Given this opening quote, there appears an eerie parallel between the historical tragedy of the Scottish impostor king, Macbeth (as dramatically captured by William Shakespeare); and the looming gubernatorial tragedy of Nyesom Wike, the embattled Rivers “governor”, whose “election” was judicially annulled on October 24.
Put the quote in contemporary Nigeria. Put the words in the mouth of Patience Jonathan, the pesky, tempestuous spouse of former President, Goodluck Jonathan. Drop “Banquo” for “Amaechi” — and this is what you get: Patience, the godmother, to Wike, the godson:
“To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus/Our fears in Amaechi stick deep,/And in his royalty of nature/Reigns that which would be feared”!
Ay, in the original, Lady Macbeth spoke to the impostor, Macbeth, who had killed King Duncan, his benefactor, after being goaded into regicide by the puffy promises of the three witches; and loads of satanic prompting from his no less evil wife.
At the end of the day, however, it took more than slaying Duncan to sit pretty on the Scottish throne. Indeed, this opening quote is only one of the several Lady Macbeth goading that eventually destroyed both herself and her naive but opportunistic husband.
Still, the Nigerian adaptation isn’t totally out of place.
Politically slaying Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers governor, was central to the egregious Rivers election rigging, which the Rivers State Election Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, just confirmed.
Patience Jonathan would appear the grand dame of that anti-Amaechi plot. Between Amaechi and the former first lady, there was no love lost.
Her husband, President Jonathan, the naive but no less opportunistic, “Macbeth”, who hoped to greatly profit from Amaechi’s political liquidation, by subtle appeal to base South-South sentiments; while the less subtle Dame went on overdrive, the “home girl” exploiting explosive Okrika (read Rivers) base appeal. Okrika is her hometown.
Wike, of course, then as Jonathan’s education minister of state, was the not-so-legit viceroy (just as Macbeth was the legit Thane of Cawdor) assured to become outright illegitimate governor (just as Macbeth committed regicide) — but only if he could pay the price!
The tragic result was a wanton and gory harvest of lives and limbs in the name of election — perhaps the bloodiest in all of the 2015 general elections.
Even before the Tribunal verdict of October 24, international observers had dismissed the “election” as free slaughter; just as local observers concurred it was “war”. Yet, “Governor” Wike and his fatally deluded agents of impunity kid themselves they had a “mandate”! Some mandate!
Wike’s gubernatorial meltdown is, therefore, a sweet testimony to the futility of impunity — not only during electioneering and elections, but also in day-to-day governance.
This is particularly so in a federal setting, where a president abandons extant rules; and essays presidential imperialism, as Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Jonathan clearly did during their tenure.
Recall: the crush-Amaechi-at-all-cost campaign created political anomie in Rivers, well ahead of the elections.
Remember the illicit pressing into service of Mbu Joseph Mbu, who as Rivers Police commissioner, attained notoriety for gross subordination. He claimed that as a “lion” he had tamed the “leopard” Governor Amaechi — perhaps to muted applause from Jonathan’s Aso Rock!
While Mbu was busy playing the partisan, if not outright lawless, policeman, Wike was the proud Abuja viceroy in Port Harcourt, in whom Aso Rock was well pleased! And the two, unfazed poster boys of untrammelled impunity, made quite a tag-team!
Despite a paralysing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, which fell under his purview as education minister of state, Wike would rather growl and talk wike, wike on the rough and tumble of Rivers politics — again, to apparent Aso Rock cheer!
This then was the heart-rending situation, from which Rivers pre-election anomie sunk into the abyss of election-time anarchy; all premised on brazen “federal might”, the Nigerian contemporary political equivalent of the three witches’ gaseous promise to Macbeth.
But just as the witches’ pledges evaporated fast, like the morning dew melting at the first touch of the sun, Wike’s assured cover of “federal might” (no thanks to Jonathan’s parlous loss) has exploded with an iridescent pop — leaving the tragic “governor” to grope at mocking emptiness!
And yet, he and his deluded ensemble crow: we hold — and will never surrender — a mandate freely given! But by who — one is tempted to ask?
A whole family wiped out just because they had the ill luck of insisting on their democratic right to associate and vote in an election?
A whole community sacked, and who became election-time refugees in the bush, simply because the Wike Army of Brutal Election Enforcement were on the prowl?
Or yet tens and hundreds of the fatally traumatized aged, condemned to untimely deaths, just because their youths had the audacity to exercise their democratic rights?
After all the legal and forensic grandstanding, even up to the Supreme Court on appeal; and the emotive and atavistic play in the streets, towards a patently evil cause of electoral banditry, judicially proven: will all the waters of the Atlantic wash the marauders’ hands clean of blood and blot?
The evil Lady Macbeth, at the end of her tether, in troubled sleep-walking, answered that question — in resounding negative! To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus!
Nyesom Wike’s gubernatorial wake (never mind the Peoples Democratic Party’s hysterical bluff and bluster) should be a wake-up call to all: never again must Nigeria tolerate flagrant electoral banditry, routine in some parts of the country.
But relieving Wike of his gubernatorial loot should only be the first step. The next logical step is trying and gaoling every INEC official implicated in this grand and ultra-violent electoral heist. That should send the right message.
Though about everyone seems to have partisan inclinations, true democrats should bother less about partisan electoral winners and losers, though victory is sweet and defeat painful. Rather, they should ensure the process wins, by making elections free, fair, transparent and credible.
If this is achieved in the Rivers re-run, the process would have won; and everyone — winners or losers — with it.
NATION
END
i believe it is necessary to advice Wike not to go on appeal, his followers might urge him on, obviously for their personal benefit. At the end of the day, they decamp and move to another party.