One thing you cannot take away from Chief Tom Ikimi is his ability to draw symbolisms to illustrate his points. Penultimate week in Port Harcourt, the former External Affairs Minister offered Nigerians another meaning to the APC acronym of the opposition All Progressives Congress. Ikimi who accompanied opposition leaders Muhammadu Buhari, APC Chairman Bisi Akande and former Governor Bola Tinubu to a rally in Port Harcourt, said “APC means Aspirin, Panadol, (and) Codeine. When you have strong headache, you take these drugs.”
How apt, for, indeed, Ikimi and members of his party had the right patient with them: their chief host, Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, who is presently troubled by a strong headache- a self-inflicted one, I dare say- caused by his long-standing rebellion against his party, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from which he is currently suspended. Over time, Amaechi has carved a niche for himself as the black sheep of the South-south and a recalcitrant politician who shows no respect even for the nation’s political helmsman or the party that brought him to power. This has earned him a well-deserved isolation among his colleagues in the region, with possible expulsion from his party starring him in the face. As the full implications of his actions weigh down on him, Amaechi could well do with Ikimi’s prescription, if he has not taken an overdose of APC already.
His political travails can be traced to his unnecessary and long-running disagreements with President Goodluck Jonathan, personally and politically, and the PDP, starting from his first few weeks as Rivers State Governor. He had taken on the President over the disputed oil wells in Soku that eventually went to Bayelsa, stopping short of calling the act a presidential robbery, in spite of official explanations. He openly disagreed with First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on the Okrika waterfront demolition and went on to carry out his threat in a manner that diminished her before her Okrika kinsmen. In his altercation with the Minister of the Niger Delta, Godsday Orubebe over the East-West road project, he projected the President as insensitive to the sufferings in his native region. To cap it all, he chose to play the black sheep in the Niger Delta, dreaming of supplanting Jonathan himself, which is what a slot in the presidency for him, means.
His ascendancy in May 2011 to the Chair of the Nigeria Governors Forum, accentuated his divisive tendencies. Rather than use the platform to mobilize support for the President as a member of the same party, the NGF under him-as Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark observed-was turned into an arm of the opposition.
It is either Amaechi relishes adversarial politics, or he lacks maturity in handling political issues. Even before the misadventure that is the G7 rebellion and his senseless romance with the Baraje faction of the PDP, his whimsical character came to the fore when the PDP reconciliation team visited Port Harcourt to seek a solution to the problems within the South-south zone. For a state governor to walk away from such an important gathering that included his party’s national chairman and leaders of the PDP across the South-south region, was like playing schoolboy politics. It was despicable, to say the least.
The impression one gets from all the controversies that Amaechi stirs, is that he is patently incapable of performing the duties of a governor. The controversies are only meant to divert attention from his many deficits. It rankles that a man who got into office on such popular goodwill, and who has received, from the Federation Account, close to two trillion Naira, in earnings, has such a poor performance record. Over the years, he has succeeded in sustaining his pointless political battles as well as the loyalty of his cohorts, with funds that would otherwise go into developing Rivers state. Now that he has become the beautiful bride of the APC, it is obvious his suitors are after the money meant for the Rivers people, than Amaechi’s political qualities. There lies the deceit.
Certainly Amaechi is fighting the battle of his political life, with the likelihood of his losing it. So far, the political battle he foisted on the people of Rivers state has already left him gasping. After being supplanted as Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum and losing the PDP structure in Rivers State following the ruling by Justice Ishaq Bello of the Abuja High Court, Amaechi is perhaps the only sitting Governor serving suspension from his own party.
His leaning towards the APC comes as little surprise therefore and his dance steps at the reception rally for his APC friends in Port Harcourt, did little to convince watchers that he is at peace with himself. As he danced, occasionally doing the karate kick into the air, the impression one gets is that the troubled man may have emotionally stressed. His statement that he would consult President Goodluck Jonathan on whether or not to leave the ruling PDP for the opposition APC, was even more illogical and absurd. For a man who has gone to the extent of openly derogating the person and office of the president and hobnobbing with the opposition, Amaechi has clearly crossed the Rubicon, as it were.
The reception for his APC friends will also be remembered for the airport drama. The governor not only led a crowd of his supporters within the security area to receive his visitors, he fired them up with a clearly incendiary speech on how there can be no revolution without blood. What really was he suggesting? Put side-by-side his acrobatic dance-steps with the occasional karate kicks in the air at the Port Harcourt rally ground, one gets the impression that Amaechi might indeed have got out of range. Never mind the consolatory eulogies- “a leader of the leaders,” “a bundle of courage”,”a brilliant man being persecuted,” etc, by the like of Bisi Akande and Bola Tinubu, the governor is clearly on a self-destruct mission. The APC pill may not be so palatable for him, but it is turning out his only alternative. Whether or not to take the pill is a decision only he can take. Dragging President Jonathan into it is an unnecessary diversion. Amaechi has shown to the world that he is courageous enough to take on the lions in the jungle of politic maneuvers. He should make his moves and stop all these shadow boxing.
Written By Hamisu Abubakar
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