UNBOWED EVEN IN PERSECUTION

BY EDDY AGHANENU

Life is war. It is a struggle. It is a struggle for survival. Millions go to bed every night hungry. Others have no access to portable drinking water. Millions of children are not in school. Many more are homeless. Yet few are getting richer and those in positions of trust are busy misappropriating the collective wealth. Injustice rules the land. The rule of law is jettisoned. Their rights are tramped upon. The people are left helpless to be used, cheated and dumped. Even in a democratic system, the people’s wishes are neither respected nor even sought. They become pawns in the political chess game of their oppressors.
In such settings, when a leader arises and sets to liberate the people from their political and economic bondage, such a leader is viewed with disdain and mistrust. Such a leader faces persecution and deprivation. The political and economic oppressors ensure that such a liberator is denied his political gains and access to power. The liberator is brazenly cheated and maneuvered out of victories won in an election. The mistake always made by the oppressors is to think that they can break the will and resolve of a freedom fighter by denying him his rights, blocking his source of livelihood and ensuring that justice is denied him.

A committed activist sacrifices self for the good of the people. His personal comfort becomes immaterial. Achieving justice, human rights, economic and political liberation becomes his sole desire. Self is no longer important. What becomes paramount is the people – his people. That is why Isaac Boro could sacrifices himself for his people. To Ken Saro Wiwa, his people were more important than himself. That is the same reason Nelson Mandela could go to jail for his people to be free. It is the same reason that Governor Rotimi Amaechi is fighting to ensure that the people of Rivers State enjoy the dividends of democracy and have access to their God given wealth.

The present seeming misunderstanding between the president and Gov Amaechi is not about personal issues. President Jonathan is Gov Rotimi Amaechi’s “brother” by virtue of both being from Niger Delta and from the old Rivers State. It is about issues and a system that unjustifiably denies the people access to their wealth. It is about injustice on a people and nay Niger Delta. It is about the rule of law. When the rule of law is thrown overboard by the powers that be, chaos and oppression takes over. Gov Rotimi Amaechi is fighter and hates injustice.

In 2007, the powers that be then knew that if Right Hon Amaechi wins the election, he was going to bring development to his people and liberate his state from the economic manipulation that goes on at the centre. The best way to stop him from achieving these noble goals was to deny him the victory which he rightly won at the primaries. He was underestimated. A fighter never quits until justice is done. He obtained justice and through that epic judgment by the Supreme Court our legal system is the better for it. Like Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Gov Amaechi believes that our legal system, though not perfect, can still right the wrongs of the mighty.

Rivers State is the better for it through that judgment. I have never been an admirer of the ruling party but I have been a silent watcher of the revolution going on in Rivers State. The transformation going on in Rivers State is something to behold and to recommend to other states. In education, the state is without equal. When I first saw the primary school at Rumuola, opposite the College of Arts and Science, I thought it was a private school. The buildings and the aesthetic nature will entice parents to send their children to school. I brushed it off as a flash in the pan and was a public stunt. I was forced to eat my words when I saw others at Rumuokoro Round About, before Agip Junction, Town, Mbiama, Ahoada, Buguma, Omoku, Eleme and other communities in Rivers State. I do not think that any state has invested in school infrastructure as Rivers State. Aside the infrastructure, all the schools are well equipped including the provision of ICT materials. Years to come, Rivers State will be home to the highest number of graduates in this country.

As the governor is busy investing in human capital, he is equally doing same in the health sector. Most of the clinics built by the Gov Amaechi administration could pass off for cottage hospitals. The clinic at Rumuodomaya, close to the controversial Obia/Akpor LG is a master piece. Same applies to the one on refinery road, Eleme. I learnt same has been built in various local governments and communities. They are all well staffed and equipped.

He did leave road development behind. The flyovers at Eliozu, Mile Three and other areas of Portharcourt is a testimony to the fact that the Governor has been doing marvelously well in this sector. On my way to Omoku, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the roads to all the communities in this axis have been tarred.

In the midst of this gigantic stride in Rivers State, individuals for pecuniary reasons are trying to derail the work of the amiable governor and cause confusion. Today, ministers who are expected to positively affect the lives of Nigerians through their work in their ministries are busy deploying thugs in Rivers State to cause confusion. The injustice is so glaring today that one can say that in an election involving Amaechi, the minority wins the vote. In Nigeria, sixteen is greater than nineteen while twenty seven is less than five. It is only in Nigeria that an unelected person can publicly chastise and issue orders to a governor how to govern his state. There is a deliberate attempt to make the state ungovernable.

The beauty of this struggle for emancipation and for the rule of law to reign supreme is that the governor refuses to be browbeaten. All the state machinery marshaled against him has not made him to lose focus. He is still committed to the oath he took. Making Rivers State the best and most peaceful remains his priority.

His leaving PDP is a big loss to the ruling party and gain to APC. Not only gain to APC but to humanity. He has been fighting for justice, peace and development for his people. By leaving PDP, he is saying enough of injustice. Enough of oppression! Enough of the stealing of the people’s commonwealth!