Fubara And The Parable Of The Shattered Scrotum

By Annabel Ogheneganre

Perhaps Governor Sim Fubara thought the game is about morality. He saw the applause of the band leaders was all he needed to survive the vagaries associated with politics. And many commentators on social media are getting the implications all wrong. Some believe both the governor and the House of Assembly have lost out, whereas only one man is the loser. Some people believed also that the Senate and House of Representatives will never get the required number to affirm the state of emergency declared by President Bola Tinubu.

Sim Fubara made several mistakes and he is learning from them the hard way. Placing a curse on Nyesom Wike is a waste of time. None of those crying blue murder today was there when both men agreed on how to run the administration. Once in, Fubara wanted to be smart by playing the moral card to discredit Wike. He forgot the warning former governor of Ekiti state handed him prior to his inauguration. Just like the case of Ikemefuna in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo was warned thus: ‘This boy calls you father, do not have a hand in his death’. In this instance, Fayose warned Fubara never to fight Wike. The day Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, that day, his fall began. Since Fubara declared war on Wike till his sack through the declaration of emergency rule, Fubara has not known peace.

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Some are of the view that both the House of Assembly and Fubara lost out in this game. The power of 200 House of Assembly member does not equate the power of a governor. No House of Assembly member, not even the speaker can control a hundred million naira a month. Here was Sim Fubara sitting atop a monthly allocation and IGR in excess of N80billion naira monthly. In just one pronouncement from Mr President, the man lost the red biro to sign billions of naira every month. The House of Assembly members some people believe lost something had spent more months outside power than in office. But Fubara had been Chief Executive since May 29, 2023. On Wednesday, he lost everything. And the odds continue to be against him.

The House of Assembly members have been funded by Wike for over one year. That much they admitted. And they were the first to accept the declaration of emergency rule in the state. These are not men who have lost anything. Wike knew all along that Fubara had two options left for him, impeachment or emergency rule. In fact, he was one of the power brokers who bankrolled the deal to affirm the emergency rule by the senate. Wike promised Fubara a bitter pill and that has been well served.

I wonder where Ikenga Ugochinyere, the big-mouth House of Representatives member from Imo State was, when the National Assembly affirmed the emergency rule. And to think that Nyesom Wike had to settle for a friend from Cross River state as sole administrator of the state is an indication that Wike is now fully in control of Rivers politics. As things stand, nobody will tell the RSIEC Chairman to resign before running for his dear life. Before the end of six months, a lot would have been done to undo Fubara and get him booted out of office finally. Local Government Council elections have been scheduled for August and Fubara is due back to office by September. Before he returns, that is if he is to return at all, the council elections would have been over. It is unfortunate Fubara will learn politics the hard way.

I have read some reports about PANDEF members complaining about how President Buhari treated them shortly before Fubara got the booth. In the one year that the House of Assembly members did not sit, what was the intervention of PANDEF. The group took sides and warned Wike and the 27 House members to suffer. They never saw themselves as elder statesmen. Now that the table has turned, the suddenly saw the need to see Mr. President to broker peace. When Fubara was boasting that the 27 House members were gone for good, they applauded him. When he said that he was the reason why the ever existed, they nodded in affirmation. They saw no reason to work for peace.

Fubara forgot the parable of the tsetsefly and the scrotum. Our elders say that wisdom must be deployed to kill the tsetsefly that perches on the scrotum. This is so because when might is deployed instead of tact, the scrotum can be shattered. Today, Fubara scrotum has been ruptured and the fly (the House of Assembly members) have flown away. He boasted of having taken over everything. When he destroyed the House of Assembly complex, his supporters considered him a courageous man. When he was using three members to pass a budget instead of the entire house, analysts called him the hero of democracy. The goaded him on as someone who knows how to play politics. Now politics has happened to him. Some of us saw this coming, but our position was considered inappropriate.

As things stand, PDP has lost River state. If the young man wants to save his head, he should broker a deal with the presidency to join the APC without any further delay. Otherwise, he will know no peace till 2027. He made a public show of his benefactor and Wike is getting his pound of flesh. I have no tears for Fubara. He knew very well that Wike was a ‘mad man’ before they dug the pond together. The man has come for the harvest in the peak of the wet season and you now suddenly realize that he is a mad man. The man who runs stark naked after a mad man that picked his wrapper while in the bathroom is not less a mad man.
Fubara ego has been bruised and thoroughly deflated. The man and his band boys have lost the rhythm. Very soon, he will realize that social media popularity is different from realistic support. Most of his supporters will soon abandon him and seek shelter elsewhere. He fought with Wike like there is no tomorrow and his band boys sang his praise as a man of war. In six months, we shall see whether Fubara can still appear on television to boast of what he cannot control. The scrotum has been shattered. All that is left now is regret and pains of losing a promising political career because he lacked wisdom and boasted of too many things.

My two penny advice for Fubara is that from now going forward, he should learn to talk less. Even if he had won against Wike, he still would have the moral incubus on his shoulder for fighting his benefactor so dirty. Call Wike all the bad names you can muster, but for this writer, Wike is a man and has proven that over time. He was won more battles than setbacks. The Dr Ifeanyi Okowa that I know would have messed up Wike without a noise. He wouldn’t raise any finger or say a word but his action could cause Wike sleepless nights. But Fubara joined the likes of Ikenga Ugochinyere of Imo State to sing like the Canary bird but achieving nothing. Six months from the tenure of a Governor is a huge loss. At the end of the six months, his advisers should tell Governor Fubara to talk less, boast of nothing and act more.

Annabel Ogheneganre wrote from Abuja.