. Once a crisis breaks out in Rivers, reconciliation becomes futile. The state is polarised. The situation degenerates into the survival of the fittest.
Although a heterogeneous state, ethnic tension has been minimal, except when political gladiators deliberately enlisted ethnic numerical strength into personal battles. Neither is religion a major issue. Almost all indigenes of the state from the diverse social formations are Christians.
But those who trouble the peace of the ever buoyant state are not the commoners; it’s the privileged leaders. All of them are closely bound together by political ties. The battle among the political elite, backed by many prominent traditional rulers in the state, who were once active politicians and public servants, is intense because the stakes are always high.
In extreme cases, when some categories of militants and even cultists were on the prowl, they were politically induced. External forces are not waging a war on Rivers; the state has been waging a war on itself.
There is no godfather in the Southsouth state that has not regretted his last cardinal decision of installing a lackey as successor.
Odili, eminent medical doctor, Third Republic deputy governor and governor for eight years between 1999 and 2007, groomed his boy, Amaechi, for succession. Despite the stiff resistance by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other forces who brought an interloper, Clemens Omehia, Amaechi succeeded his godfather. That was the end of the story.
The godfather and his godson later parted ways. The cause of the rift was not brought to the public domain. If Obasanjo had allowed the PDP to conduct a free and fair presidential primary, perhaps, Odili would have picked the ticket, having seized the momentum from the onset.
After leaving office, the experienced politician was left in the cold. But an accomplished, calm and mature statesman, Odili also let go at the state level and never raised an eyebrow at the state affairs, policies and programmes when Amaechi was in the saddle.
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Although the anti-graft body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was after him, the old man got a rare reprieve. The court granted him an order of perpetual injunction that he should never be troubled for life.
Though an elder statesmen and a septuagenarian, Odili has not really retired from politics. He is a PDP elder held in high esteem. He lives a life of contentment and he has some peace of mind.
These are the rare happenstances that appeared to have eluded his successor and beneficiary of his succession plan. Young and vibrant, Amaechi is a lucky politician who was transformed from Odili’s personal aide to a member of the House of Assembly. Perceived as a loyal son, he became Speaker without much stress, and after eight years, sat on the number one seat vacated by his benefactor.
Unfortunately, Amaechi, who also became the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), could not hand over to his preferred candidate, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, having left his party for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Being the stronghold of the PDP, Rivers people made Nyesom Wike their governor.
The parting of ways between Amaechi and Wike was confounding to their common friends and compatriots. When Amaechi was forced by circumstances to temporarily leave the country when the political heat was put on him, it was Wike who held forte in the course of the litigation; Amaechi’s ambition, which in OBJ’s calculation, had developed a ‘K-Leg,’ was being ‘straightened’ in court. Wike was Amaechi’s Chief of Staff before he was appointed the Minister of State for Education by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
As Wike succeeded Amaechi, both resumed full hostilities. Having under-studied the former governor’s utilisation of resources to fight partisan battles, Wike gained greater mastery of the art. The gulf deepened between Wike and Amaechi, who, despite being a federal minister, could not persuade the central government to deploy its federal might to unseat him in 2019 or frustrate his 2023 succession plan.
Wike triumphed. But little did he guess that he would not have peace afterwards. The current Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister understood the calculations that led to the choice of Fubara as his anointed candidate. The former Accountant-General knows why he became the beneficiary of the succession plan. The cause of the rift may be that after power landed on his laps, interests could no longer align, leading to a deep gulf.
Fubara has been an observer of the recurrent successor/predecessor crises that have been the hallmark of Rivers, having worked in the civil service in the last two decades and risen to the pinnacle of his career under the civilian regimes that were characterised by intra and inter-party wars of attrition.
What is striking in Rivers is that no single successor/predecessor crisis has been resolved. Reconciliation between benefactors and beneficiaries has often been stalled. Although President Bola Tinubu has intervened once in the current impasse, his admonition went on deaf ears. The President is may still condider bringing them back to Aso Villa the second time for a truce.
What now preoccupies the two warring camps in Rivers is not effective governance in the state but how to win the battle and how not to lose the war. Attention is inadvertently diverted from the pursuit of laudable policies and programmes. Much energy is being dissipated on crisis management.
A state needs an atmosphere of peace for the continuous works of development. That harmony is currently absent in Rivers. The state is polarised and, as the acrimony festers, both sides are liable to commit more errors.
Already, the faulty mathematics of sustaining the numerical superiority and supremacy of four state lawmakers over 27 stares people in the face. Since Rivers is bouyant, it can afford to pull down the House of Assembly complex. A new one will be built soonest. Then, any judge can award ex-parte injuction at will without putting the other side on notice. The confusion can be justified by the narrow minded enemies of democracy as part of politics.
Let the gladiators, combatants, their allies and followers on both sides realise that while they know the beginning of the war, they cannot accurately predict its end.
On Thursday, elder statesman Chief Rufus Ada George appealed to the warring parties to show decorum and elevate the collective interest of the state over their particularistic agenda.
Warning against further provocative comments, he said: “I am deeply pained and worried over these embarrassing events and flagrant demonstration of impunity, power, and lawlessness because of the grave danger they portend to the peace and security of Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole.
“As the oldest former Governor of Rivers State, I call on all former governors and their deputies to close ranks, come together, and collectively and frankly speak to our younger colleagues in the best interest of the state.”
The former governor pleaded with the warriors to prioritise Rivers State first and above all other personal, sectional and parochial interests.
Hopefully, reason and wisdom will triumph over ego, arrogance, selfishness and destructive self-interest.
