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When the All Progressive Congress (APC), submitted the name of Tonye Cole, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its gubernatorial candidate for Rivers State for the 2019 general elections, the question that came to most lips was: Is this the end of Senator Magnu Abe? All, however, changed with the Supreme Court ruling on the primaries that produced Tonye Cole.
By Akpekwu Imbufe
It could not but be said that the end of Senator Magnus Abe is near when the All Progressive Congress (APC), submitted the name of Tonye Cole, to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its gubernatorial candidate for Rivers State for the 2019 general elections. But that was what was on the minds of his teeming supporters when the APC hegemonic apparatchik defied the general expectations and decided that rather than the rule of law; the rule of the thumb should subsist. The Supreme Court ruling which, some say, threw the garbage with the bin put paid to the thought that the end of the erudite senator is yet near.
According to political analysts, Rivers State politics would be devoid of glamour, surrealism, insightfulness, thoughtfulness and eruditeness had Abe exited the political limelight abortively, because of exceptional-isms and exclusivism baked in the oven of who endorses who for what and why.
In fact, not since the days of Milford Okilo, Rufus Ada George, Marshall Harry, A.K. Dikibo, and Peter Odili, has Rivers State witnessed such sterling qualities in her politics, domestically, nationally and internationally than in Magnus Abe.
Of all the personalities, mention must be made from Chibuike Amaechi, Dakuku Peterside, Tonye Cole, Tonye Princewill, Ibim Seminatari, Davies Ikanya, Victor Giadom, Ojukaye Flag Amachree, on the APC flank; Nyesom Wike, Celestine Omehia, Simeon Nwanosike, Felix Obuah, Uche Secondus on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flank including any other a politician in the state however popular, they all pale in comparison to the flamboyance of the glorious days Rivers State politics offered as a menu to the national dinner table.
Yet, Magnus Abe stands out, shining bright as a lone star in the Ogoni political firmament. Those who cannot behold the power and the quality of light that flows from this enigma are by themselves and their associates bent on extinguishing, exterminating, annihilating, exfoliating and spitefully undermining and discrediting the Senator representing Rivers South East Senatorial District; for self-serving advantages.
It is therefore little wonder that, it is the dark forces in the state, the Agababri, Adigigba, effete and traditional voices that are being projected as the hard currency of the state. That envious position of the state has been lost, withered, gone with the wind and may not be regained in the nearest future.
The sad part of this development is that the loss of Rivers preeminence has been reproduced at the national level. One would have thought that Uche Secondus, who is fondly called the Total Chair, forged in the furnace of Peter Odili, himself a grandmaster of sweet nothing diatribe, would at least, exhibit an imitation of sort of what he learnt under his (Odili’s) tutelage and transmute same into the enviable office he now occupies as the national Chairman of the PDP.
Worst still, the voice of Rivers State, represented by the likes of Chibudom Nwuche, Austin Opara and et el (1999-2007), has been downgraded by all who succeeded them as has been seen in the dumb-like representation by elected Reps from the state, in the ‘Hide your face.’ mode.
But, why is Senator Magnus Abe struggling to realize his ambition to be the governor of Rivers State? The answer lies in his strong belief in friendship and camaraderie.
In the 2015 general election, Magnus Abe was the right choice to be matched against PDP’s Nyesom Wike. The APC rather went for Dakuku Peterside. Friendship between Abe and Amaechi held him down and so, he was unable to see the brighter side of politics. If he had, he would have seen that friendship is a bad mix for the realization of one’s ambition. Amaechi kept him waiting for the nod until the last moment when he opted for Dakuku Peterside.
Ambitious individuals particularly, politicians, know that the future is tenacious and life’s vagaries cannot guarantee all except that the knots are properly tied by the individual. On the bargaining table when Amaechi supposedly asked Abe to step down his ambition for Dakuku Peterside, Abe should have extracted a firm commitment in writing an IOU in the event that Peterside lost the ticket to Nyesom Wike. Even if he won, other terms to be followed should have been clearly stated. But, he did not. The word of his friend was enough when even neophytes know that the word of a politician is as good as that of a virgin in the labour room. That was why he struggled to return to the senate and why he is struggling now to realize his ambition as the candidate of the party.
There were clear options before Magnus Abe when the self-abnegation erupted in PDP during the hegemonic wars to uproot former President Goodluck Jonathan from power and the crossing of forces from PDP to the APC at the twilight of the PDP’s 16 years rule in 2014. Abe stood at the threshold of history: to his left were the dissenting voices in the Amaechi group. To his right were the scary voices of anti-Amaechi buried in the PDP, Rivers State chapter. A man of history like Abe was caught at the crossed-roads on which side to queue behind: the PDP or his brother in the legislature.
What did Abe do with the choices that confronted him at the beginning of the journey to Golgotha; the cul-de-sac looming in front of a carefully orchestrated political career?
Perhaps, it would suffice to briefly present the case for clarity. As at the time of the ill-wind brewing between Amaechi and his PDP co-travelers, Abe was a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Rivers South East Senatorial District. He had been a former Minority Leader of the Rivers State House of Assembly (1999-2003), Commissioner of Information (2003-2007), and SSG (2007-2011). This position (Senate) placed Abe as a leader of thought, albeit, a national leader in the whirlpool that was engulfing Rivers State.
As a Minority Leader, he was among the leadership of the state legislature along with the speaker, who was Chubuike Amaechi. So the circumstance that influenced the decision he made at the cross-roads identified earlier as to whether to turn left instead of right has left political pundits baffled and in shock as to why his decision. Nothing could have happened if Abe ditched Amaechi and stood with the Jonathan group albeit to further his political ambition, even back to the Senate, which head or tail, he would have won. Instead, Abe stood with his brother legislator and the journey in his political career has been topsy-turvy ever since.
As a Commissioner for Information under Peter Odili, Abe put up a sterling performance, which as a legal practitioner, could put shame on the faces of later occupants who pretended to be professionals in the field. It can be said that since Abe left as a commissioner, the information sector has been like the flight of antelope, leaving little or no tracks on the soil. Little time is spent at projecting Rivers State, while more efforts are spent on fighting causes irrelevant to the progress of the people. Image-makers at both the government and party levels are like dancers in the sun, fighting for who should know what is happening and who should not. In the end, too many leakages have returned to haunt the state. The crux of the matter on this subject is that Abe was properly placed to dissect information to the best of his knowledge and applied it to the situation, sieve and even manipulate the information to serve his best interest, if any.
Peradventure, it is while serving as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) that Abe got the unction to be governor of the state. Serving as SSG provided anyone with the wherewithal to right governance, especially if you have been long enough in the corridor of power like Abe.
As the SSG, Abe had the carriage, disposition and presence of mind to provide stable grounds for the Amaechi government between 2007 and 2011. There are those who hold the view that Abe’s combination with Nyesom Wike as Chief of Staff, gave the Amaechi’s government a sense of direction. The two were strong-willed with the mind to look Amaechi in the eyes and say, “Your Excellency Sir, we can’t act like this.” And it showed because as soon as Abe and Wike left for the national level politics, governance under Amaechi allegedly collapsed and never recovered.
So, Abe’s nursing of ambition to be governor was a wise choice. It was a good move to have gone to the Senate because it afforded him the opportunity to see how governance works at the national level. It also made him a national figure as he was a voice to reckon with in the Senate.
As a senator, he was gifted with national leadership; placed at the portal to command respect and honour when proffering solution on state matters, because he has been there and he knows it, in and out.
The dissenting voices in the Amaechi group, to the left and the scary voices of anti-Amaechi group buried in the Rivers State chapter of the PDP, to right, presented a man with ambition, the opportunity to put himself at the center and become a man of own on either side of history or notoriety. Abe would have refused to take sides. He chose Amaechi’s group, his friend and with it, filled the pathway to his ambition of governing the state with thistle and thorns. But the question to ask is: were the individuals in the scary PDP, the anti-Amaechi group, his enemies?
Was there a chance that had Abe taken the middle path like good politick demands, he would have lost his pint of salt? We may never know. What we do know, however, is that Abe’s appeal as a man of dexterity and with a strong base in Ogoniland would have seen him through. Chief Awuse did it with the Ikwerres during his attempt to be governor of River State. He may not have lost but he has won his place in the annals of Rivers State.
Ambition for the sake of it, is without the nuances, worthless,
The culmination of all these is the problem enmeshing Rivers APC and the political life of Abe. Abe would have saved himself much expense by just saying, at the height of the crisis leading to 2015 that, “I am with Rivers people,” and the matter ends there. After all, he was a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Instead he chose friendship; a friendship that had consistently sold him in the market places as “a man with no character.”
But why would Abe fight his friend now?
Hear him explain: “I want to see that things are done differently.”
Abe made the declaration while addressing his supporters at the Diobu Waterfront, Port Harcourt at the height of the frenzy in Rivers politics in August 2018. There, he urged the people of the state to reject any attempt by political godfathers to impose candidates on them in the 2019 general elections.
He also called on the people to shun all forms of financial inducement from moneybags, but support individuals that would deliver on their promises to bring government closer to the people.
Abe is fighting now because he is on the road to Golgotha in his political life and the redemptive sacrifice is the Supreme Court judgment that has won him reprieve.
The Supreme Court voided the congresses conducted by a faction of the APC headed by ‘his friend Chibuike Amaechi’ and this is the epiphany so far in the battle of friends turned foes.
Hopefully, Abe would make a point at the end of the tunnel and write his name in shining light once and for all.
