The contretemps between the Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and the Federal Minister of Niger Affairs, Chief Godsday Orubebe while threatening to descend into the realms of the unseemly, affords an opportunity to reflect on the continuing evolution of our democracy; speaking volumes as it does on how that democracy is viewed by major protagonists operating at its epicentre.
For those who have remained blissfully oblivious of this bare knuckles exchange between political heavyweights from the same political party, let me summarise. The Governor, clearly frustrated at the length of time it was taking for the federal government to complete a vital regional artery — the East-West road — offered to assist the Federal Government in its execution in an attempt to hasten completion. The Minister of the Niger Delta, whose remit is more defined by geography than function, saw the offer as the height of effrontery and disrespectful to the person and office of the President.
My synopsis masks a level of vitriol from the Minister that was guaranteed to elicit a response in equal measure. In declining the offer (cutting his nose to spite his face?), the Minister took a severe swipe at the Governor’s performance and person. Given the way the Minister ratcheted up the stakes in response to what on the face of it seemed a not unreasonable proposition, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that there must be a large dose of previous at play between these protagonists.
Chief Orubebe described Port Harcourt as a slum; cast aspersions on the use of state funds; alluded to the failures of Amaechi’s road building; suggested that the Governor suffered from a deity-complex and saw himself as somehow over and above the President of the Federal Republic; repeatedly described the Governor as disrespectful of the office of the President; and, generally trashed Amaechi’s performance as Governor.
Piqued by the Minister’s distortive, disproportionate and politically incorrect diatribe, the Governor entered into the spirit of the exchange. Through a spokesperson, he laid into the Minister by focusing a thoroughly uncomplimentary spotlight on Orubebe’s record as a minister, describing him as the one who was being disrespectful to the President by dragging the person and office of the President into the melee. He also tellingly drew attention to the difference in their locus standi — one elected and the other appointed — and affirmed his preparedness to be judged on his performance.
Let me first dispense with the thinly veiled and misguided notion of hierarchy that the Minister’s language alludes to. The two protagonists operate in differing spheres (the federal and the state) and the fact of those differing spheres means that any allusion to seniority fails to grasp the true nature of a federal structure. The constitution clearly delineates roles and responsibilities and it does not lie for a federal minister to launch such a feral attack on the executive governor of a state. The Governor’s comment evidenced a legitimate concern for his constituents, yoked to a conviction that the completion of the project would enable his constituents in a myriad of ways. What we expect from our minister’s is greater judiciousness in their considerations and temperance in their language; bully boy tactics like this only serve to demonstrate the dearth of discernment in the selection of ministers.
If the federal government were more effective in executing on its commitments, state governments would not have to consider offering to apply their own limited funds to the execution of federal projects in their backyards. It seems to me that what Governor Amaechi’s offer evidenced is his desire to deliver tangible benefits to his constituents; and, it further evidences that doing so matters to him. I would go so far as to submit that the exchange reveals that Amaechi cares more about the plight of the people of the region than Orubebe does; were that not the case, surely Orubebe would not have viewed Amaechi’s offer as an occasion for a wide-ranging attack in language unbecoming a minister of the Federal Republic.
In language lacking circumspection, Orubebe described Port Harcourt as a slum. While most of our nation’s cities are dealing with a deficit in their infrastructure, by whatever matrix one adopts Port Harcourt is far from being a slum. Given that it is the commercial petroleum hub of the South-South, the demands on Port Harcourt’s infrastructure are understandably considerable and growing. To any but the most jaundiced eye however, the Amaechi administration has made significant and self-evident strides in managing the challenges of growth in the state capital and to suggest otherwise is nothing short of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
The use of state funds is, properly, within the ambit of the elected representatives of the state – executive and legislative. The minister may of course comment as a Nigerian citizen, albeit not an indigene of Rivers State, on the use and abuse of state funds. Doing so from his ministerial plinth however is not only injudicious and ill-advised, it is also an abuse of his ministerial office. The lustiness with which he has immersed himself in commentary betrays an agenda other than one of constructive criticism and I would be most surprised if he has not been advised by his political masters to focus on his brief rather than heating up the political firmament. In any event, he seems disturbingly isolated in his claims of a frittering away of Rivers State funds.
Given the subject matter of Governor Amaechi’s comment, I am at a loss as to why Chief Orubebe chose to include failed road building in the accusations of failure that he levelled against the Amaechi administration. Extensive work on road infrastructure has been noted by opposition parties as well as the governor’s supporters and as such, for a federal minister from the governor’s own party to ignore the brand new Akwaka Road in Port Harcourt; the dualisation of Ikwerre Road, Olu Obasanjo Road, Tam David-West boulevard, NTA Road and G.U. Ake Road; the building of the Sixth and Seventh bridges along Unity Road and ongoing work on the Second Woji Bridge suggests an intent to distort and destroy rather than to constructively comment.
The accusation that Rotimi Amaechi has a deity complex was a bridge too far; one could be forgiven for thinking that Orubebe was in the middle of a no-holds-barred election campaign against Amaechi. But that is clearly not the case as the position that Orubebe holds is the result of political patronage rather than the expression of the people’s preferences at the ballot box. Is the mere offer of the application of state funds to aid the speedy completion of a federal project tantamount to an attempt to usurp the office of the President? Again I ask, why exactly did Orubebe expand his attack so irresponsibly?
I personally find the depiction of Amaechi’s offer as disrespectful to the president as lame. Ours cannot and must not become a democracy that does not permit a governor of a state with a legitimate and self-evident interest in a federal project to air a view without his being brought before a medieval Star Chamber. If Orubebe’s arbitrary and outlandish extension was meant to demonstrate to his Commander-in-Chief that “we are loyal”, he has ended up shooting both himself and the President in the foot. A President that is encouraged to distrust and disavow fair commentary is one that is poorly served.
Being in the same political party, for Orubebe to disregard Amaechi’s strides in road construction, education, agriculture, health care, an improved investment climate, youth empowerment and sustainable job creation is not just being blinkered, it is him putting a blindfold on himself. If one is to seek a silver lining in all this, it lies in the fact that both are members of the same political party. Healthy debate within a political party is to be commended and encouraged; it must be a debate however rather than a malevolent diatribe.
By Abiola Philips
