Rivers. A state with rivers perpetually swam by political animals ever set for a duel. I have known the state almost all my four decades on earth. First through books and later through visits.
For Rivers’ sake I have been haunted and hunted. Literally. My best memory of Rivers remains that night a little over two years ago when I was declared Columnist of the Year for a satirical piece on this great state.
Its capital, Port Harcourt, is a picturesque city, a city of promise, a city flowing with milk and honey, a city where dreams came alive and a city where great minds found the room to flourish and flower.
Like Lagos, it was some form of convergence for races. Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Kanuri, Ibibio and others saw in Port Harcourt a home away from home.
Port Harcourt of yore was not a city where fear walked on all fours. It was a city where people loved their neigbours like themselves. It was a beautiful city. So beautiful they rechristened it Garden City because of the choreographed embrace between its well-laid road networks and flowers lining them.
In it, oil giants made money and were not afraid. Their gates were not manned by stern-looking soldiers or riot policemen. Neither were their key figures escorted everywhere by gun-toting security men.
The Nigerian civil war was the first blow on Port Harcourt. Igbo who saw the Rivers State capital as home put their all into it. They built houses, industries and so on there. Then came the war and their properties were confisticated all in the name of abandoned properties. Their attempts to reclaim their toils after the war were resisted. Though some got back their due with time, not a few lost their properties forever.
After the war, Port Harcourt seemed to get its groove back. But the return to democracy in 1999 marked another twist. Politicians — out to show strength — armed young and jobless youths with rifles and machine guns. Opponents were taken down with ease. Key political figures, such as Chief Marshal Harry, were killed and the culprits never found not to talk of being brought to justice.
Until the killing of the Adubes, the whole thing had not made me write off the enclave as ‘craze world’. I will always remember the Adubes who were consumed by the madness of the last general elections. How can I forget them? Over 50 shots were fired during the invasion of their home, which lasted between 6pm and 7pm on April 3, 2015. They killed Christopher Adube, the patriarch of the house, two of his sons, his daughter, nephew and driver, in ONELGA, Rivers State.
That terrible day, the assailants also left two of Adube’s children, Paul and Ogechi Adube, with permanent scars. They would have died when these men without brains stormed their home. The bullets they pumped into the 15-year-old Paul’s leg have ensured he is wheel-chair bound. The hot lead they released unto Ogechi’s legs have also seen rods inserted into her bones and because of this, she cannot fold her legs. You can imagine the pains of walking around with legs that feel like wood.
Of the 12 children Adube had with his two wives, three were killed with him; two were left practically crippled and the others now live with shattered dreams. Their father’s sin, I am made to understand, was his affiliation with the APC. His children’s sin was being born by him. The evil men applied the Law of Moses forgetting that the coming of our lord Jesus Christ marked the end of that law, which encouraged taking out the father’s sin on the son or daughter.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) investigated about 153 petitions on hate speeches and election-related violence which occurred in the various parts of the country in relation to the 2015 general elections. Twenty-three of the 153 petitions concern ONELGA, a local government in dear Rivers alone.
When the commission sat, it was sorrow and tears galore. Memories came alive and made men and women shed tears like babies.
The most recent alarming killings in Rivers happened on the first day of the year. Twenty-four people were gunned down by men without souls. We were all in joyous mood that the New Year was here. Then Don Waney in his evil enclave told Scorpion and others to kill fathers, mothers and children. These evil men were known to have killed people and cut off their heads, which they obviously took away as evidence for their masters.
For this reason, President Muhammadu Buhari is visiting. But a big row has broken out. Governor Nyesom Wike was the first to take exception to the visit. As far as he is concerned, Rivers has no security challenge different from any of the other 35 states. So, the president should visit all, he argued.
In another breadth, he said the visit might be to revive the All Progressives Congress (APC) which he declared dead. And he is happy only Jesus has the power to revive the dead!
Rivers Commissioner for Information Emma Okah joined the row with a scathing statement. In it, he said Buhari’s planned visit would afford the people of the state a rare opportunity to inform him of the total neglect of the state by the APC-led Federal Government.
He added that “we will use the opportunity to also tell him about the peculiar security challenges that Rivers State is facing and the fact that we have not received appropriate cooperation from the Police high command despite our complaints”.
There is more: “We will also use the opportunity to tell him what INEC is doing and the fact that INEC is working with some security agencies to frustrate the 2019 elections in favour of his party.
“And we will assure him of our unalloyed commitment as we all work together in patriotism towards building a stronger and more united nation.”
Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina is not happy with the fact that Wike used a wrong premise to fault the trip.
“If he (Wike) doesn’t understand, the rest of the country understands. We understand, other Nigerians understand. Even people in Rivers State understand because on New Year Day, a minimum of 24 people were killed in Omoku.
“So, is that not crisis? And can you count the number of people that have been beheaded in Rivers state in recent times?
“People will be killed and heads will be cut off and the assailants will go away with the heads. So, can anybody say that there is no security issue in that kind of place?
“It’s left to the governor. He’s the chief security officer. If he says there’s no security crisis in his state, good luck to him,” Adesina said.
The Senator representing Rivers South East at the National Assembly, Magnus Abe, also saw no sense in Wike’s protest. He told the governor and all dissenting voices to be grateful Buhari was coming to Rivers.
The senator said: “Rivers State has been in the news for the wrong reasons of recent. The governor should have been the happiest person to hear that the President is coming to see those people who lost loved ones and empathise with them.
“It would be an opportunity for the governor to find a way to work with the President to ensure that we have better security but because of the undertone of violence in Rivers State; I think that is why he finds the visit uncomfortable at this time
“The APC government has done more for Rivers State than the PDP government. The Bodo-Bonny road is on-going. Work has started and the East-West road is also on-going. The president is committed to the Ogoni clean-up and he is working. This is the take-off point.
“The trust fund account is being opened and you have to finish all this process before you can accelerate.”
My final take: Do not ask me who is right and who is wrong. I certainly will not say. But what I will say is this, Rivers is peaceful. If not, why is every organisation rushing to the capital city to hold their annual general meetings, conferences and so on? Why are oil giants’ executives no longer going about with armed soldiers or riot policemen? Why do people now sleep with their eyes closed and their doors ajar? Or, why have all ‘animals in human skin’ left town?