Amaechi
Adeola Akinremi
I was alone in our living room recently when I started laughing out loudly, enough to attract the attention of one of the people in the bedroom next to the living room. “Are you now a student of theatre art,” he asked jokingly. “I am laughing based on the response from Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State to the earlier comment made by the new Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu,” I told him.
I was alone in our living room recently when I started laughing out loudly, enough to attract the attention of one of the people in the bedroom next to the living room. “Are you now a student of theatre art,” he asked jokingly. “I am laughing based on the response from Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State to the earlier comment made by the new Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu,” I told him.
For clarity, Mbu had counselled his successor in Abuja on how to deal with security issues, using his Rivers State experience, when he was there as a police commissioner. He said: “It is only lion that can tame leopard. Each time the leopard remembers my face, it makes noise, but if it knows I am around, it cannot make noise. A lion is a lion,’’
Yes, Mbu’s reign in Rivers State was characterised by sorrows, tears and blood, because it was a period of many conflicts.
So Mbu indeed had enough experience to share with his successor, except that his experience in Rivers State may be inappropriate for a police commissioner in Abuja or anywhere in the country. Did Mbu offer a wrong counsel?
I think that is not difficult to know, when we all flash back to his days in Rivers State. Mbu earned national notoriety as the commissioner of police in Rivers State for disregard for the rule of law that he was employed to protect.
Now, how did Amaechi respond to Mbu? He simply called him a ‘woman wrapper,’ a word often used to describe weak and unintelligent man in today’s Nigeria.
“Indeed it’s very sad, pathetic, however ironic that Mbu called himself a lion. Which lion? This character call Mbu Joseph Mbu completely lacks the courage, steel and strength of character of a lion. Rather he’s a shameless, corrupt puppet of a woman,” said Amaechi
True, Mbu poorly handled the Rivers crisis as a police commissioner and he was eventually rejected by the people, which necessitated his forceful transfer to Abuja in the heat of the crisis.
Now, that is just one of the many battles that Amaechi had to fight since his foray into politics.
But I’m not particularly fascinated about the beginning of anything in life, as I often wait to see the end.
So for me, Amaechi’s real battle to be a success on the political battlefield is what he will have to contend with in the next four months. It’s a battle of successor.
It’s both internal and external battle for a man who had enjoyed
favourable support from the public in all of his battles. It’s one of
the most difficult battles because Amaechi is now caught between two of
his friends who are aspiring to succeed him. Will he go for Dakuku
Peterside, the Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on
Petroleum (Downstream) or Magnus Abe, the Chair of the Senate Committee
on Petroleum (Downstream) who are the two main contenders for the office
of the governor in the state under the platform of All Progressives
Congress (APC) or will he listen to the voice of the Riverine people in
the state who continue to cry for justice and mercy in a state they have
contributed to build, without the opportunity to have someone from the
area lead the state in the last 24 years. That is the kernel in Amaechi
system this October and beyond.
But it may not be that difficult, if Amaechi knows that he’s in a competition and there’s no point competing if there’s nothing to gain.
One of the books I read early in life was Sun Tzu’s Art of War. In Tzu’s principles of warfare, he advised that competition should occur when we have something to gain or when we are in danger. Amaechi is clearly in both situations. He needs a successor who can continue the good work he has done in the last eight years. That will be his gain. He’s in a dangerous situation, if he finds no good successor, because if his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) loses to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it will not be a time for him to rest from all his labour.
Now, Tzu further said: “Conquerors estimate in their temple before the war begins. They consider everything. The defeated also estimate before the war, but they don’t consider everything. Estimating incompletely causes failure. When we look at it from this point of view, it is obvious who will win the war.”
In Rivers State, it will be tantamount to estimating incompletely to ignore the voice of the Riverine people at this time and there are many reasons for that. The chief of these reasons is based on the principle of equity and justice.
If in a state a particular section has not been given the opportunity for 24 years, it will be difficult to achieve the dream that is now being canvassed that any Nigerian should be able to stand for an elective post in any state of the federation where he has dwell and contributed to its growth and development.
Right from inception the politics of Rivers State has been played around a concept referred to as Upland/ Riverine dichotomy. The Riverine part actually refers to the Ijaws. This Upland / Riverine dichotomy reflects in almost all allocation of political offices from 1979 to date.
Unfortunately since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy, only the upland part of Rivers State has been at the helm of affairs. This is the root of the current agitation by all Ijaws in Rivers State to be given an opportunity to produce the next Governor of Rivers State. This agitation no doubt enjoys the support of other ethnic groups in Rivers State, including the Ikwerres where the present governor comes from.
The Rivers Ijaw people are spread across the coastlines in the over ten local government areas of Andoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Bonny, Okrika, Ogu-Bolo, Port Harcourt (South), Asari-Toru, Degema, Akuku-Toru and Abua-Odual effectively make them more than one third of the state both in population and landmass. The state has 23 local government areas.
In the 2006 census, these local government areas, except for Ogu-Bolo are in the top ten most populated areas of Rivers State with Abual-Odual, Degema, Okrika, Asari-Toru, Andoni and Port Harcourt (South) boast of good ground for harvest of votes during elections.
So if Amaechi will take to Sun Tzu’s advice just like many successful warriors did in China and live to tell their stories, he will estimate completely by looking into the Riverine area of the state for a successor.
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