Who will roll away the stone on the tomb of Rivers politics?
By Kingsley Obom-Egbulem
It is difficult, if not impossible, to win the presidential election in Nigeria without votes from Rivers State.
The state is one of the most populous in Nigeria, and it consistently ranks among the top five states with the highest number of registered voters – 3.5 million as of 2023. Port Harcourt, its capital and largest city, holds a significant chunk of those votes. Little wonder, just like Abuja and Lagos, Rivers State has hosted national conventions of a major political party and is believed to have partly funded even some of the ones it didn’t host.
Rivers is big and winning big there can create momentum or decide the margin in tight presidential races. These votes, which must be won by hook or crook, usually begin with courting the incumbent governor – the conductor of the Rivers political orchestra.
If you can get this guy in bed, the rest of the state becomes a legion of spineless zombies lost in voyeuristic pleasures while the state is sold and fucked. For the next eight years, the people of Rivers State get to live with the repercussions of this perennial politics of betrayal.
Rivers is the economic nerve centre of the South-South, largely due to oil and gas wealth which is key to Nigeria’s revenue. Political parties would starve without this revenue. The state often has governors or political leaders with national influence, who can make funds available, sway votes and build “strategic” alliances. But these alliances aren’t so strategic as they often leave indigenes of the state with the short end of the stick.
Suffice it to say that, to occupy Aso Rock, you’ll have to dream big. And then, you’ll need Rivers State; it’s money and a man with so much money to spend and hide, cantankerous and with an immense capacity for betrayal. You need a clownish, gullible, enfant terrible to achieve that big dream. And the state has never failed to deliver. There is a man currently playing that role for the ruling party. His name is Nyesom Wike; a rambunctious 57-year-old that shows you what a pitbull might look like if it were a man.
By now, many of his haters would have run out of derogatory terms that aptly describe this self-acclaimed tippler and lover of 40-year-old whiskey. In the minds of disappointed Rivers indigenes, particularly those of Ijaw extraction, Nyesom Wike is a drama king who, despite being close to the bottom of a cesspool, continues to dig so that he can sink lower. Will he sink?
Rivers State is blessed. If there is any state in Nigeria that could make Dubai green with envy it is Rivers. But that’s never going to happen! Its people have been cursed with gangsters who deliver by poor leadership—the type that could make the kids of Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote look and live like almajiris. Just in case you are not aware, there is still so much hunger in Rivers State despite an aggregate revenue of 700 billion it received last year. That is what is at the centre of the political dogfight in the state – the so-called structure.
Wike appears stunted, not in terms of height, but maybe intellectually. He reflects this in his countless flip-flops and obsession with hype men. He’s never been on good terms with scholastic posturing and logical frameworks. That is why he prefers to award contracts (“construct this and construct that”), interfere in elections (not rigging), and, in his words, “play politics.” He gets pretty dizzy when sophisticated policy issues or human capital development are on the table. If he were blessed with his preferred level of intelligence, he would have known that one of the reasons he’s attracted to Tinubu is because he wears a price tag and Tinubu loves men who can be bought.
The ruling APC is an attraction for men whose sins need to be forgiven—men with pasts that require covering up. That’s what you need to function in this administration. Imagine a group photograph of all the key players in this government, and you’ll see why Ali Ndume describes it as a government of kleptocrats and kakistocrats.
But it takes wisdom to understand that men with a lot to hide can never be truly free. The APC is a gala. At this gala, Wike feels like a special guest. Unknown to him he’s paid his way into the gala just to be on the menu and one of the performers.
It is worrisome that Wike is not worried that Rivers State has always supplied the jesters, pawns, and resources that those at the seat of power often use to maintain their hold on power. And what does the pawn get afterwards? Irrelevance, isolation, and ignominy. Odili was used. Amaechi was used. Wike was used (and still being used). And he wants Fubara to continue in this tradition. That’s the essence of this fight and chaos in Rivers State.
So, you ask, who will liberate Rivers people from this tradition of inanity and slavery? In his Easter message, Tim Fubara, the embattled governor of the state is telling Rivers people to “keep supporting Tinubu.”
Who will take off this blindfold and end this deadly folly?
• Kingsley Obom-Egbulem is an author, media trainer and communication specialist
