Is Gov. Chibuike Amaechi Dancing Limpopo or What?

Amaechi’s claim that Jonathan has abandoned the South-South and therefore does not deserve the support of the people of the region in the 2015 federal election is logically unsound.

The past few months have been dominated by news of the Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s political misery. The fairy-tale story of Amaechi’s rise to power has been blemished by his frosty relationship with President Goodluck Jonathan and his alienation from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
No week passes by without journalists furnishing us with news updates on Amaechi’s quarrels with the Presidency, his bitter complaints about the excesses of Mrs Patience Jonathan and her interference in the politics of Rivers State, his endless dispute with the state Commissioner of Police Joseph Mbu, his angry exchanges with his squabbling partner Nyesom Wike (Minister of State for Education and now Supervising Minister of Education), his feud with the PPD hierarchy at state and national levels, and his decision to join
the group of disaffected PDP governors in the north to form a rival political party.
Last week, Amaechi regaled journalists with the chief cause of his grouse with Jonathan. Speaking at a Rotary Youth Leadership Award ceremony at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) in Port Harcourt on Thursday, 19 September 2013, Amaechi said he was strongly opposed to Jonathan’s second term ambition because the president has abandoned the South-South which, ironically, is Jonathan’s region of origin. Amaechi said that despite the call by Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for all South-South states to support Jonathan’s re-election bid, he would not do so because of the lack of federal presence in the state.
Amaechi’s claim that Jonathan has abandoned the South-South and therefore does not deserve the support of the people of the region in the 2015 federal election is logically unsound. Jonathan is not president of the South-South. He is president of Nigeria. He is not the president of one ethnic group. Jonathan was elected to serve the people of Nigeria, not to cater to the narrow interests of people in one region of the country. The Presidency is not a piece of land to be acquired by Jonathan and his kinsmen in the South-South. If Jonathan chooses to contest the 2015 presidential election, he must do so on the basis of his achievements during his first term, not on the basis of his region of origin.
A day after he expressed opposition to Jonathan’s re-election aspiration, Amaechi took on Aviation Minister Stella Oduah whom he accused of deliberately abandoning work on the Port Harcourt International Airport. He said the Aviation Minister had been unconcerned about advancing work to modernise the airport because of his (Amaechi’s) row with Jonathan. Amaechi also accused the Aviation Minister of seizing two aircraft belonging to Rivers State. He said: “We paid for two surveillance helicopters that would fly around Rivers State (and detect crime) including oil theft and report real time to police, air force, army and the government house. She (Oduah) refused the helicopters from coming. They are there in America and the government of America has been wondering why we don’t want to take our plane and the President (Jonathan) is aware.”
Amaechi is like a man under siege. He is fighting just about everybody in the Federal Government. Most recently he called for the removal of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance because, he said, the Federal Government has failed to pay to Rivers State the statutory allocations that are due to the state. He said: “We asked that the Minister of Finance should resign if she is not able to manage the economy and she replied that the economy dey kampe. As of now, we are yet to receive the complete money for July… Our entitlement as Rivers State Government in July was N19 billion. They have paid us only N14 billion.”
Amaechi and the Presidency are locked in a deadly and foolish politics of retribution that will continue to deprive Rivers State citizens of their entitlements to federal resources. What would it benefit Amaechi if he continues to prolong his conflict with Federal officials and get nothing in return for the people of his state? In the endless row between Amaechi and the Federal Government, Rivers State is undeniably the loser. Logically, this should not be the case. After all, Amaechi is just one man.
The Presidency must not visit on the people of Rivers State its anger against Amaechi. Regardless of what Amaechi says about Jonathan and his government, Rivers State deserves to receive its full statutory allocations and on time. Vengeance is not the hallmark of great leaders and statesmen.  Amaechi should also realise that in the current federal system, the states are at the mercy of the Federal Government in terms of resource allocation and delivery of services. Without playing second fiddle to the all-powerful Federal Government, a clever governor should know when and how best to relate with Federal authorities in order to attract federal attention and resources.
The more complaints Amaechi makes about Jonathan and the PDP leadership in his state and in Abuja, the more he positions himself as a seriously troubled man. He cultivates the image of a cry baby. Why is it that, of all the 36 governors, Amaechi’s voice is the most strident and the most melodramatic? Why is Amaechi the most consistent fault-finder? Why does he present himself as a whinger, indeed as the grumpiest of all the governors? The more energy he burns up in picking quarrels with his enemies in Aso Rock, the less time he will devote to governing his state. The people of Rivers State have no interest in the personal grudges that Amaechi and Jonathan hold against each other. Everyone’s paramount concern is the ability of the government to deliver services to the people, and to provide for their basic needs. Everything else is secondary.
There is something inconsistent and incoherent in Amaechi’s narrative about his problems with Aso Rock. In the early days of his conflict with Jonathan, Amaechi argued persuasively that Jonathan had been angry with him following widespread rumours that he (Amaechi) had agreed to serve as vice-presidential running mate to Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State in the 2015 federal election. Although he denied the allegation, Amaechi also said in a rather trenchant tone that he was entitled to contest any political position in Nigeria, whether Jonathan liked it or not. That’s true. It was also his own way of rubbing his thumb into Jonathan’s eyes. However, in another open forum, Amaechi denied quite brusquely that he had a problem with Jonathan. In fact, he said the so-called rift between him and Jonathan was invented by journalists.
Amaechi’s controversial position as the leader of a faction of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum has driven him to a blind spot in which he perceives himself as a superstar. And that is where his powers are overstated. A star of any genre should not be at war with himself, his party leaders and his people. Amaechi believes he is a victim of the sinister politics of the Presidency and the PDP in Abuja. That may well be the case but it should not compel him to see apparitions where none exists.
Amaechi’s never-ending gripes against the Federal Government are intended to serve two purposes. The first is to portray himself as a harmless state governor who has been subjected to unjust, oppressive and destabilising plot of the Presidency. The second intention is to portray the dreadful law and order situation in his state as the handiwork of Federal officials who want to make the state ungovernable. Against this background, if Amaechi stumbles in his front yard, he will blame it directly on Jonathan and the Presidency. If Amaechi experiences a terrible incubus in his dreams, he will attribute it to his archenemy Joseph Mbu, the state Police Commissioner. If Amaechi’s official car does not kick-start normally in the morning, he will blame it on the conspiracy of the rebel members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum who are opposed to his leadership.
What does Amaechi really want? Does he want to succeed Jonathan as president? Does he want to be deified and garlanded with roses as the best man to govern Rivers State? Does he want to operate as the unopposed chairperson of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum? Does Amaechi want to be respected as the political kingmaker in Rivers State? Should Amaechi’s quarrels with Jonathan undermine his obligation to provide for the basic needs of the people?
The more you listen to Amaechi’s stories, the more you feel for him. Yet it is difficult to understand Amaechi’s reasons for his animosity toward Jonathan, his disregard for his party’s leadership and the party rules, and his reasons for pitching tent with a group of northern PDP governors such as Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Sule Lamido of Jigawa State, Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State, Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State, and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to form a new PDP. Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State is also a member of this group.
Has Amaechi’s strategy worked? Has his tactic to portray himself as the victim in the uneven contest between him and Jonathan helped to attract sympathy to him? The answer you get will depend on the political affiliations of the people you speak with.
The more Amaechi complains in public, the more he mocks himself as a perpetual petitioner. Complaining frequently to a tired audience will not validate Amaechi’s behaviour in the court of public opinion.