OPINION: President Tinubu and Rivers Political Gamble

Make no mistakes, this whole shenanigan (Tinubu and Rivers Political Gamble) is all about grabbing the resources of the oil-rich and economically viable River State to fund the greed of one man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu At this stage, even the loquacious Nyesome Wike and his minions at the state Assembly have since become mere pawn in the game. 

Check recent history: Every govt from Goodluck Jonathan down to Muhammadu Buhari has always sought to control Rivers state. Jonathan used this same Wike to fight Amechi over the control of the state.

At some point, Amechi as a sitting governor was even stopped from accessing his own govt house. During Buhari regime, with Rotimi Chibuike Amechi as the pawn, it was so brazenly blatant that during the 2019 elections, soldiers from HQ Nigerian Army were seen openly carrying ballot boxes and fighting with brave rivers women who vehemently and successfully resisted them. The videos are still online. 

Tinubu (Tinubu and Rivers Political Gamble), being a hardened street man with his peculiar kind of past and history, has no room for middle ground when it comes to taking what he wants. He doesn’t even care about your so-called constitution or due process. (Read this again. Slowly, this time).

And this is why even without waiting for the Godswill Akpabio led bunch of spineless morally-bankrupt integrity-challenged KEPT MEN in the Nigerian Senate and House of Reps to stamp his so-called emergency declaration in rivers, he has gone ahead to swear in his self appointed SOLE ADMINISTRATOR with a promise to quickly release to him the seized rivers monthly allocation, the same allocation the completely captured Supreme Court said should be seized until governor Sir Siminalayi Fubara re-present the 2025 budget to the house of Assembly.  

You wouldn’t release allocation to the duly elected governor because the budget hasn’t been presented and passed by the legislature but you are willing to release the same allocation to a Sole Administrator who will rule the state with a loaded gun and in the complete absence of the Legislature and the executive branch. Make it make sense!!!!! Don’t bother because you can’t.

But I blame Tinubu not. This is happening because the people of Niger Delta in general and River state in particular including their so called Activists and freedom fighters/Militants have allowed their own greed to disunite them, making it impossible for them to act as one even in matters of EXISTENTIAL nature such as this. 

As of today, Nigeria depends on oil for over 50% of her revenue. The 2025 budget CANNOT be funded without oil revenue. And all these oil are in the Niger Delta. With the peculiar topography of that region, NO MILITARY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD CAN SUCCESSFULLY SECURE THE PIPELINES IN THAT REGION BY THE USE OF BRUTE FORCE. Obasanjo – a military man – tried this and failed which was why his successor the good man Yar’adua of blessed memory initiated the Amnesty program to stop the militants from blowing pipelines. Buhari, another military man, came in and driven by raw hate for jonathan and his people, his first action was to cancel the amnesty program and fight the militants but he failed woefully at that when the Creek boys responded in kind by crippling the entire oil production which saw Nigeria, for the very first time, experience recession TWICE under Buhari, forcing the gap-toothed Daura-born ex-soldier to toe the path of peace and restore the Amnesty Program and even make peace with one of the militant leaders, Tompolo. 

Who then is Tinubu – a mere thug – to succeed in this tomfoolery if not that the people of that region has been conquered by their own greed?

Written by Charles Ogbu 

Please note that this is not the Opinion of ASIWAJU MEDIA.