THE 2015 ELECTIONS IN RIVERS STATE FROM THE EYES OF A SOUTH AFRICAN OBSERVER
Living in a foreign land by volition over the last 11 odd years, and observing the passage of time in your motherland from thousands of kilometres, once is forever hoping that things turn right and our nation begins to move on the same route as most of mankind.
But that hope as most Nigerians and especially Rivers people know has been forlorn. It is a huge pity that sixteen years into democracy, not one in 36 States nor the Federal government can lay claim to have raised a solid foundation for a government for which Nigerians who live in their sphere of jurisdiction can be proud of. The political class has treated governance with the attitude of business as usual. In sixteen years no leader has been seen to dream dreams. Don’t get me wrong. Many have set up universities; built schools, stadia, hospitals and clinics. Many have built ring roads and flyovers and palatial government offices. But my dear compatriots, in my humble view these are not dreams or visionary ideas. Bluntly put, these are pedestrian by world standards.
Staring from the President down to LGA chairpersons in the executive arm and the legislators from Senate down to Councillors, these fellows have done marathon trips around the globe in the last 16 years. The led is forced to ask, what, if anything did they learn from these fund-guzzling trips? It is with these thoughts in mind that I closely monitored the campaigns from my small corner at the tip of Africa. I looked forward to robust debates and a ventilation of ideas for a new Nigeria and a new Rivers State come 29th May, 2015. To say that I was ‘underwhelmed’ is to be mild and generous. I could not see the fire in the candidates or their parties. The only fire I saw was the real fire from the marauders who have killed and maimed countless citizens in the name of election. In the North the Boko Haram sect have continued to kill their own kit and kin even after their initial objective of making the North ungovernable for Jonathan has been achieved.
Having observed so much of the campaigns from afar, it was time to come and see what really was happening on ground and see where one could lob his one single vote that should be cherished in a proper and accountable democracy. So, on the eve of the March 28th election I was back in my constituency to cast my vote. Just before the vote I had made a few observations. I had looked at the individuals the two major parties were presenting to represent me as President and in the National Assembly. Suffice to say that I did not vote along party lines. I am sure the reader wants to hear better stuff than who this ordinary citizen voted for.
But the more important thing to say here is my observation at my polling booth at Obiri Orusa, my ancestral compound at No. 14, Obaziolu Street, Port Harcourt. First the electoral officials arrived pretty late at about 12 noon. There were a few hitches with the card readers but at the end of the day they worked overall. I was the first to cast my vote in one of the two booths. Again I remained till the very end of the process when all the results were announced. As is common knowledge, on the average APC scored about 25-30% while PDP scored about 70%. In the course of the accreditation and subsequent voting proper, there were a few skirmishes. These could easily be attributed to the lateness of the electoral officials and the usual Nigerian impatience and “gragra” due to our inflated sense of importance and worth. So were I to use my centre which is quite cosmopolitan, being a good mix of persons from all corners of the country as a guide, I would report that PDP had a clean, free, fair and unquestionable win on 28th March, 2015.
This brings us to the “real” deal - the election of 11th April 2015 for the Governorship and House of Assembly seats in Rivers State. Again as in the National Assembly elections, both parties have presented the Rivers people with what they consider their best materials. If you ask me, both parties can do a lot better. My prayer is that this election will be the last where crazy expediencies such as ability to fight or carry guns or shout or intimidate the electorate will be the principal factor in the nomination of persons to run for public office. As I said in the beginning, the world is leaping forward and all that we have managed to do since independence is to go to the world on holidays to savour their beauty and their splendour. We owe the world our own genius which God has endowed us with but which our hapless leadership has refused to harness in nearly 55 years.That leaves me with the most prized office come Saturday, 11th April, 2015.
Both parties have decent candidates for governor of Rivers State. In spite of their past, I believe that both candidates are gentlemen who mean well for the State. But in terms of the team we are presented with, I am of the firm view that PDP has done a better job. The PDP has selected a seasoned technocrat with flowing credentials to support its gubernatorial candidate. In terms of practical and parochial politics which we all agree is a game of numbers, the PDP selection is way superior to the APC. When you add to this the very fact that the leader of the APC in Rivers State, Rt. Hon Chibuike R. Amaechi has been a very divisive character in our political history (intensely loved by some and deeply loated by a lot more) you will easily see where the result of Saturday’s election will go. It is a big pity that a young man who in all fairness had done a lot more than most people who have governed this State since its creation has become a cog in the wheel of the progress of this State.
How did Governor Amaechi come to this sorry pass? Where did he go wrong? The answer is not far-fetched. Our Governor a long time ago lost contact with those he was elected to govern. He had become so wise in his own mind that he could not consider ideas from mere mortals. In loose parlance Governor Amaechi had become a ‘god’. He stopped taking calls and text messages from all and sundry. If you ran into him and you tried to impress him with an idea it was all too easy for him to tell you that you do not understand. After all, you are not a politician. Then you factor in the fact that he had gotten himself too engrossed in the local affairs of all communities in the State and almost always, on the wrong side of those communities in his unguarded ambition to volt into high power in Abuja. These and an unforgiving spirit are the traits that have decimated the initial love which a great majority of people in the State including this writer had for their Governor. For Governor Amaechi, any dissent was deemed as a betrayal. At the end of the day he does not have one person around him who can look him in the eye and say, Mr Governor, you are wrong here or I disagree there. It may be too strong to call him a dictator. But he got pretty close to that. That is a very difficult for me to say for a man who I ordinarily should call a friend.
So when the people of Rivers State go to the polls on Saturday, they are not necessarily voting against Hon. Dakuku Peterside. They will be voting in their hundreds of thousands against Governor Amaechi. Even in Dakuku’s hometown, the animosity generated by Amaechi there is so palpable you can touch it. If it is that bad in the aspirant’s constituency, it does not get even better in Amaechi’s hometown. In a free and fair election, I am sure that APC will lose even in Ubima, his home town and all around Rivers State. This matter has not been helped by the fact that our Governor is so draconian that the Governorship candidate of APC cannot criticize even the craziest of Amaechi’s contraptions such as the Monorail project that will go to nowhere in a hundred years and the destruction of the iconic Port Harcourt General Hospital.
So my dear people of Rivers State, having assumed that this election on Saturday is a given, that is only the beginning of our problem. Mr. Wike and his running mate and the new House of Assembly have a tough job on their hands- to undo the social damage wrought on the people by the Amaechi administration. Yes, there are physical things to be done on the ground - schools to be equipped and staffed, roads and drainages to fix, clinics to complete and make functional and loads more. That is the easy part. The more difficult part is to reconcile the citizenry of the State who have been totally divided, brother against brother, family against one another and communities at war with their neighbours and with themselves. Wike has to work on the mindset of the citizenry to move away from the impunity and lawlessness that has characterized this State over the last three plus years. Rivers people recall with pain that the two major arms of the State (the House of Assembly and the Judiciary) have been shut for over two years and ten months respectively. This must be settled immediately. Is Wike equal to the task? I think so. Having done that, let Mr. Wike then proceed to lay a solid foundation for the Rivers State of our dream, a State that is willing to compete with the best in the world, the likes of Dubai, Singapore or Taiwan.
Bisi Ejekwu
South African Resident

OP u are missing the point because in this part of the world we play ethnic politics. Incase u don't know many pdp members will vote APC in Rivers state especially the Riverians, Ogonis, Etche etc because they don't want another ikwerre man in brick house after Ameachi.

A pdp chieftian Chief Sara Igbe made it clear that he will vote for APC in the governorship election for justics n fairness.