NIRAN ADEDOKUN FROM PUNCH
Now, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike, and Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, appear to be at technical peace.
After the madness that visited the state, where Wike was governor until five months ago, last week, tempers have calmed down, with everyone going about their regular business. The political gladiators are back on the grind, one grandstanding, the other genuflecting as ever; it is now business as usual. Although the sustainability of the current ceasefire following the alleged intervention of President Bola Tinubu is debatable, we can see that life is back to normal with everyone going about their venture without hindrance; isn’t that enviable?
But as the politicians have moved on, even if temporarily, some residents of Port Harcourt, where hoodlums and eventually agents of the state unleashed early morning violence last week, will live to remember the pains, disruption and destruction that descended on this otherwise combustible state. Mrs Callister Ugiri, a 47-year-old resident of the Borokiri area of Port Harcourt, is one of those people who will never forget this egoistic battle of Wike, the elephant and Fubara, the calf, which surprisingly transformed from innocence into experience ahead of its time!
Ugiri, according to news reports, is asking police authorities in the state to release the corpse of her 27-year-old son, Onyekachi, who was allegedly shot dead during a protest by youths in the state.
Rumours about the Rivers State House of Assembly’s plan to impeach the state governor precipitated this protest. The impeachment move was spearheaded by legislators loyal to Wike, led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule. Please note that Wike later subtly confirmed and justified the move.
It started with the removal of the Majority Leader, Edison Ehie, apparently a Fubara loyalist. Within a few hours, the governor mobilised a counteroffensive, which saw his loyalists “impeach” Amaewhule and replace him with Ehie, sacked by the Wike group a few hours earlier. Imagine the ridiculous trifling of legislative office and process, but that is Nigeria.
Hundreds of youths then marched on Amaewhule’s official residence in solidarity with the governor. Their mission was to evict the ‘impeached” Speaker and usher the new one into the building. But things went awry for them! Men of the Rivers State Police Command moved in at this stage and arrested over a hundred youths. The Commissioner of Police in the state confirmed this and warned youths not to lend themselves to political violence in a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Ihunwo. However, some citizens, including youth leaders and Mrs Ugiri, claimed that police also fired shots at youths and that this resulted in the death of at least one person.
Although reports said that the police denied this allegation, Mrs Ugiri insisted last weekend that her son’s friend, who participated in the protest, said police officers killed Mr Ugiri. She told Vanguard the young man left home for the protest but never returned!
The bereaved mother said: “On Tuesday, I heard that Chiwedu, one of our neighbours, came to the house to carry my son, Onyekachi, to go protest in support of Governor Fubara. At night, after I waited and did not see my son, I asked my daughter the whereabouts of her brother, and she told me that our neighbour, Chiwendu, had taken her brother to protest in support of the governor. On Wednesday, Chiwendu came back again and told my daughter that during the protest, as police were shooting, a bullet caught Onyekachi, my son, on the head, and he ran into one building, where he died. Chiwendu ran away while others were arrested. This morning (Friday, November 3, 2023), I saw a video of my son’s dead body with blood all over him. I am begging the police to provide the corpse of my son, wherever it is. I’m also calling on the governor to come to my aid.”
A mother has not only lost her son to this political madness, but she cannot even find his corpse and possibly put closure to the matter!
But the governor and his godfather have moved on at least until Wike springs another scheme to get the governor out of office, as one can very easily predict from his disposition and trends amongst Nigerian politicians. The two of them go on pretending to do public good, but we have not seen the end of it.
