Power: there is something about it that is difficult to understand. Power has many sides; positive, negative. There is nothing bad about power; neither is everything about power good. Only its use determines the positivity or negativity.
Joseph Mbu, the immediate past Rivers State Police Commissioner, has tasted and knows the flavour of power. In Rivers, he was the news in negativity. Since he was replaced, there has been more work and less noise from that state.
When Mbu arrived the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja as police chief, we thought that operating under the crushing stare of the Inspector General of police (IGP) would help discipline his nerves. It worked for a while. But last week, Mbu had a bad dream in which Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers must have been mocking him. He woke up with a struggle.
Immediately, he announced a ban on a campaign that has international coloration. It was a show of crude power; a demonstration of untamed might. He did not have to go that far. Thank God, the IGP reversed him. We saw two sides of power: one was crude and corrupt; the other was humane and lawful.
In his emphatically inspirational book, Power and Greed, Philippe Gigantes defines power as the best instrument for satisfying our desires. Only a few people can generate and sustain power. Throughout human history, says Gigantes, power has come in different forms: owning more slaves, more domestic animals, more land to exploit, more subjects to tax, more followers to lead through changing the faith or conquering the lands of others, or having more money to rival your enemies.
Power has many attributes and manifests in many forms. Power intoxicates. Power uses and dumps. Power walks tall. Power talks big. Power controls. Power boasts. Power irritates. Power craves for more power. Power afflicts. Power brings change. Power crushes. Power uproots. Power destroys. Power builds. Power pretends. Power punishes. Power rescues. Power mocks. Power dictates. Power inspires. Power blinds. Power roars. Power bites.
Boko Haram manifested wicked power when it abducted more than 200 girls two months ago. Osama bin Laden demonstrated power on September 11, 2001 when he ran two aircraft through the World Trade Centre in New York, killing thousands of people. President George Bush demonstrated power when he dispatched troops to the dangerous mountains of Afghanistan to smoke him out.
Power sent the American troops to the streets and mountains of Iraq to hunt down terrorists. Power led to the successful rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from the chains of pirates on the Indian Ocean. Power made President Barack Obama to risk a re-election when he sent Seal Team Six to bin Laden’s fortress in Pakistan on a deadly mission.
Robert Green, author of some of the world’s best-selling books on power, says the feeling of having no power over people and events is generally unbearable to people who have tasted power. It makes them feel helpless and miserable. Everyone wants more power, especially to make people do as they wish. When this is achieved, then like Shakespeare says, you bestride the narrow world like a colossus.
Governor Godswill Akpabio knows the meaning and beauty of power. Nobody has ever come across him without leaving with an impression, mostly positive. I have been told severally that it is difficult to criticise Akpabio without having someone stare at you as though you’re from outer space.
Since Akpabio came to power, I have only known him from a distance. The closest I have been to him was at a press conference in Abuja. Of course, I have only written about him twice. The first time was in a piece to state my belief that winning a second term would be his easiest achievement because of how positively he started off. The second piece was on his promise to end kidnapping in the state within a deadline he drew for himself.
In both instances, he exercised power. Recently, I saw power when Akpabio sent a bill to the state legislature and it was passed into law in less than seven working days, when none of the lawmakers stand to benefit from the implementation of the bill. That is power. It controls. It dictates. It calls the shots. It also takes the power of humility to repeal a law that is less than two weeks old.
An incident occurred three years ago. My boss then, Akpandem James, urged my participation in congratulating Akpabio on his birthday. I did it because I was convinced that he deserved it. I am sure he is still surprised about this stranger who sent him a goodwill message through an advertorial and thereafter faded into the background.
However, a lot has happened recently that I pray our dear governor would not justify Voltaire’s words: “When the evening began, Fouquet was at the top of the world. By the time it had ended, he was at the bottom.” God forbid! Power can take up; power can bring down. No! Not our Akpabio.
