Pretty long but its by a real Rivers State man not
the rest of us who only read the news.
RIVERS STATE: GOVERNMENT ON FURLOUGH
Those who think the current political happenings in Rivers state will bludgeon the governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi into some kind of acquiescence are sorely mistaken. This is so because the governor has nothing like fear in his DNA. Not as if he is so brave or such a man of great courage, but simply because he will not, and never thinks about consequences. Those who call him brash, arrogant and uncouth do so simply because they do not know him. These traits they describe did not just drop from the skies when he began his political career, that has been the persona of the governor.
I do not agree that the governor does not respect the president. I think he does. However, I perceive from my understanding of psychology that the governor has just not enough courtesy to pay to anyone, naturally; and man cannot give what he does not have. It is therefore unfair to expect the same level of composure and social compliance from every individual.
Through the scope of a psychoanalytic lens, all humans are described as having intimate and aggressive drives. Psychoanalytic theorists believe that human behaviour is deterministic. It is governed by irrational forces, and the unconscious, as well as instinctual and biological drives. Due to this deterministic nature, psychoanalytic theorists do not believe in free will. Legendry psychologist Sigmund Freud determined that the personality consists of three different elements, the id, the ego and the superego. He concluded that due to the instinctual quality of the id, it is impulsive and often unaware of implications of actions.
I have been till now more of an observer than a critic of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, not because his performance as governor has fascinated me, but because I believe his disruptive emergence as governor was by the finger of the Most High. The advantage of his entry mode is that the insignia of the Dr. Peter Odili administration had been stripped off by providence, and he rode majestically into the state on the high crest of the waves of anti-Odili sentiments. The people desperately yearned for that departure, so much so that the rumours of atmospherics between the governor and his estranged godfather excited the masses.
His early years as governor were marked with action, landmark stride in infrastructural development and effective social schemes targeted at the grass root, and it was a significant break from the past. Amaechi was everywhere. He rode on his impressive power bike with the unmistakable verve of a typical 'Port Harcourt boy'. He appeared in neighbourhoods unannounced, popped into local bars, restaurants and fast food kiosks for a meal with his usually small team of escorts. He personally supervised projects he had initiated in the state, and like a young man building his first little bungalow to impress a new wife, he was in a hurry. The expectation was very high, and so were the stakes. And candidly, in those years even his political adversaries had to be quiet.
Governor Amaechi's vision for his state was clear and unambiguous, and he had the nerves to deliver. His zest was infectious, and in just a few months he had become some sort of local Bill Clinton. People wondered how he could have been speaker for eight years and was unable to sell this vision to Dr. Peter Odili. It was clear that he came in very prepared, and he had great social intercourse with the state. And so at the expiration of his first term, I voted for him for a second. He didn't need to campaign.
On all counts of his political ascension, the governor had ridden on the back of political heavyweights and godfathers until his sudden victory at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court verdict and the circumstances that drove Amaechi and his men to court changed the political landscape in the state. It was an instant funeral for all political godfathers in the state, and the making of an all-powerful governor, loyal to none. This was the beginning of albatross for the state, because like they say, absolute power, unchecked power, corrupts absolutely.
The absoluteness of his powers (with a very plastic legislative arm), his popularity induced by infrastructural transformation engineered by his administration coupled with his usually misinterpreted aggressive persona, transformed Governor Amaechi into some sort of Asiwaju of Rivers state. Dreaded by royal fathers, elders and politicians who fear his impudence and flippancy, the political space was set for a home run by the governor. It was an unchallenged home run that triggered complacency.
Being more of an activist, the governor has never been a gifted grass root connector. The engine of his political machine was domiciled in the native wits of his right-hand man, Nyesom Wike. While Amaechi focused on delivering the dividends, Wike was the 'native doctor' responsible for servicing the political machine. Wike, like Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, grew in fame, and became known in all the political crevices of the state. But just after the inauguration of the governor for a second term, things fell apart, and the centre could no longer hold. Amaechi began to scan for the viruses in his political machine, but what he failed to understand was that the engine was gone.
It is sheer ignorance to idolize any party in the Rivers crises. They are one and the same family and variegated satellites of the political chess master and evil genius of Rivers politics, Dr. Peter Odili. Odili ran the state with his own set of Machiavellian rubric, and all his protégés have found a way to develop theirs. His political house was codified on concentric layers of betrayals and disloyalty, which spurned after the death of Dr. Marshal Harry.
Governor Amaechi's Machiavellian methods are derived from the former. His is pitched on a haughty, unyielding and contumacious spirit. While these traits work for revolutionary activists, they seldom are productive for democrats.
The governor's erratic outbursts range from the tacky to the jaw dropping. The cascading support of stakeholders, especially of the Rivers-Ijaws, has deepened the chasm of the upland/Riverine dichotomy in the state. It has degenerated to an embarrassing point that many Kalabari-Ijaw progressives in the state privately express support for the ceding of their (Soku) oil wells, which are duly Rivers' to Bayelsa state (as long as Amaechi remains governor). For them, it is a political stroke that the governor deserves for ignoring their area in his development agenda. This move has a political consequence, but like the governor, right now, they simply do not care.
While Nyesom Wike helped buffer some of these political deficiencies by deftly managing the governor's political base, the former National Security Adviser, late General Andrew Owoye Azazi helped manage the governor's relationship with the president. General Azazi, an intelligent military spy understood the persona of the governor, he could tune the governor's psychology. He understood that the governor was not a bad man, but one who needed plenty of time to manage, and Azazi gave him that time. Unfortunately, the president does not have that much time, the General is no more, and Wike has gone his own way.
As I write, the state ministries of health, environment and others are on strike because the governor has refused to shift his grounds, the state university is still in chaos, and ASUU chapter leaders revolting; his political platform, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state is out of the governor's control, the governor himself has been suspended by a party he has sacrificed so much for. He has scores to settle with his benefactor, Dr. Odili, his former Chief of Staff, and most founding members of the party in state. What exactly could be wrong?
As speaker of the Rivers State House Assembly, the governor presided over the most peaceful assembly. He managed his relationship with every member of the legislature so well that they usually were unanimous in their votes. He was loyal to his party and to his boss Dr. Peter Odili, even when he disagreed with his governor, never did he question Governor Odili's position in public. So when did his disloyalty begin?
The gradual erosion of the governor's enigma in state began just after his election as the chairman of the very influential Nigeria Governors Forum. While it offered the governor a national platform, it quickly became a major distraction for the governor. With all these responsibilities, one would have expected the governor to delegate certain crucial responsibilities to his deputy, Engr. Tele Ikuru - who by my estimation is the smartest technocrat in the Amaechi cabinet- but he didn't. The impact of the governor's absence began to reflect on the progress of his many laudable projects especially with a severely sidelined and under-used deputy governor.
The beautiful modern health centres he started across the state are yet to be completed; the wonderful primary and secondary school buildings across the state are yet to be completed; the mega hospital started since the year of his inauguration is stalled; the monorail project is failing; the urban water scheme yet to take off; hundreds of roads in the city completely failed and sufficiently solicitous of rehabilitation; the trans-Kalabari road and several others alike remain stalled, and have become puns for political bargaining.
In a space of twelve months the governor suspended 13 local government council chairmen (Okrika, Obio/Akpor, Andoni, Ikwerre, Akuku-Toru, Asari-Toru, Okrika, Ahoada-West, Ahoada- East, Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Emohua and Ogu/Bolo) and the reasons put forward by the state government for the sacking, in all cases, were absolutely ridiculous.
The shameful incident at Rivers state House of Assembly is an ignominious and reprehensible indictment on the electoral process that begot those legislators and also shows the calibre of men(boys) that the governor and his former chief of staff - Nyesom Wike imposed on the people of Rivers state. These two political gladiators handpicked these members when the going was good. Most of them (except the very few well bred likes of Josiah Olu) are inveterate thugs and intellectual invertebrates, lacking in core and substance.
Politics is about survival. And one way nations and presidents survive is by instilling fear in their adversaries. President Obama's calm mien in the United States has not helped him much in towing his policies. Democratic senators have expressed their concern about President Obama's inability to effectively use traditional presidential whips.
In their masterpiece titled 'Obama in the doldrum', John F. Harris, Jake Sherman Elizabeth Titus, political editors for Politico revealed that a wide variety of congressional Democrats and presidential scholars in the United States have said in interviews that there is a major decisive factor behind Obama’s current paralysis: his own failure to use the traditional tools of the presidency to exert his will.
They wrote: "Obama does not instil fear — one of the customary instruments of presidential power. Five years of experience, say lawmakers of both parties, have demonstrated that there is not a huge political or personal cost to be paid for crossing the president."
The nature of presidential intimidation varies with civilization and in a country like Nigeria, it may happen in the brashest form. There is always the 'Mr. President, doesn't need to know' moment in every presidency anywhere in the World, when surrogates of the president use presidential nexus to pummel political adversaries to the extent that system allows.
While President Jonathan 'may not need to know', his surrogates are spearheading a calculated onslaught against Governor Chibuike Amaechi. The president's silence is a deadly wink of approval, and the governor understands the intrigues because he himself is master of intimidating political adversaries. My only concern is that in the continued pummelling of the governor, the zealous presidential surrogates backed by the federal apparatus may not have an end-game strategy, and this kerfuffle may get really ugly.
The intention of the anti-Amaechi brigade is to bludgeon the governor to submission. However, I do not think the governor has 'submission' in his DNA, so like a stubborn child, he will rather fight till he dies. Already, the government of the state is troubled. The legislature is on a furlough, the only active commissioner seems to be the commissioner of information, whose major goof in the 'Chidi Lloyd scandal' exposed the frustration in the government's information management mechanism.
In a quiet but lethal way, a pseudo state of emergency has 'occurred' in Rivers state. When a governor ceases to be the chief security officer of his state, technically his government has been grounded.
I am sure Governor Amaechi is ready for truce now, but those who understand his psychology tell privately that he hates defeat (just like the president). The governor is apprehensive of the president's history with his old adversaries, like Chief. Timipre Sylva, who after a truce with the president still got axed. For Mr. President's surrogates, they really do not see any political consequence in the state, they calculate that with or without the governor the President will win the state if he decides to run in 2015. They are very correct, but there are wider implications unforeseen.
In all these, my fear is that I do not see the change agents in the Nyesom Wike camp. The resurrection of the Restoration Team, the same folks who under Dr. Peter Odili recklessly plunged the state into a steady decline on all fronts, portends nothing better than danger for the state. The state is between the devil and the deep blue sea. But like the children of Isreal (in the Bible), the people of the state need a Moses who will part the sea, because onward they must.
Ross Alabo-George
RIVERS STATE: GOVERNMENT ON FURLOUGH
Those who think the current political happenings in Rivers state will bludgeon the governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi into some kind of acquiescence are sorely mistaken. This is so because the governor has nothing like fear in his DNA. Not as if he is so brave or such a man of great courage, but simply because he will not, and never thinks about consequences. Those who call him brash, arrogant and uncouth do so simply because they do not know him. These traits they describe did not just drop from the skies when he began his political career, that has been the persona of the governor.
I do not agree that the governor does not respect the president. I think he does. However, I perceive from my understanding of psychology that the governor has just not enough courtesy to pay to anyone, naturally; and man cannot give what he does not have. It is therefore unfair to expect the same level of composure and social compliance from every individual.
Through the scope of a psychoanalytic lens, all humans are described as having intimate and aggressive drives. Psychoanalytic theorists believe that human behaviour is deterministic. It is governed by irrational forces, and the unconscious, as well as instinctual and biological drives. Due to this deterministic nature, psychoanalytic theorists do not believe in free will. Legendry psychologist Sigmund Freud determined that the personality consists of three different elements, the id, the ego and the superego. He concluded that due to the instinctual quality of the id, it is impulsive and often unaware of implications of actions.
I have been till now more of an observer than a critic of Governor Chibuike Amaechi, not because his performance as governor has fascinated me, but because I believe his disruptive emergence as governor was by the finger of the Most High. The advantage of his entry mode is that the insignia of the Dr. Peter Odili administration had been stripped off by providence, and he rode majestically into the state on the high crest of the waves of anti-Odili sentiments. The people desperately yearned for that departure, so much so that the rumours of atmospherics between the governor and his estranged godfather excited the masses.
His early years as governor were marked with action, landmark stride in infrastructural development and effective social schemes targeted at the grass root, and it was a significant break from the past. Amaechi was everywhere. He rode on his impressive power bike with the unmistakable verve of a typical 'Port Harcourt boy'. He appeared in neighbourhoods unannounced, popped into local bars, restaurants and fast food kiosks for a meal with his usually small team of escorts. He personally supervised projects he had initiated in the state, and like a young man building his first little bungalow to impress a new wife, he was in a hurry. The expectation was very high, and so were the stakes. And candidly, in those years even his political adversaries had to be quiet.
Governor Amaechi's vision for his state was clear and unambiguous, and he had the nerves to deliver. His zest was infectious, and in just a few months he had become some sort of local Bill Clinton. People wondered how he could have been speaker for eight years and was unable to sell this vision to Dr. Peter Odili. It was clear that he came in very prepared, and he had great social intercourse with the state. And so at the expiration of his first term, I voted for him for a second. He didn't need to campaign.
On all counts of his political ascension, the governor had ridden on the back of political heavyweights and godfathers until his sudden victory at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court verdict and the circumstances that drove Amaechi and his men to court changed the political landscape in the state. It was an instant funeral for all political godfathers in the state, and the making of an all-powerful governor, loyal to none. This was the beginning of albatross for the state, because like they say, absolute power, unchecked power, corrupts absolutely.
The absoluteness of his powers (with a very plastic legislative arm), his popularity induced by infrastructural transformation engineered by his administration coupled with his usually misinterpreted aggressive persona, transformed Governor Amaechi into some sort of Asiwaju of Rivers state. Dreaded by royal fathers, elders and politicians who fear his impudence and flippancy, the political space was set for a home run by the governor. It was an unchallenged home run that triggered complacency.
Being more of an activist, the governor has never been a gifted grass root connector. The engine of his political machine was domiciled in the native wits of his right-hand man, Nyesom Wike. While Amaechi focused on delivering the dividends, Wike was the 'native doctor' responsible for servicing the political machine. Wike, like Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, grew in fame, and became known in all the political crevices of the state. But just after the inauguration of the governor for a second term, things fell apart, and the centre could no longer hold. Amaechi began to scan for the viruses in his political machine, but what he failed to understand was that the engine was gone.
It is sheer ignorance to idolize any party in the Rivers crises. They are one and the same family and variegated satellites of the political chess master and evil genius of Rivers politics, Dr. Peter Odili. Odili ran the state with his own set of Machiavellian rubric, and all his protégés have found a way to develop theirs. His political house was codified on concentric layers of betrayals and disloyalty, which spurned after the death of Dr. Marshal Harry.
Governor Amaechi's Machiavellian methods are derived from the former. His is pitched on a haughty, unyielding and contumacious spirit. While these traits work for revolutionary activists, they seldom are productive for democrats.
The governor's erratic outbursts range from the tacky to the jaw dropping. The cascading support of stakeholders, especially of the Rivers-Ijaws, has deepened the chasm of the upland/Riverine dichotomy in the state. It has degenerated to an embarrassing point that many Kalabari-Ijaw progressives in the state privately express support for the ceding of their (Soku) oil wells, which are duly Rivers' to Bayelsa state (as long as Amaechi remains governor). For them, it is a political stroke that the governor deserves for ignoring their area in his development agenda. This move has a political consequence, but like the governor, right now, they simply do not care.
While Nyesom Wike helped buffer some of these political deficiencies by deftly managing the governor's political base, the former National Security Adviser, late General Andrew Owoye Azazi helped manage the governor's relationship with the president. General Azazi, an intelligent military spy understood the persona of the governor, he could tune the governor's psychology. He understood that the governor was not a bad man, but one who needed plenty of time to manage, and Azazi gave him that time. Unfortunately, the president does not have that much time, the General is no more, and Wike has gone his own way.
As I write, the state ministries of health, environment and others are on strike because the governor has refused to shift his grounds, the state university is still in chaos, and ASUU chapter leaders revolting; his political platform, the Peoples Democratic Party in the state is out of the governor's control, the governor himself has been suspended by a party he has sacrificed so much for. He has scores to settle with his benefactor, Dr. Odili, his former Chief of Staff, and most founding members of the party in state. What exactly could be wrong?
As speaker of the Rivers State House Assembly, the governor presided over the most peaceful assembly. He managed his relationship with every member of the legislature so well that they usually were unanimous in their votes. He was loyal to his party and to his boss Dr. Peter Odili, even when he disagreed with his governor, never did he question Governor Odili's position in public. So when did his disloyalty begin?
The gradual erosion of the governor's enigma in state began just after his election as the chairman of the very influential Nigeria Governors Forum. While it offered the governor a national platform, it quickly became a major distraction for the governor. With all these responsibilities, one would have expected the governor to delegate certain crucial responsibilities to his deputy, Engr. Tele Ikuru - who by my estimation is the smartest technocrat in the Amaechi cabinet- but he didn't. The impact of the governor's absence began to reflect on the progress of his many laudable projects especially with a severely sidelined and under-used deputy governor.
The beautiful modern health centres he started across the state are yet to be completed; the wonderful primary and secondary school buildings across the state are yet to be completed; the mega hospital started since the year of his inauguration is stalled; the monorail project is failing; the urban water scheme yet to take off; hundreds of roads in the city completely failed and sufficiently solicitous of rehabilitation; the trans-Kalabari road and several others alike remain stalled, and have become puns for political bargaining.
In a space of twelve months the governor suspended 13 local government council chairmen (Okrika, Obio/Akpor, Andoni, Ikwerre, Akuku-Toru, Asari-Toru, Okrika, Ahoada-West, Ahoada- East, Ogba/Egbema/ Ndoni, Opobo/Nkoro, Emohua and Ogu/Bolo) and the reasons put forward by the state government for the sacking, in all cases, were absolutely ridiculous.
The shameful incident at Rivers state House of Assembly is an ignominious and reprehensible indictment on the electoral process that begot those legislators and also shows the calibre of men(boys) that the governor and his former chief of staff - Nyesom Wike imposed on the people of Rivers state. These two political gladiators handpicked these members when the going was good. Most of them (except the very few well bred likes of Josiah Olu) are inveterate thugs and intellectual invertebrates, lacking in core and substance.
Politics is about survival. And one way nations and presidents survive is by instilling fear in their adversaries. President Obama's calm mien in the United States has not helped him much in towing his policies. Democratic senators have expressed their concern about President Obama's inability to effectively use traditional presidential whips.
In their masterpiece titled 'Obama in the doldrum', John F. Harris, Jake Sherman Elizabeth Titus, political editors for Politico revealed that a wide variety of congressional Democrats and presidential scholars in the United States have said in interviews that there is a major decisive factor behind Obama’s current paralysis: his own failure to use the traditional tools of the presidency to exert his will.
They wrote: "Obama does not instil fear — one of the customary instruments of presidential power. Five years of experience, say lawmakers of both parties, have demonstrated that there is not a huge political or personal cost to be paid for crossing the president."
The nature of presidential intimidation varies with civilization and in a country like Nigeria, it may happen in the brashest form. There is always the 'Mr. President, doesn't need to know' moment in every presidency anywhere in the World, when surrogates of the president use presidential nexus to pummel political adversaries to the extent that system allows.
While President Jonathan 'may not need to know', his surrogates are spearheading a calculated onslaught against Governor Chibuike Amaechi. The president's silence is a deadly wink of approval, and the governor understands the intrigues because he himself is master of intimidating political adversaries. My only concern is that in the continued pummelling of the governor, the zealous presidential surrogates backed by the federal apparatus may not have an end-game strategy, and this kerfuffle may get really ugly.
The intention of the anti-Amaechi brigade is to bludgeon the governor to submission. However, I do not think the governor has 'submission' in his DNA, so like a stubborn child, he will rather fight till he dies. Already, the government of the state is troubled. The legislature is on a furlough, the only active commissioner seems to be the commissioner of information, whose major goof in the 'Chidi Lloyd scandal' exposed the frustration in the government's information management mechanism.
In a quiet but lethal way, a pseudo state of emergency has 'occurred' in Rivers state. When a governor ceases to be the chief security officer of his state, technically his government has been grounded.
I am sure Governor Amaechi is ready for truce now, but those who understand his psychology tell privately that he hates defeat (just like the president). The governor is apprehensive of the president's history with his old adversaries, like Chief. Timipre Sylva, who after a truce with the president still got axed. For Mr. President's surrogates, they really do not see any political consequence in the state, they calculate that with or without the governor the President will win the state if he decides to run in 2015. They are very correct, but there are wider implications unforeseen.
In all these, my fear is that I do not see the change agents in the Nyesom Wike camp. The resurrection of the Restoration Team, the same folks who under Dr. Peter Odili recklessly plunged the state into a steady decline on all fronts, portends nothing better than danger for the state. The state is between the devil and the deep blue sea. But like the children of Isreal (in the Bible), the people of the state need a Moses who will part the sea, because onward they must.
Ross Alabo-George
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