Nigeria's Political Logjam
Published: 22 July 2013 By Abiodun Giwa
There is a weird development in Nigeria’s political climate. President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers States are said to be at each others jugular. There is no way to proof the allegations against the president because he is not physically present in Rivers State. And Amaechi is crying that his state is under siege of the presidency, and he wants the president to intervene. Some Nigerians like Professor Wole Soyinka thinks the president’s wife, Dame Jonathan, is the problem and they want the president have a leech on her. But the president says he is not responsible for the Rivers State’s troubles. The matter got to a tilt when members of state’s House of Assembly took to the floor and dealt with each other in blows, and the mace became a weapon. At the end, the mace has been multiplied by three and the number of speakers the same. At the bottom of the political struggle between the presidency and the Amaechi group, which has eluded commentators, is the demonstration of acute self-interest.
Aristotle said that people are basically self-centered and pursue own interest to the exclusion of the greater good or the cause of justice. In “The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication” by Robert Trager, Joseph Russomanno and Susan Dente Ross, the authors wrote that self-interest is ultimately short-sighted and self-destructive. To avoid destruction that comes with self-interest, Aristotle wrote,” individuals and the whole society benefit when people adopt a manually acceptable system of rules to promote a balanced gain and loss, cost and benefit, between personal desires and
universal concerns. When Aristotle postulation is considered, the first question to ask is the cause of the strife between the presidency and the Amaechi’s group in the Rivers State? The question is imperative because the president and Amaechi belong to the same party and the same South-South geo-political zone. In addition, Patience - the president’s wife - is an indigene of the state. These connections would have profited Rivers State were Amaechi to be in good term with the presidency than be at war with it. And the interest of the Rivers people hangs in the balance.
Obviously, the relationship between Amaechi and the presidency has fallen apart, because Amaechi and people in the presidency are humans, capable of and pursuing different interest. The people in the presidency are reported to be protecting the president’s interest, uncertain whether the president has delegated them or not. The president’s name has got into the mire. And being human, the president is obliged to listen to those protecting his interest and not others working to thwart his second term bid. It is where Amaechi is at cross purpose with the presidency. Along with another elected official of his party, Amaechi is said to be talking to the opposition possibility of emerging president and vice presidential candidate respectively, of yet to be fully known party. The chairmanship of the governors’ forum becomes a title to fight over to be won. The presidency espoused its interest in the governors’ forum chairmanship to Amaechi. He will have none of it, because he is also interested in maintaining the status-quo for his own interest. The maintenance or loss of the president’s interest has become secondary and of no consequence to Amaechi.
What is clear here is has Amaechi no personal interest, there would probably have been no quagmire between him and the presidency. It is so unfortunate his ambition and that of the presidency run counter to one another. The ambition has paved the way for the grandstanding and power show in Rivers State. When the king challenged Creon in Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Creon’s response was a clear demonstration of lack of interest in becoming a king. He was truthful. Yet, because of the mix up in Creon’s delivery of his message from Apollo to Teiresias before he saw the king, and the king heard the message first from Teiresias rather than from Creon, the king lost confidence in Creon, accused him of a wish to take over from him, and that angered Creon.
Why is Amaechi angry? Has he no ambition that runs counter to his party and the president’s interest? Unlike Creon, Amaechi cannot claim lack of personal ambition that has become a lightening rod between him and his party; and between him and his brother from the South-South, whose proxies are reliably working against Amaechi in Rivers State. The king’s act in Oedipus the King against Creon (his brother-in-law), is a classical example of what can happen between two people, when one has lost confidence in the other. And right there in Nigeria, when Obafemi Awolowo lost confidence in Ladoke Akintola, and Akintola was encouraged by the ruling party to continually defy Awolowo in the West, the result was grave; because Awolowo and Akintola’s personal interest clouded their reason despite their level of wisdom. Like the struggle between Awolowo and Akintola ovr the governorship seat in the west, the struggle in Rivers is also a power struggle between the ruling presidency and the ACN that has won Amaechi as its proxy in the battle over Abuja. Does it make any sense that Amaechi is calling on the president to save him from the siege in Rivers?
The presidency may be anything as noted by observers that it is far from perfect. It is currently not the major problem, but part of the problem. The problems are those in the opposition parties encouraging Amaechi to continually defy his party for their own sake with a promise of pot of porridge far from ready, and to whose tune Amaechi is dancing. The struggle has destroyed the marriage between Amaechi and his Party, because Amaechi loves to be vice president against Jonathan’s dream for a second term. The president’s wife is fighting as any woman will to save the husband regardless of
decorum.
The situation has made Amaechi a pariah in his own party, and getting tossed out of the state house resultant of the power game he has inserted himself is a matter of time, especially in a country where the rule of law is rarely applicable. His appeal to the electorate’s emotion and opinion articles supporting him will last a flint of time. He will be seen as a politician fighting for his own interest, opposite of Sophocles highest end - saving oneself, country and the leader.
Abiodun Giwa is a graduate student of journalism at Hofstra University in New
York. [email protected]
Aristotle said that people are basically self-centered and pursue own interest to the exclusion of the greater good or the cause of justice. In “The Law of Journalism and Mass Communication” by Robert Trager, Joseph Russomanno and Susan Dente Ross, the authors wrote that self-interest is ultimately short-sighted and self-destructive. To avoid destruction that comes with self-interest, Aristotle wrote,” individuals and the whole society benefit when people adopt a manually acceptable system of rules to promote a balanced gain and loss, cost and benefit, between personal desires and
universal concerns. When Aristotle postulation is considered, the first question to ask is the cause of the strife between the presidency and the Amaechi’s group in the Rivers State? The question is imperative because the president and Amaechi belong to the same party and the same South-South geo-political zone. In addition, Patience - the president’s wife - is an indigene of the state. These connections would have profited Rivers State were Amaechi to be in good term with the presidency than be at war with it. And the interest of the Rivers people hangs in the balance.
Obviously, the relationship between Amaechi and the presidency has fallen apart, because Amaechi and people in the presidency are humans, capable of and pursuing different interest. The people in the presidency are reported to be protecting the president’s interest, uncertain whether the president has delegated them or not. The president’s name has got into the mire. And being human, the president is obliged to listen to those protecting his interest and not others working to thwart his second term bid. It is where Amaechi is at cross purpose with the presidency. Along with another elected official of his party, Amaechi is said to be talking to the opposition possibility of emerging president and vice presidential candidate respectively, of yet to be fully known party. The chairmanship of the governors’ forum becomes a title to fight over to be won. The presidency espoused its interest in the governors’ forum chairmanship to Amaechi. He will have none of it, because he is also interested in maintaining the status-quo for his own interest. The maintenance or loss of the president’s interest has become secondary and of no consequence to Amaechi.
What is clear here is has Amaechi no personal interest, there would probably have been no quagmire between him and the presidency. It is so unfortunate his ambition and that of the presidency run counter to one another. The ambition has paved the way for the grandstanding and power show in Rivers State. When the king challenged Creon in Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Creon’s response was a clear demonstration of lack of interest in becoming a king. He was truthful. Yet, because of the mix up in Creon’s delivery of his message from Apollo to Teiresias before he saw the king, and the king heard the message first from Teiresias rather than from Creon, the king lost confidence in Creon, accused him of a wish to take over from him, and that angered Creon.
Why is Amaechi angry? Has he no ambition that runs counter to his party and the president’s interest? Unlike Creon, Amaechi cannot claim lack of personal ambition that has become a lightening rod between him and his party; and between him and his brother from the South-South, whose proxies are reliably working against Amaechi in Rivers State. The king’s act in Oedipus the King against Creon (his brother-in-law), is a classical example of what can happen between two people, when one has lost confidence in the other. And right there in Nigeria, when Obafemi Awolowo lost confidence in Ladoke Akintola, and Akintola was encouraged by the ruling party to continually defy Awolowo in the West, the result was grave; because Awolowo and Akintola’s personal interest clouded their reason despite their level of wisdom. Like the struggle between Awolowo and Akintola ovr the governorship seat in the west, the struggle in Rivers is also a power struggle between the ruling presidency and the ACN that has won Amaechi as its proxy in the battle over Abuja. Does it make any sense that Amaechi is calling on the president to save him from the siege in Rivers?
The presidency may be anything as noted by observers that it is far from perfect. It is currently not the major problem, but part of the problem. The problems are those in the opposition parties encouraging Amaechi to continually defy his party for their own sake with a promise of pot of porridge far from ready, and to whose tune Amaechi is dancing. The struggle has destroyed the marriage between Amaechi and his Party, because Amaechi loves to be vice president against Jonathan’s dream for a second term. The president’s wife is fighting as any woman will to save the husband regardless of
decorum.
The situation has made Amaechi a pariah in his own party, and getting tossed out of the state house resultant of the power game he has inserted himself is a matter of time, especially in a country where the rule of law is rarely applicable. His appeal to the electorate’s emotion and opinion articles supporting him will last a flint of time. He will be seen as a politician fighting for his own interest, opposite of Sophocles highest end - saving oneself, country and the leader.
Abiodun Giwa is a graduate student of journalism at Hofstra University in New
York. [email protected]
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