Is the Presidency not ashamed of the fruitless run of peace being brokered between the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, Minister, Nyesom Wike and his protege, Governor Siminalayi Fubara? The latest of what has become like a circus show took place Sunday night at the usual venue, the Aso Rock Villa, with President Bola Tinubu presiding.
It was reported that after the meeting attended by some unnamed Rivers leaders, Governor Fubara accompanied Wike to his private residence after ‘prostrating’ and ‘begging’ for forgiveness at the meeting. The meeting was about the fourth summoned by President Tinubu in an effort to entrench peace in the oil-rich Rivers State. This is aside from the state of emergency which the president imposed, all aimed at forging peace in the state. Yet peace has remained elusive!
When there is a wrong diagnosis for any ailment, there is nothing any physician, no matter how knowledgeable he or she may be, can do to precribe the right drugs to cure the ailment. That appears to be the case with the seeming intractable political crisis in Rivers. From what has transpired so far, it is clear to many discerning observers that Wike wants Fubara manacled, while he dips his hands ruthlessly into the commonwealth of the state.
It would be recalled that Fubara once cried out that he cannot govern Rivers State on his knees. He later added that he cannot offer his liver and kidneys to Wike just to remain as governor. These were emotional outbursts a governor made under no influence to show the level of unimaginable demands being made of him by forces represented by the FCT minister.
Read Also:
- NDLEA arrests 6 suspects as agent dies during raid on drug den in Rivers
- RIVCHPP takes universal health coverage campaign to Churches, Communities to boost health insurance enrolment in Rivers
- Wike launches Majority FM 89.5 for Tinubu’s campaign in Rivers
It is doubtful if Tinubu in all his drama of settling the two gladiators has tried to find out the core of the problem, reason why his efforts have failed so far to resolve the impasse. Or will the president pretend not to have seen the ‘Wike’s commandments’ handed to Fubara in the guise of agreement on which the minister is standing with the refrain that ‘agreement is agreement’? Which governor in the whole world will abide by such draconian demands? Even God who created humans allows him freedom to exercise his will.
But Wike in his insatiable greed positioned Fubara as a robot while he would be in Abuja with the censor controlling the robot! Yet Tinubu is seeing all these, but like an Ostrich prefers to hide it’s head in the mud and calling fruitless meetings in Abuja. Truth be told, Tinubu is seeing Wike as his mentee, as the minister battles to replicate Tinubu’s overbearing influence in the affairs of Lagos State in Rivers. This in addition to the minister’s vocal support for Tinubu presidency has mortgaged the president’s stance in the goings on in Rivers.
For Tinubu therefore, it is how much political capital he can make of the political situation in Rivers that counts and really not whether Wike is right in his destabilizing influence in the state.This is why the president has been prevaricating while Rivers totters in disarray. For Governor Fubara, there comes a time in a man’s life when one decides to be a man and remain a man. It is worse to be a man in the morning and reduce to less than a woman in the evening.
The quest for self-preservation should not lead the governor to swallow lock, stock and barrel everything that is being thrown at him by Wike and his cohorts. After all he once declared that his spirit had left the Government House! The governor should therefore not box himself into any deal that would rubbish the acclaim he has already built among Rivers people. He is just 51, hence he should be focused on a bigger picture of what the future can bring.
If the present situation cannot allow him act or operate within the bounds of his conscience, Rivers people have seen him, he could excuse himself and leave without compromising his principles and bounce back at the opportune time. After all, it is said that good name is better than silver gold.
