LAST week, the supremacy battle between Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, took a drastic turn in Port Harcourt, the state capital. Right before the voting public, the convoys of the two gladiators were engaged in a bloody clash at Trans Amadi Road. While Amaechi said he was nearly shot by the governor’s security aides, Wike claimed to have escaped an assassination attempt as soldiers and men of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) attached to Amaechi attacked his convoy.
Reacting to the development, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Zaki Ahmed, dismissed the grave allegations by both camps, insisting that their convoys only ran into each other. While admitting that there was indeed an altercation around the scene of the incident, Ahmed claimed that this did not amount to a threat on any life. He said: “On 11/11/2017 at about 1500hrs at Nkpogu junction, while the Hon. Minister of Transportation was passing through Elekahia to Nkpogu and at Nkpogu roundabout, a police outrider in the convoy of His Excellency intercepted the Black Lexus 750 Jeep the minister was driving just as it was about negotiating the roundabout. The outrider was there to make way for the oncoming convoy of His Excellency which was about 400 metres away. Police investigation report revealed that two of the minister’s convoy vehicles were already ahead of him while he was intercepted and stopped by the outrider. It is not known how the outrider fell off his bike as dent marks on the Lexus 750 Jeep were seen on the passenger’s side of the car. A rowdy situation now followed, with the minister ferried by security agents away from the scene of the incident. At this point, the governor’s convoy was not within reach.”
According to the CP, the governor’s convoy eventually arrived the scene and his Chief Security Officer asked “the last lap of policemen from the minister’s convoy” questions regarding their presence at that location and material time. Ahmed then said: “All acts of misconduct by any policeman in the course of this incident will be thoroughly investigated and appropriate disciplinary action taken against any person found wanting.” By any standards, the CP’s account of the incidents is severely defective. To consider just one point, if the governor’s outrider fell off his bike, it is unhelpful to claim that the cause was simply unknown. And how was it that “dent marks on the Lexus 750 Jeep were seen on the passenger’s side of the car” conveying the minister but the police could not determine how this came about? Be that as it may, it is at least gladdening that the policemen involved in the altercation are going to face “appropriate disciplinary action.”
In March last year, Wike and Amaechi clashed when a female staff member of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), one Mrs Ekwi Adebisa, was taken to a police station over allegations of tampering with the electoral process. The duo have also been involved in a war of words for some time, throwing allegations at each other and refusing to be bothered about the dictates of civility. Yet it should be fairly clear to any fair-minded observer that there is no correlation between the prolonged and bitter political rivalry between the gladiators and the quest to develop Rivers State. The altercations are all about personal interest and ego, even when the collective interest of the people should have dictated a more refined course of action.
Since there can never be two governors in a state, Amaechi would do well to conduct himself with civility, and not give the impression that his ‘federal power’ supersedes that of the elected governor of Rivers State. It is yet unclear when the business of protecting a minister became the business of the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Which robbers is the minister after? By the same token, it would be nice to see Wike according the due respect to the minister both as a citizen of the state and as a former governor. Surely, the governor is not suggesting that he could not inspect “ongoing road construction job at Trans Amadi Road” with Amaechi in town? Indeed, it is fair to ask if such a clash as happened last week could have happened if the duo were on good terms. Fighting as if there would be no tomorrow is not a wise thing to do.
To be sure, it would be absurd if Wike and Amaechi have not realised the grave danger which their actions portend for the nation, the country’s international image and for Rivers State in particular. Wike and Amaechi, if only because of the positions they occupy, are supposed to serve as role models. Their latest violent encounter shows lack of decorum, decency and restraint, which is capable of leading to an implosion that would do neither of them any good. At the risk of sounding repetitive, street fights are least expected of all right-thinking leaders, regardless of the level of provocation. Governor Wike and Minister Amaechi must retreat from the path of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
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