Wike’s Vain Quest For State Capture

By TONY EKE

Literature is so lovely because it reflects some truth on its vast pages of creative vistas. Its illumination of life and lived experiences is all-encompassing, its exploration of the dual reality of our world, as gleaned from its recognition of humane deeds and excoriation of diabolical contrivances generate appreciation of its forms. The summative coherence and relevance of a literary work gives it an existential reality of the epoch of its creation. Its so beauteous that literature’s eternal life is denied its creators! What a world! Yes, the literary process might be deemed as a mere creation, sheer imagination, and merely utopian, but the products of the creative impulses outlive the transient sojourn of great writers who are numbered among the rarely gifted species of human beings.

Among thematic imports of classic literature that I’m enamoured of, none is as gripping as a discourse on decision which conveys wisdom or folly of a protagonist in drama and prose or a narrator in an eponymous poem. Unless driven by hubris and inevitably fated to a tragic end, it is choice that would define the course of a character and his approach to circumstances underpinning the plot and its denouement. Take away the capacity of a character to make a good choice, then his rationality as referenced in the cognitive process of human behaviour might lend itself to psychological examination or outright psychiatric evaluation. All this is within the realm of literary creation, however.

A correlation between the aforementioned literary perspective and the role of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Mr. Nyesom Wike in the crisis in Rivers State will unfold some incredulity. No one ever expected Wike to seek the destruction of a man whom he had made, metaphorically speaking. He’s acting like an enraged god bent on killing a devotee it ought to protect. This apparent path of volitional choice clearly offers us a glimpse of Wike’s psychology. He initially had two choices, either to bolster the strength and facilitate the success of Rivers State Governor and his godson, Mr. Siminilaye Fubara, or to lay diverse arrows forged in his own smithy and imperil the governor’s path to deliver on his electoral promises and earn the confidence of the electorate.

The degeneration of the situation from a mere disagreement between a godfather and his godson to a potential threat to the political stability of the country is largely fuelled by the deference of the governor to his former boss at the incipient stage of the crisis. He had exhibited the loyalty of a grateful person who was helped to acquire power on a silver platter, albeit with a proviso. But then, what seemed as Wike’s intent on destabilizing his government eventually emboldened him beyond the wildest imagination of many Nigerians. Pummelled for many months, Fubara, had, in a fit of self-assertion, altered his calm visage and gentility of a lamb and metamorphosed into a wild cat!

Let’s get it clearly. The notion of godfatherism in politics is embedded in the elite theory which presupposes the coming together or relationship between elite and governance in democratic societies. While the theory is applicable to diverse social and governance structures, it describes the convergence of accomplished and wealthy individuals in various fields that pool resources to capture power and influence the course of governance in a polity. Although this theory had its foundation in the early writing of Polybus who referred to what we now call elite theory as ‘autocracy’, the 19th century Italian School of Elitism, which was cofounded by Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetono Mosca, and Roberto Michels, became the forerunner of elite theory in the Western World.

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Understandably, politics in this part of the world is basically transactional, a pervasive feature of the prebendal course of Nigeria’s political governance since 1999. As a product of the dysfunctional Nigerian system, Wike is giving an unjustified expression to a seeming elastic greed for huge returns on his investment as a godfather. He may not be queried for choosing his successor as it’s largely the norm here, yet it’s unacceptable for a man who had acquired stupendous wealth as ex-Governor to seek total control of the same state. It shows that he may have been infected with a chronic virus which afflicts most members of the Nigerian political class with avarice. In that case, the sufferer might need a semblance of psychiatric examination, confinement, and an appropriate procedure to cure him of excessive avaricious craving which confounds our sense of propriety. Good a thing, Fubara is building a psychiatric clinic as a component of the General Hospital in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area!

What makes the Wike issue a problematic is his strange quest to legitimise an obtuse entitlement mentality. There are many Wikes in the four polar axes of Nigeria that raised and nurtured nondescript politicians as gubernatorial candidates and ensured their victories in the Nigerian way, but none is openly baying for the blood of their successors to maintain a stranglehold on the power levels in states they no longer govern. Among the 2023 Class of Governors, we are well aware of an open but mutual relationship existing between the mentee-governors and their predecessors, with a handful of the incumbents servicing their needs most times but occasionally pandering to the greed of their mentors or sponsors. No right-thinking man will oppose the continual appreciation of a benefactor but doing so to the detriment of the state and the well-being of the people is totally unacceptable.

Indeed, Wike is keen on becoming a player in the political drama of state control, but the timing and other extenuating factors have combined to attenuate his vision. Firstly, he’s probably not too informed about the political dynamics of his home state where no former governor had ever pocketed his successor let alone have free access to the treasury in the last twenty five years. Secondly, while he’s being goaded by Bola Tinubu’s vice-grip on Lagos State, he lacks the temperament to reenact the stealth and tact employed by the latter in his state capture two decades ago. Thirdly, there’s a difference in the ethno-cultural reality of Lagos and Rivers State. Rivers no be Lagos! Whereas Lagos is culturally Yoruba despite its metropolitan outlook, Rivers, as a microcosm of Nigeria’s diversity, will hardly permit the ascendancy of a sole owner of its fortune in the mould of Tinubu. He would probably become the overlord if his ethnicity Ikwere was privileged to have a state and Rumuepirikom made its capital!

Predictably, Wike is likely to lose and his envisaged loss would emanate from poor decision. He may plunge the state into deeper crises as expected, but his ultimate loss will so erode his social capital that he might find it difficult to play a pivotal role in who gets what in Rivers in 2027. He could however alter the reversal of his political choice by making a u-turn and embracing the other path which he earlier rejected. A good way of doing this is for him to read two poems namely ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost and ‘We Really Cool’ by Gwendolyn Brooks. The portrayal of decision as a reflection of our vision and consequences as inviolable in the poems will not be lost on him.

*Tony Eke who is based in Asaba, Delta State, can be reached via [email protected] or on 08035504896(text only)