By Simon Abah
SIR: The trajectory of the governor of Rivers State since the occurrence of the first index case of Covid-19 is not fitting. It exposes the governor as not a true democrat and qualifies to be a soldier in a different place, not in Nigeria and, in an era gone by – not now and to be a proud recipient of the Victorian Cross for gallantry.
There are better ways to punish people for disobeying state laws, particularly those who contribute to the economy of a state, some of which are: shame them publicly, fine them, make them engage in community service, render public apology and close their outfits for some time and make them lobby from Earth to Heaven for it to be reopened, and after squandering energy back and forth, they may not break the law again.
But the governor could afford to order the demolition of a hotel because he doesn’t bother about taxes to the state and about employment opportunities that such outfits offer the people of Rivers State.
After all, the oil companies are around the corner, taxes or not, monthly allocations will come from Abuja without effort. All he needs do is ask the commissioner of finance to go to Abuja with the state bowl to get it. It is easy to be a politician in Nigeria.
The governor could afford to inspect the demolition because he is not really busy. The duties of a governor are so much and there isn’t enough time for such luxuries.
In any case politicians enjoy the roles and not duties of office in Nigeria.
A politician should be humble, and the unassuming nature should not be infested by raging ego, for wise people avoid tactless activities because they know that such destroys legacies.
The character of always being in the news for the wrong reasons wouldn’t help the people of Rivers State, however hard the supporters of the governor justify his actions.
They do so, to feed. Small minds always engage in knavish, serpentine and devious attitudes. And according to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”
Dave Umahi, the koboko-wielding governor barred journalist from the government house in Ebonyi State the other day and it created so much raucous claque.
If he thought the media men were in the habit of tossing fake news about the state, why didn’t he approach their publishers and the Nigerian Press Council to lay his complaints? News story is different from features and opinion stories and so I wonder how fake a news story can be?
Read Also: Who will save us from Umahi’s Koboko?
And so instead of the Koboko-wielding governor to appeal to the sense of right and wrong, come with superior argument, he gave a marching order for press men to vacate the government house.
Are we in a democracy? In a democracy, politicians should win friends and not enemies. History books teach that making the press a number one enemy instead of friend has always had dangerous consequences.
Hubris always has its poetic nemesis. The gap-toothed retired general thought he could out-do the press but the press relegated him to the quarters of peripheral nature. His speeches on national affairs aren’t celebrated by the press these days. His birthdays made headlines the other day but not now. Thanks to the press.
Richard Nixon though he could fight the press. Remember how he tried to stop the Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers on the role of the United State government in Vietnam but he lost at the Supreme Court.
He after that, declared war on the press and when the press unearthed Watergate, the press made so much noise and forced him out of office. Can anyone win a needless war with the press?
Napoleon Bonaparte was once quoted to have said that, “he fears the pen more than the bayonet of 10,000 soldiers.”
The macabre roundabout on the press helps no administrator. They should learn from history.
Government officials need to work hand-in-hand with the press and not fight them. Such officials need to know the hard truth; they need the press more than the press needs them.
They must know the role of the press; the press is not a diplomatic channel looking for friends, but a network promoting debate for real development.
The koboko-wielding governor therefore does not need to look for people in the press that he feels comfortable working with.
When he leaves office and becomes passé and irrelevant as all politicians in Nigeria do, because in office they only enjoy government patronage, who will chronicle his legacies; his kinsmen or the press that he currently puts down?
- Simon Abah, Abuja.
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