By Ogbonna Nwuke
Okonkwo, front runner in Things Fall Apart made the costly mistake of killing Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna had called him father but Okonkwo didn’t for once flinch when the desire to satisfy his super ego got the better of him.
Julius Ceasar, one of Rome’s greatest emperors thought he had a friend in Brutus, but how wrong he was. It took the attack on the day of his assassination in the capitol for Ceasar to discover who Brutus truly was. It was too late.
In and out of war, Macbeth and Banquo were reputedly inseparable friends in the Shakespearean play Macbeth until fortune brought them before three witches.
The witches promised Macbeth Thane of Cawdor and kingship thereafter and to Banquo, a lineage of Kings. Banquo, a general of great distinction would later pay with his life on account of Macbeth’s ambition to corner the kingly pie.
Goebbels presided over Germany’s war time information dissemination effort under Hitler. Until his sudden emergence on the world stage, this shadowy figure with a heart of steel was relatively unknown.
This cold blooded propagandist who was dreaded everywhere on account of his unimaginable tales of twisted reality and misinformation cared very little about reputation and civilised conduct where smearing images either of nations or their leaders was concerned.
Adolf Hitler who almost brought the world to it’s heels once declared, “I will shrink from nothing”. Hitler was defending the wave of terror in prosecuting his war of dominion. It was his way of saying all is fair in war, rights of humans to life and other ethical considerations not withstanding.
Okonkwo, Brutus, Macbeth, Hitler and Goebels and the accounts of their infamous exploits may not be products of our contemporary reality in present day Rivers State, but in these characters we can find common traits in the attitude and actions of a living Rivers politician.
That person is Nyesom Wike, who currently presides over Government, House, Port Harcourt, and the most absurd campaign of calumny that is unfolding before our very eyes.
Like the men under reference, Wike is believed to be brutal, self-seeking and dangerous. Like these men, opponents of Wike insist he has no regard for friendship. Neither does he care a miff, many Rivers people aver, about norms of proper behaviour and decency that rational man and rational society holds dear.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Like these men, Wike obviously believes in the dictum that the end justifies the means. And in so doing, believes in the conclusion drawn by the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth that fair is foul and foul is fair.
I had thought there was perhaps something that Wike has to offer to Rivers people. I had hoped that Wike would unveil a clear action plan that would elevate governance and justify why another Ikwerre man after Amaechi should preside over our common wealth.
What we have seen as Rivers people after the daylight rape of our collective mandate in the last three months has been the completion of Amaechi’s projects that were more than 90% done.
So while Wike should be grateful that he at least has low hanging fruits that he can harvest, it is as if he has the ghost of Amaechi to exorcise.
Truth is Amaechi’s image looms very high and Wike can see it in the schools the man built, in the hospitals and health centres that he put together and the roads that he conceived.
He can see the ghost of Amaechi in the Greater Port Harcourt City, in the rising profile of his benefactor across the country, and in the eyes of all those who watch him as he dances naked.
That clearly is Wike’s problem and because He has murdered sleep on account of his betrayal of his political father, he indeed can sleep no more.
For a modern day Okonkwo, Brutus, Macbeth, Hitler or Goebbels what Wike is doing is understandable. It is based on the thinking that in order to entrench self, the old order must be pulled down. Period.
Wike needs to know that Amaechi did not creep into the consciousness of the Rivers people by name calling and blackmail. He had an active plan and a team to pursue the fine points of his developmental agenda for Rivers people.
Amaechi is a folk hero whether his enemies like it or not. He came out when the nation needed men like him and answered the call to duty. He became one of the arrowheads of change in this country and took risks in order to ensure that our today is better than yesterday.
Not even a thousand Nyesom Wikes can take that fact away from history. Like all humans, Amaechi is not infallible and I remember Mark Anthony in Julius Ceasar, saying “I did not come to praise Ceasar but to bury him”.
Yet it is necessary as the deadly assault unfolds to ask what Amaechi did? Why is he being hounded by the apostles of corruption? These are the questions to ask.
How come that a man who stood in the open and openly called his former soulmates in PDP thieves has suddenly become a thief? Have we forgotten how openly Amaechi challenged his traducers in the PDP to prove him a thief if they could?
Buhari once said that if you are fighting corruption and the vices associated with it in Nigeria, corruption turns around to fight back. The reality of that comment is here and one of his own is the victim of a nihilist demonisation plot.
For Wike and his cohorts, Amaechi shouldn’t be allowed any inch around Buhari or the corridors of power. What injury this would cause them remains to be seen. But in order to cure this injury well in advance, a frightening arsenal put together with taxpayers money has been unleashed, and a horrifying campaign set in motion.
As Buhari gets set to name his point men, the urgency to hurt Amaechi increases by the day. All kinds of propaganda, their spin doctors tell them, must be harnessed. This, no doubt, is the foundation of the assassination plot.
And the reason why, contrary to best practices, those who set out a probe panel to investigate a part of Amaechi’s administration and not all of it can’t even wait for the ruling of their own judge.
Today, Rivers people can see the difference between a carefully crafted dream that is anchored on love for humanity, State and country and a dreary drunken dream, hatched on the wings of hate and a terrible complex that can only be the product of an inferior kind.
Finally, I have looked forward to finding something original to tie to the Wike administration. At least that would show that those who opposed his ambition to be governor were wrong. I have found none.
I had hoped that Wike has advisers who would rein him in when he steps out of line, when he walks the narrow path of self and institutional destruction. Alas, I still have found none.
I had thought that the man I have come to know would do the needful in seeking reconciliation for the sake of Rivers State and it’s people. Surprisingly, this has not been the case. I had prayed that my friend who has found his way to Brick House would avoid fetching the proverbial ant-ridden wood as firewood. No, to my shock and amazement, that has not happened. Rather, to my bewilderment, we have a tale of the pig, a clean bath and the mud.
This is the reality that stares us in the face. It is like a movie, a badly scripted movie. If it is true that Rivers people actually voted this man, is this what they voted for? Your guess is as good as mine.
I believe in the dream of a greater Rivers State and the historic role that our dear State and people must play in the advancement of our beloved country. And Amaechi has set the pace in this regard as we struggle to build a new Nigeria.
I believe in friendship and above all, respect for one another, and I think Wike, my brother from Rumuepirikom shouldn’t ignore this reality, regardless of the differing interests that we may pursue as politicians.
I believe in brotherhood and even though Wike can’t see this, there are people like us who very much think that the future is more important than a past gone by.
If you ask me, that’s the difference between Amaechi and Wike. Amaechi chose to let go of his enemies, asked for their forgiveness and invited them to come on board in the very speech which defined the character of his administration.
This has not been the case with Wike. Where Amaechi set up a truth commission so Rivers people could confess their roles in a past that was inglorious, and afterwards join hands to heal their wounds, Wike has chosen an ill – advised punitive probe. I think Wike should make haste while there is still time to escape the revel of those who drunkenly dwell in the shadowy imagery of a murky past.
No amount of documentaries can change a man’s destiny or an idea which time has come. On AIT which is fast earning a reputation for slander and blackmail, a documentary obviously prepared to finish off Buhari was aired repeatedly before the elections.
To buttress my argument, that didn’t stop Buhari from emerging as president.
Wike should stop now, and it would be best if he stopped listening to the shareholders of AIT who under the guise of investing on behalf of the State some years ago did the contrary.
I will call no names and I hope we shall not be forced to say some more either of these elements who love crisis more or of Wike who lives in a glasshouse and has obviously turned a pun on their chess board.
*Nwuke writes from Port Harcourt