2015 and the march against Amaechi

If you've had a public spat with a formidable woman like Dame Patience Jonathan, you've got to constantly watch your back, and not take anything for granted, irrespective of the public show of reconciliation that may have followed.

And then, if you've confronted the Dame's husband, who also happens to be president of the country, you've fought him to a standstill over disputed oil wells between Bayelsa and your own state, you not only need to watch your back constantly, you would do well to always walk in reverse, so that your back is protected.

God also help you if you've been linked to the 2015 presidential race in any way, when the incumbent has not said he is not running. You may then become a marked man, an enemy of the first family, if not of the state.

What it translates to simply is this: when President Goodluck Jonathan and Dame Patience Jonathan retire to the presidential bed at night, and sleep eludes their eyes, there is only one person to blame.

You. They discuss you back and forth, how you've become too big for your boots, how your wings must be clipped, since there can be only one president in the country at a time. This is the unenviable situation in which Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State has found himself. He is now the constant object of discussion by the first family, the man that drives away sleep from the eyes of the president and his dame.

There must be a final solution to this Amaechi bother, or don't you think? That is why the Rivers State governor is today beleaguered, assailed and embattled from all sides. Everywhere he turns, he contends with hostile forces seemingly unleashed against him from the very top. Unfortunately for the presidential forces, however, this is not one puny, lily-livered opponent, who will take cover at the sound of a firecracker.

In fact, Amaechi is as tough as they come, as hard as flint. Or have you forgotten how he battled former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to a standstill? In the prelude to the 2007 elections, Amaechi had won the primaries to run as governor. Suddenly, playing god as usual, Obasanjo unilaterally struck off his name, saying his candidacy had k-leg. Celestine Omehia, who is Amaechi's cousin, was then imposed on the party as replacement. Omehia won the election and got inaugurated as Rivers State governor. But Amaechi went to court, fought a long, gruelling battle, and as they say, the rest is now history.

The Supreme Court gave Omehia the left leg of fellowship, and handed Amaechi the mandate. He's running second term in office today. Remember how Amaechi got down to work, and he began to turn Rivers State right side up. Today, he's one of the governors I regard highly in the country, simply because he's doing good work for his people. But giving a new face to the state had its own downsides.

Many shanties had to be pulled down, hoodlums were confronted, tough decisions taken. They were painful but inevitable. And in the process, Dame Jonathan was rubbed down the wrong side. The First Lady is from Okrika, in Rivers State, and she confronted the governor over demolitions in her community, to the extent that it became a public harangue sometime in 2010. At an official event, Dame Jonathan had publicly rebuked the governor. "Listen!" She had declared. "You must listen to me. I want you to get me clear.

I am from here (Okrika). I know the problems of my people, so, I know what I'm talking." It was hardly a civil way to talk to a governor, and it caused no small ruckus in the media. But a few weeks later, we saw Amaechi and Dame Jonathan embracing at a social event. I was not deceived, and neither were a lot of people. Then came the dispute over oil wells between Bayelsa and Rivers State. The Rivers State governor felt his state was to be short-changed as oil wells that traditionally belonged to Rivers were being awarded to Bayelsa, where the president comes from. He screamed blue murder, and almost brought the roof down.

In fact, he was reported to have said the president was the agent provocateur in the whole matter. Even prominent Kalabari elders joined the fray, and protested publicly in Abuja. The president had to beat a hasty retreat. But did Amaechi live happily ever after? Not on his life! An ambush was set for him, and the trap was sprung recently. But before then, something else had happened that further engrafted Amaechi's name in the presidency's Black Book. The Yoruba talk of a man that his enemies want to roast, who then daubed himself with oil, and sat near the fire. All that would be done to him is a gentle push, and he would begin to sizzle merrily.

A news report last year had linked Amaechi to the 2015 race as vice presidential candidate to Gov Sule Lamido of Jigawa State. The pairing, according to the report, was done by former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The former president disowned the report through a press statement, while Amaechi equally shouted himself hoarse, saying he had no such ambition. But his detractors turned deaf ears.

Yes, he is a confirmed enemy, and must be decisively dealt with. How to do it? Stop him from getting re-elected as Chairman of the influential Governors Forum. Since the Obasanjo days, we know how powerful governors have become. Under the aegis of the Governors Forum, they had insisted one of them must be president in 2007, and Obasanjo picked Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

We also know the role they played in making Jonathan president in 2011. So, it goes without saying that if Jonathan would rule beyond 2015, the Governors Forum must be headed by his own man. With Amaechi in that position, the president didn't need an enemy. So, Amaechi must go. And that was the drama that played out a couple of weeks ago. The presidency moved its armada against the Rivers State governor, who is interested in getting a second term as chairman of Governors Forum.

But not a mean fighter himself, Amaechi fought back spiritedly, and if the election had held that time in February, it's not unlikely that the presidency would have been worsted. Amaechi has grit. He has guts. And for me, most importantly, he has the required credibility and independent-mindedness required for the office.

The coalition he had built among his fellow governors was larger than that of the president, and so, to get him out, the Governors Forum must be balkanised. The PDP Governors Forum was, therefore, formed, with Gov Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom as chairman, and election into the main Governors Forum was postponed till May. So, the battle has been deferred by some weeks. Who blinks first? Amaechi or the presidency? We wait. For me, the showdown over who leads the governors as we approach 2015 has given some clear indications of what is ahead.

One, President Jonathan would likely run for another term in office. He says he would make a pronouncement on it in 2014, but for me, his body language has spoken. The president will run, and that is one of the reasons he wants a change in the leadership of Governors Forum. Has President Jonathan the constitutional right to run? I think so, as a layman looking at the 1999 Constitution. But then, the Supreme Court has the final say.

Again, developments in the Governors Forum have clearly shown that power will never be handed out on a platter of gold to any part of the country again. Any region that wants power must jostle for it. After the 2011 election, which put paid to zoning in the PDP, the party can only pretend that the formula is still sacrosanct. To return to zoning would be to approbate and reprobate at the same time, as lawyers would say. Any region that wants power must begin to build coalitions, play the political game to the hilt, and go for it.

The Igbo can run, the North can run, Jonathan can run, anybody can. The power game has been deregulated in Nigeria earlier than one envisaged, and let the bold step out, and the fainthearted run for cover. So, Amaechi, fight, fight for your right to a second term as Chairman Governors Forum. If you build a bigger coalition, you floor the presidency, and what's wrong with that? Nothing! And does Amaechi intend to run with Sule Lamido in 2015?

He has denied it. But if he truly wants to, what's wrong with it? The frank truth about the political situation in the country today is that anyone interested in any office must take his destiny in his hands. He must run, and run well, without waiting for anybody. It is everyman for himself, and God for us all.

---

Original Page: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/columns/2015-and-the-march-against-amaechi/