These are quite ridiculous times politically speaking with all manner of nonsense coming out from politicians as they seek to outdo one another in this rat race they dress up in the altruistic robe of serving the people. Yesterday, it was Rotimi Amaechi who mounted the podium at Adokiye Amesimaka Stadium in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state that he has plunged into chaos as governor, and openly denigrated the person, family and office of the Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
The Rivers Governor’s favourite strategy these days aimed at convincing the leadership of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), that he is the ideal candidate for the position of running mate to the anointed opposition presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, is to throw caution to the wind in raining abuses on President Jonathan and the First Lady. Thus at the APC mega rally on October 25, 2014, Amaechi, dancing weirdly with a broom in hand like a junky Reggae singer, said many unprintable things about the Federal Government.
Apparently not getting the right attention with his deceitful propaganda of how President Jonathan has marginalised the Rivers people, Amaechi has decided to go personal in his desperate bid to be named APC’s vice presidential candidate. He had told the crowd mobilised from all the states governed by APC (ostensibly to show how the opposition party has become entrenched in the President’s own backyard) that, at the root of his disagreement with the President was his refusal to “share Rivers money with the First Lady.”
It is not amusing to some of us who are indigenes of Rivers State the despicable manner in which our governor has carried on. Today, minor governance issues like traffic management in Port Harcourt has gravely degenerated because the state seems to be on auto-pilot, with our governor only interested in his own selfish ambition of becoming vice president in 2015. It is profoundly shameful that Governor Amaechi was boasting about the stadium he built in Port Harcourt, where he held his so-called mega rally when his peer, Godswill Akpabio, the governor of neighbouring Akwa Ibom has built, completed and commissioned one of the finest stadiums in the world today, the Nest of Champions, in Uyo. When last did Amaechi visit Akwa Ibom State? Maybe a short trip to that state will teach our garrulous governor in Port Harcourt what service to the people means! Or maybe, we the people have a huge stomach to tolerate the shenanigans of an over ambitious and selfish governor imposed on us by the courts!
But Amaechi is not the only one scheming to be APC vice presidential candidate. The comrade governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, is giving Amaechi a good run for his money. It is therefore not surprising that the two states, Edo and Rivers, seem to have quite a lot in common. First, their governors are overly ambitious. Second, both Amaechi and Oshiomhole are clearly distracted from the main issues of governance. Third, following from the above, the two states are in confusion and flux of unrest.
Oshiomhole who, hitherto, had shown some level-headedness in his relationship with President Jonathan had most recently gone off-tangent. As if someone had whispered to him that Amaechi was about to steal the APC presidential running mate slot from him, the governor of Edo State has employed the dirty tactics of his colleague and competitor steeped in blackmail and falsehood. Speaking on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City, during an APC rally to mark his sixth year anniversary as governor, Oshiomhole accused Jonathan of doing nothing for Edo State. Specifically he openly alleged that the President only came to resurface a road built by the military in the state.
“What is the Scorecard of the PDP in Edo State and in Nigeria? The PDP has commissioned the resurfacing of Ofosu to Benin Road in a period of 16 years. That is all PDP has to show in Edo State for over a period of 16 years. The PDP Federal Government controls 52.8 % of declared federal collections and Edo State share of that 52.8 % and all they have to show in 16 years is the resurfacing of Ofosu-Benin old carriage way”, stated Oshiomhole.
Is Oshiomhole as ignorant and ungrateful as to state that resurfacing of a road that has failed is not a viable project? When last did Oshiomhole travel on the Shagamu/Benin Expressway? Well, it is understandable that all APC governors now have one or two personal jets and helicopters with which they gallivant about plotting the destabilisation of the country with their incendiary remarks and falsehoods.
It is indeed shameful and speaks of the calibre of leadership in APC that a governor’s only understanding of good governance and dividends of democracy is the mundane reference to roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure. If Oshiomhole who, in that rally was teaching his listeners his half-baked knowledge of etymology of the word “fall”, is literate enough, he would have understood that President Jonathan, by guaranteeing his people the ambience of freedom and liberty to exercise their rights, especially their right of choice, which made their votes count and got him (Oshiomhole) elected, has given them the best that governance can offer. In any case, how do we expect Oshiomhole whose record of education is still shrouded in doubts to grasp this seemingly very abstract logic?
“Power changes the nature of men”, Shakespeare had warned. Even then, the desperate ambition for the same power is even more dangerous on politicians. Who would have thought that the same Oshiomhole who was effusively grateful to Jonathan on the morning of his electoral victory for his statesmanlike decision to ensure that the votes count in Edo gubernatorial election will be the one challenging the President to a wrestling match today?
Mr West-Greene wrote from Port Harcourt via Tamunowg@yahoo.com