“Darkened by our dumping, thickened by our stains, rich, rank, beautiful, and unending as all life, all living, the river, the dark immortal river, full of strange tragic time is flowing by us by us by us to the sea.” – Thomas Wolfe, Of Time and the River
These immortal words of Thomas Clayton Wolfe, the early 20th century American novelist, stand as an epigraph to the nauseating acts of lawlessness exhibited by the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, the husband of a Federal High Court Judge. He has told the world, stories of Siminalaye Fubaras treachery in not abiding with the cultic pre-election pact with his political mentor, to turn over the Rivers State treasury to him and remain his Boy-Boy forever. He does not remember his treachery to his party. Or is it the party that betrayed him by not making him their presidential candidate in 2023 after deploying the resources of the Rivers State people to feather his own nest in his ghoulish crave for transcient power. And in not getting it through their own party nomination process in which he had forced out his kinsman from power in order to make room for his presidential ambition, he settled for the dog in the manger role. They dont know that since this was an ungodly pact, God had to scatter it.
Thomas Wolfe aptly captures the inanities and zany political actions of Nigerias power elite in the above lines. If I dont get it, no one else does. After this, Wike went to court to tie the hands of his party from dealing with him on the grounds of his anti-party activities. From here, Mr. Wike started his now vexatious and condemnable act of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.
In spite of the fact that his party, the leprous PDP, also misbehaved by not keeping to a commitment of joggling between the North and the South in their noxious zoning arrangement, the party, their umbrella, is supreme and Wike had no other reason to disrespect his partys decision than to shape up or ship out. By now his heart must be totally soured out in the putrid dog-eat-dog politics of their kind.
Today, Rivers State is embroiled in the miasma of ethnicism, prebendalism, irresponsible police and court orders and shocking pronouncements from politicians and legal authorities who speak out from both sides of their mouths.
These people are like those characterised by Wolfe as dumping dirt, thickening stains, the rich, rank, beautiful and undoing life of Rivers people, whom they have subjected to national indignity and disrepute because of their selfish interests. This dark immortal river which, Wolfe says is full of strange tragic time, is ‘flowing by us into the sea. What it says to us is that the river will outlive our shenanigans, our abuse of it in environmental terms, and our greed in misappropriating the peoples resources for our individual profit.
The moral here is that Rivers State will outlive all of us from Peter Odili to Siminalaye Fubara and we will become part of history. Then the question to ask here is: what part of history do these politicians, whether in the bar, bench, parliament or wherever, wish to be part of. Certainly, some will go into the dustbin of history, just as the Abachas and all those who played the role of the Devil when they had the opportunity to provide succour, relief and even stomach infrastructure for the people. Nobody will remember all the otiose political posturings, and claims to divine authority over the state when all that we have claim to is that God blessed us and gave us an opportunity to serve the people but we abused their resources and cornered them as our own.
It is sad when a former or serving governor gives credit to himself for just being a caretaker, a place holder, and most importantly, a servant of the people. We lose our humanity and drops of humility when we get to positions of power.
As we reflect on the endless troubles in Rivers, the ogre in Abuja and his endless band of mischief makers from Asari Dokubo, who is one of the greatest beneficiaries of this state of confusion, and the Netizens in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja, as well as their allies in the courts, are forging out new stratagems to make sure that Rivers State does not have peace if they do not win this crazy hustling for the soul of the Rivers State treasury. We all know Rivers is rich and is arguably the political, economic and socialization centre for the SouthSouth.
Even as the elders are quibbling, other areas are seeking ways to reduce the influence of Port Harcourt. These shady politicians dont care.
But I believe Rivers State will rise again as it did from the rage of Major Okuntimo and General Abacha, and as it did from the ashes of the Ogoni and Odi massacres. There will be a greater tomorrow, tomorrow; and it will not pass them by like the river flowing into the sea. Yet there are many rivers to cross in this wi(c)ked show of political power, but Simi will never remain the orphan of the storm.