Its significance lies in the madness in other lands not so far away. Long before then, it was not in doubt where their loyalty was. Almost everyone knew that they belonged to the Ikwerre man with a Yoruba first name, which makes many wonder if his mother has the Oduduwa ancestry. Some, without proof, have even said he is more Yoruba than Ikwerre. But, that is gibberish.
Last month, over 20 of his men in the Rivers State House of Assembly announced their time was up with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Months earlier, their leader, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, had led the way by dumping the party he believes has a leaking umbrella and teamed up to form the All Progressives Congress (APC). After this move, majority of the state’s members of the National Assembly, including Dr Dakuku Peterside, who chairs the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) and Senator Magnus Abe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), left for the APC too. It was surprising that the state legislators did not move soon after. But, the drama in their switch is not lost coming at a time when the hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob parable is being re-enacted in impeachment moves in states whose governors have switched to the APC.
There was also drama in the PDP’s reaction. It said they mattered not and their switch would not affect its fortune. Really?
Well, for these men, it might have been meant to say, you can’t impeach our governor.
The Rivers’ scenes pale away with Edo’s July scenes. There, the law was on break. Lawlessness reigned. And sadly, lawmakers were the ones behind it all. The police had it up to their necks trying to separate fights. You need to have seen how lawmakers were disgracing their constituents. A court bailiff was told by a “lawmaker to go to hell” when he attempted to serve him summons.
No thanks to this ‘we-no-go-gree’ caused by suspension and counter-suspension, no bill was attended to last month. Yet, these men earned their pay from tax payers who they did nothing to serve.
Please let’s leave Edo and get to the presidential state. Bayelsa held an investment forum. It did not end without unforgetable scenes. At the forum, Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke revealed that an Industrial Park was going to be built in the state. And guess where? Otuoke of course, the presidential village whose population is less than 10,000. This is an addition to the fantastic General Hospital with facilities not being fully utilised. The university is also there and its population will soon be more than the community’s.
Another drama in Bayelsa last month is that while a forum was being held to convince investors to come to the state, a relaxation centre, which also had a car wash, was pulled down by the government in Yenegoa. Reason: No tangible one has been given, yet the owner says he broke no town planning rule. It was a major point where men chilled out after a hard days’ job. Now they have to look elsewhere.
The other three states in the Southsouth, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Delta sure had their indelible July scenes.
In Delta, scenes that gave the impression that peace might take a flight were recorded. It all surrounded the Export Processing Zone being worked on by the Federal Government around Escravos. Last month, the project pitched Ijaw against Itsekiri. Before then, it had pitched Itsekiri against Itsekiri in Ugborodo. Lives were lost and heads were broken and jaws dropped when Itsekiri battled Itsekiri. Last months’ dramas were more of Ijaw proclaiming their right to the project. They rejected Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s interface committee on the project. One of their leaders, who said his grandparent’s grave would be consumed by the project, even threatened that the project would not start until their demands were met. President Goodluck Jonathan would have to wait more before performing the groundbreaking ceremony.
Cross River maintained its peaceful mien during the month. But, dramas around the issue of border demarcation between Nigeria and Cameroun, as a result of the loss of Bakassi, played out. Fears were expressed by communities around the Obudu axis about plots to cede them to Cameroun. The last has certainly not be heard about this.
Really, almost no July scene from the Southsouth could beat the one at the sod turning ceremony for the new PDP secretariat in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. Governor Godswill Akpabio was quoted as saying: “Those who have betrayed the governor will not enter the Government House… Those who want to take power from the back door will die. They will die. And the PDP will continue.”
He was said to have used the Biblical story of King David and Absalom to back his position. Absalom, he said, wanted to take over power before 30 and sought to kill King David, his father. He eventually died before his father.
Can both cases really be juxtaposed? Absalom was a son; those who the governor claimed have betrayed are his political sons. There is no blood relationship.
Since then, his opponents have taken advertorial space to lampoon him. They also called on Jonathan to save them.
The governor has not spoken since then on the matter. At least in public. But, in an advertorial, which was a reaction to an open letter to Jonathan on the controversial statement, the governor’s supporters said he was only referring to political death and not physical death. They claimed it was natural that a stream that forgets its source will naturally die. There is no need for any physical effort to realise this. True talk?
Secretary to the State Government Emmanuel Udom, in an advertorial, also toed the same line, arguing further that backdoor means ‘crude’, ‘undemocratic’ and all that. He did not forget to let us know that the people of Akwa Ibom are begging him to succeed Akpabio.
Well, my final take: let everyone have a level-playing field. That way, there will be fairplay.
Till next week. Have the best of August.
