Politicians live a life of noisy desperation. It is all about how to
outsmart, outwit and oust any contrary opposition. Sometimes, what they
term as opposition is not opposition in the real sense of the word. They
mistake critics or divergent opinions for opposition. This is glaringly
what the presidency has taken Governor Chibuiku Amaechi for, because of his
unequivocal and unrelenting approach in the business of the Nigeria
Governors Forum (NGF), which he heads in the capacity of Chairman. Down
home, because President Goodluck Jonathan is Ijaw, and Amaechi is Ikwerre,
many uninformed opinions and politicians from the Ijaw extraction have
taken Amaechi to be in a war of slow-destruction against the Ijaws, because
he addresses the views of the NGF, many times, challenging the stance of
the Federal Government on any national issues. Some have likened Amaechi as
a University Union President who is always challenging the authority. And
you wonder if Amaechi is challenging the NGF that made him its chairman or
what. To this set of people, they have ignorantly mistaken the presidency
as the authority that Amaechi has been challenging, but this is a biased
viewpoint. It could have been said to be a challenge if Amaechi had
challenged the NGF, which he has not done, and might not done. So, for now,
it should be taken that Amaechi has not challenged and is not challenging
any authority no matter the quarter that has been hatching this propaganda
war against Amaechi.
It was Amaechi that made the NGF the formidable force it has become today,
not to scuttle the presidency, but for the aspirations and objectives of
the NGF. Happily, Amaechi and majority of the governors that consist the
NGF are members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). If Amaechi
were in the opposition it can be brought home the speculation making the
rounds that he is against Jonathan. How can he be against Jonathan when
virtually 85% of the NGF’s members are PDP? It will not be out of contest
to say that it is not Amaechi or the NGF that is desperate in the on-going
politics, but the presidency. The unfolding reports between Amaechi and the
risky-in-nature plot by the presidency to oust him as the chairman of NGF
are clear indications that the presidency does not want any challenge from
any quarters, but loyalists. Juxtaposing to this, one may say that such
calculation is despotic, which is not what democracy represents.
It cannot be said that this is democracy, if Amaechi’s opinions
representing that of the NGF are termed the enemy’s, because of certain
interest group for the 2015 elections. Does anybody think that Amaechi has
anything to lose if his purported quest to be re-elected as the NGF’s chair
fails? No. He has nothing to lose, but the NGF that will be manipulated to
have a stooge of the presidency as chairman. Considerably, the fight
against Amaechi started when the news from the rumour mills started to
circulate that he was nursing the ambition for the presidency in 2015, as a
possible running-mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, which he has
rebuffed several times. Somebody might say that before the news started
circulating it had been mirrored through the presidency’s intelligence
mirror, but why still tag that on his neck when he has declared it public
that there was nothing of that kind in his political career, at least, for
now.
What Nigerians expect from Jonathan is to be meeting the yearnings of the
populaces, and not the supposedly meetings with the PDP on how to oust
Amaechi; hence a splinter group named PDP Governors Forum emerged. Would
they also throw Amaechi out of this splinter group since he is a member of
the PDP? If the presidency is blunt to Amaechi, it should know that it is
also blunt to the people of Rivers State that Amaechi governs; no strategy
that was meant to dampen any opinion that is not tyrannical!
As far as the NGF is concerned, any of its members that is seeking loyalty
for the presidency can be regarded as a traitor. The loyalty of any member
of any group should be for the group and not the other. In this case, there
is no gainsaying the fact that the presidency is also a strong opposition
to the NGF, without the later knowing it. What was expected of the NGF’s
members to do was to question the right the presidency had in interfering
in its matter. If Amaechi will go, it has to be done by the members of the
NGF, and not by any wandering aggressors. Anybody viewing the NGF as an arm
of the ruling PDP, therefore, the presidency has the right to interfere, is
not just being truthful. If this is not true, why have there been
speculations that the Czar of the NGF might come from an opposition party
if by tomorrow Amaechi did not emerge chairman the second time. Though, as
it stands, Amaechi has proved that he also knew how to fight, and not only
how to talk. Since Thursday 21 February, when the first ‘political coup’
was staged against Amaechi, his men and him have succeeded in fighting to
retain the image of the NGF.
In this stance, it was expected that the objective of Jonathan when he
wanted to be elected as president was good governance and not to wrestle
power or anybody. Though, the constitution of men, they say, is not written
on their faces. Jonathan and the presidency are too gentle be battling
Amaechi personally. What did Amaechi do? The presidency should stop
creating fictitious stories against Amaechi before the public. The attempt
to fool the Nigerians that Amaechi was doing this and that against the
presidency should stop. This government should know that it is becoming
irritating everyday, while using the media as cover, for its noisy
desperation for power.
