I read an online reaction to a story on the political crisis in Rivers State that went something like this: ‘If you have a quarrel with your wife, blame Jonathan; if your dog falls sick, blame Jonathan.’ The implication is that President Goodluck Jonathan is being unfairly criticised for his perceived role in fanning fires threatening to consume the state.
Picking up on this, the Presidency issued two statements distancing it from the storm. One by Jonathan’s spokesman, Reuben Abati, said in part: “There is absolutely no factual basis for suggestions that some of the politicians involved in the current dispute are acting at the behest of the President.
“President Jonathan certainly did not instigate the crisis in the Rivers State House of Assembly and as President of the nation he will never support any actions that negate his avowed commitment to the rule of law.”
Is the president taking undeserved flak for the show of shame in Rivers? I don’t think so. I will add that anyone expecting a video showing Jonathan at the head of a mob descending on the assembly, or hoping to hear some tape recording of the commander-in-chief giving marching orders to Joseph Mbu’s men, will wait in vain.
But this is politics and the president’s acts of omission and commission, his wife’s ungainly stamping on the Rivers political terrain, have left indelible fingerprints of the presidency all over the crime scene. Supporters know better than to expect a written script. They simply decode their leader’s body language and utterances to decipher where he’s headed.
That is the reason why till today former President Olusegun Obasanjo swears he never ordered anyone to prosecute a Third Term Agenda on his behalf.
But millions were squandered in pursuit of the goal; his henchmen in the National Assembly actively pushed the idea, and never once did he denounce the project with the vehemence that would have stopped the jobbers. Is it any surprise that Obasanjo’s disavowal of the plot continue to ring hollow?
Let’s examine Jonathan’s denials in the light of what we know. Months before the May election that re-elected Rotimi Amaechi as chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the president let it be known he wanted the incumbent out. He called governors individually and made his pitch. That was how signatures on that piece of paper endorsing the president’s choice were collected.
After the spectacular failure of presidential might to deliver, Jonathan quickly issued another statement distancing himself from NGF intrigues.
His denial could have amounted to something if he hadn’t revealed his partisan interest in the matter thereafter by recognising the losing candidate, Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, as NGF chairman at an Aso Villa event!
The man received only 16 votes out of 35! Aside from further entrenching the diabolical Nigerian trait of never accepting unpalatable electoral outcomes, his endorsement of Jang only got him mired deeper in the quicksand of NGF politics.
From the moment Amaechi decided – against Jonathan’s wish – to run, hitherto cold relations became glacial. When the courts sacked the state Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) executive friendly to him, the new gang loyal to Abuja made it clear they were out to execute a hostile agenda.
Things that have unfolded in recent days have been the object of speculation in newspapers. Shockingly, both the outlandish and the illegal have played out as projected. Despite an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, the Evans Bipi-led Gang of Five pressed ahead with their power grab in an assembly that sits 32. What could have given them such courage than comfort in powers greater than a governor’s? Check the chain of events in the preceding weeks.
State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu, who reports to the president’s appointee, Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, had just been engaged in a public slanging match with Amaechi. Among other things he called the governor a ‘despot.’
Did this civil servant get even a slap on the wrist for his outrageous conduct? No way! How else will anyone interpret that episode than to conclude that the police chief had the backing of higher powers to go toe-to-toe with the ‘heady’ governor?
While Ameachi was still digesting that helping of humiliation, Her Excellency the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, swept into town. Interestingly, she had come to play the role of ‘Mother of the Day’ at the wedding of Mr. Bipi – leader of the Gang of Five.
In the course of those celebrations, the Right Honourable First Lady fired off a couple of political missiles in the direction of Amaechi. Among other things she said Port Harcourt which used to be a pleasant place to visit under former governors had degenerated under the incumbent. She them went on to heap praise on Amaechi’s nemesis, Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike.
Later that day, she met with the ‘Gang of Five’. The following morning virtually all newspapers were agog with reports that madam had come to tidy up the impeachment of Amaechi.
Although, her spokesperson denied that her visit to Port Harcourt had anything to do with piling more woes on the governor, anyone who knows the formidable dame would have taken the explanation with a generous helping of salt.
Mrs. Jonathan has redefined the role of president’s spouse. She was never going to be a glamour puss – content with parading in pretty clothes, doing good works. She has taken things to another level: now we have a First Lady who is both political partisan and enforcer.
The dame has been credited as one of the major pillars behind the president’s rise. She has not allowed a little thing like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) clearance stop her from flagging off her husband’s 2015 campaign. Whatever she was doing in Port Harcourt was certainly advancing those interests. And someone will say the president’s not involved.
I have watched the horror video of last Tuesday’s events at the Rivers State House of Assembly. At some point, Bipi is enveloped in a friendly embrace with some unidentified individual who appeared to be trying to calm him. After hearing out the peacemaker, the warrior-lawmaker could be heard muttering: “But why must governor came (sic) here to supervise beating up of my colleagues; why must he insult the president; why did he insult my ‘mother’…”
Is the president involved? In Bipi’s words you have your answer. Jonathan may not have been physically present but what is going on is all about his personality and political clashes with the governor.
Back in 2011, in a moment of exasperation with his critics deriding his laidback style, the president declared he was neither Pharoah, nor a lion or general. I agree that given the package we were sold in that election year, the man Nigerians voted back then would not fit those descriptions.
However, in the light of what has happened over the last few months, and the constant of denials of the obvious, I think a more appropriate comparison would be Pontius Pilate. He released Jesus Christ to a baying mob and thought that by washing his hands with water he could free himself from blood guilt. How wrong he was. Jonathan’s name keeps ringing in this Rivers matter because he’s involved.
He can show that his hands are clean by doing what Obasanjo failed to do in the face on the Third Term accusations: denounce in clear, unambiguous terms every unconstitutional attempt to unsettle Rivers State.
A few days ago the Federal Government denounced the street-instigated military coup in Egypt. To keep silent in face of similar underhand tactics in the president’s backyard would be height of hypocrisy.
