AS the 2019 primary and general elections draw near, politicians, especially the very ambitious ones, have begun to do their political permutation with a view to knowing where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Those who contested in 2015 and failed must have identified their challenges and decide to realign to achieve their political aim. Most times, such decisions are taken quietly without rancour against anybody.
But in Rivers State, the situation appears to be different as politicians are already set for 2019. The opposition All Progressives Congress is already beating the drum ahead of the election year, even as the party appears to be divided along the lines of the kingmakers and those with a burning ambition to become king.
Succinctly put, the relationship between the Minister of Transportation, who is also the leader of the APC in the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, and the lawmaker representing Rivers South East, Senator Magnus Abe, seems to have gone sour. Though some stalwarts of the party have always dismissed the quarrel between the duo as non-existent or imaginary, recent development indicates that Amaechi and Abe are actually at daggers-drawn due to political differences.
Also, the victory thanksgiving organised for elected members of the party in Port Harcourt on February 10, 2018, and another pro-APC rally held in Bori, the headquarters of Khana LGA further exposed the frosty relationship between the immediate past governor and Abe. The immediate past governor was conspicuously absent at the Port Harcourt event, which had the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and other lawmakers like Senator Tayo Alasoadura, Sam Egwu, Francis Alimechene and many others in attendance.
Saraki had in his speech expressed the need for the members of the party in the state to reconcile if they must win the 2019 election. That was before Abe maintained that only Rivers people would determine what would happen in Rivers State, adding that the future of the state remained the common heritage and destiny of Rivers people.
“PDP senators are here; I invited the governor ( Wike ) and he is here. I also invited the minister (Amaechi), unfortunately, he has another programme in Bori and he is not here. If you want to make it, you should know when to accelerate and when to apply the brakes,” Abe added.
On the same day, Amaechi hit back at Abe, saying, “There is no fight in the APC. I am not in any way stopping Abe from running for the governorship (position), but what I know is that I will not support him. Abe is daring me; an Ikwerre son. He is abusing me every day. I will ensure I use Ikwerre vote on him,” he said.
However, many followers of the unfolding development in the party in the state are expressing the fear that the internal strife could cost it the coveted governorship position next year.
Chief Jackson Omenazu, a public affairs analyst, said the Rivers State chapter of the APC would fritter away its chances of coming back to the Government House in Port Harcourt should it fail to reconcile both Amaechi and Abe. Omenazu explained that though there was nothing new in two political heavyweights maintaining different stands on issues, the most important thing was that their positions should not affect the overall interest of the party and the state.
“I think both of them (Amaechi and Abe) should come together and reconcile their differences. The earlier they understand that politics is a game of give and take, the better for them and their party. In progressive politics, there must be give and take.
“When you look at the party (APC) in the state, you will notice that there is a parallel line because of the disagreement between these two persons. They must come together for the progress of the party. If they continue with their feud, then the APC in Rivers should forget about the governorship election. But if they resolve not to fight again now, then it will be an easy ride to the Government House in Port Harcourt.”
Also, a retired civil servant and a keen observer of events in the state APC, Mr. Blessing Wikina, said that politics was not a logical matter, adding that what some people believed could cost the party the governorship position in 2019 could actually become a catalyst towards achieving the aim of the political party.
Wikina, however, pointed out that it would amount to carrying its luck too far should the APC in the state continue to watch while the two politicians that meant a lot to them continue to bicker. According to him, the opposition party in the state is not expected to complain of being rigged out of the election because they are not controlling power at the centre.
He said, “Politics is not a logical matter and the things some think may negatively affect the party can be a catalyst towards achieving victory at the end. But the party must ensure that they (Amaechi and Abe groups) come together. They cannot say they have been robbed after the election any longer because the APC is now the party at the centre.”
But the President General of Free Rivers Development Initiative, a pro-APC group, Mr. Sampson Ngerebara, has a different view about the disagreement between the senator and the minister. Describing the disagreement as internal politicking, Ngerebara insisted that there was no crack in the Rivers State APC.
He noted that the parallel events staged simultaneously by the APC in Bori and Port Harcourt on February 10, 2018, indicated that the opposition party would soon take over power in Rivers. Ngerebara maintained that he did not foresee how the politicking by Amaechi and Abe would negatively affect the party.
“We are talking about (Magnus) Abe as if he is the only person in the party. There are other people in the Rivers State APC. In 2015 when I was in the PDP, we were 18 governorship aspirants. Even the body language of some members of the party then tilted to one side. At the end, did the PDP and (Nyesom) Wike not win? So, why then would a mere politicking between Amaechi and Abe stop the APC from winning,” Ngerebara, who is a former Commissioner for Works and Transport during the Rufus Ada-George administration added.
In his remarks, a university don, Professor Stephen Okodudu, cautioned against any form of bad blood, especially when elections were fast approaching. Okodudu, who lectures at the University of Port Harcourt, wondered why two heavyweights would engage in such level of disagreement when they were supposed to be planning how to get power.
Cautioning that any political party that failed to resolve its differences before major elections was planning to fail, the university don argued that the situation showed that the philosophy of those quarrelling could be different from the ideology of the political party they belonged.
“If two heavyweights in a political party are quarrelling at a point when other political parties are strategising on how to win elections, then the party where the two heavyweights belong is planning to fail. What that goes to show is that they do not have the same ideology as the party. At this point, what should be done is to continue to build the party.
“A political party is an association of individuals with the same ideology with the aim of winning elections and gaining power. With such definition in the mind of the members of the party, those quarrelling should have waited for the party’s convention, go ahead to campaign and get ready to elect their candidates. Like I said, if they fail to do that and they continue to quarrel, then they are not ready to win the election,” he added.
A lawyer, Mr. Olusegun Bamgbose, told our correspondent that defeat would be inevitable the moment a political party started showing a sign of division. Bamgbose argued that if the current governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, was able to win the governorship position when the APC was united and now that he enjoys the power of incumbency, it would be difficult for the opposition party to defeat him, especially when there are signs of disunity in the party.
He said, “I was in Port Harcourt on Saturday (February 10) and I heard that Senator Magnus Abe was having a thanksgiving. I learnt that many people came, but Rotimi Amaechi, who is the leader of the party, was absent. Actually, where there is disunity or division, what will follow is a defeat; in fact, defeat is inevitable.
“The truth about Rivers politics is that Governor Wike is on the ground. He is seen to be working. Remember that he was given the sobriquet, Mr. Project. It is when you have a non-performing governor that you can remove him through an election. Remember again that Wike’s sudden appearance at the reception for Abe’s thanksgiving was a political plus to the governor. However, To make an impact, the APC in the state must first of all resolve its problems and the reason why they are quarrelling. The APC in the state must work hard and canvass very well for votes.”
While the governorship and other elections are about a year ahead, APC supporters in Rivers State would strongly wish to see Amaechi and Abe reconcile their differences, embrace each other in love and unity and ensure that the opposition party gains more ground before the 2019 polls.
