Ayodele Fayose and Nyeson Wike have a few things in common.
Both of them are governors now; one for Ekiti state and the other for Rivers state. Both are also in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and therefore share common political opponent; All Progressives Congress (AP). Both have bitter political ‘enemies,’ their immediate predecessors – Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers respectively. The two are also known to be combatant politicians, playing politics of dust-raising and muscle flexing.
However, the common traits between the two stop where the issues concerning their states are in the front burner.
It is on record that Fayose has been in diametrical opposition to Fayemi but when President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Fayemi for Senate screening as minister of the Federal Republic, governor Fayose showed a great deal of maturity. He not only supported Fayemi, but when he was eventually confirmed by the Senate, he (Fayose) canvassed for a sumptuous ministry for “Ekiti State,” of course, through Fayemi. Governor Fayose was able to draw a line between personal political acrobatism and a matter that was of great value-added to the state as an entity.
But no sooner the name of Rotimi Amaechi was mentioned as potential minister than Nyeson Wike took to the street, pouring petrol into fire. He and Senators from Rivers state threw caution to the wind, singing war songs against Amaechi.
They forgot or failed to understand that Amaechi was nominated as representative of Rivers state and not just himself.
All of a sudden, report of an enquiry into the financial transactions of Amaechi’s eight-year government and the white paper on it surfaced just so as to block his chance of being made a minister. The good aspect of Amaechi becoming a minister, especially, to the people of Rivers, was completely played down or even discarded as political enmity took centre stage.
For Wike and the PDP senators from Rivers state, it was better the state had no one in Buhari’s federal cabinet than Amaechi to be there. It was a case of if it is not me, then it should be thrown to the dog. That Rivers state should suffer federal deprivation simply because Amaechi was involved.
Not a few people across the other parts of the country would swear that they have witnessed this kind of vendetta which was carried to the extreme, as it happened in Rivers state.
The open display of unforgivable hatred and vendetta against Amaechi, from the point of view of politics, indicated a situation as if without ministerial position, Amaechi would be dead.
The sense in which Amaechi’s political adversaries were jumping all over the place, calling for his head looked, from the point of view of sanity, obviously narrow and childish, to say the least.
One wondered if this is how Rivers state political leaders play politics?
But, now that Senate has finally confirmed Amaechi as minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, despite that PDP members walked out, where would Wike and the PDP Senators and leaders hide their faces? Or are there more other hateful traps they are setting for him?
Their own type of politics is obviously too archaic, too dirty, too backward, too myopic, too confrontational and too sorrowful for this century! [myad]
