
In both family and national politics, deception and antagonism among the actors have continued to rear their ugly heads, sometimes assuming cataclysmic dimensions. Somewhere in the book of Genesis, Chapter 27 or thereabouts, the Holy Bible records the family intrigue between the Isaac twins – Esau, the fierce and hairy firstborn, and Jacob his younger twin brother, a gentle-looking fellow. In search of parental blessing ahead of his elder twin, but with sheer dissemblance and cunning, Jacob took food from Rebecca their mother to their aged, blind father. “I am Esau your firstborn,” said Jacob, as he handed Isaac the meal, at the same time asking him for patriarchal blessing obviously symbolic of a quest for political power. The blind Isaac was a bit suspicious and beckoned on him to draw closer so that he could feel his skin to ascertain whether he was actually Esau or not. Unknown to the old man, his dear wife Rebecca had connived to implant hairs on Jacob’s hands and neck to make him appear like Esau. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau,” said old Isaac. “Are you really my son, Esau?” Not quite sure that it was Jacob standing before him, old Isaac blessed him thinking he was Esau the firstborn. The question has always been asked, “if Isaac wasn’t sure it was Esau, why did he bless him?” This singular act set the stage for a bitter acrimony and conflict that the Jews and their neighbours are grappling with till date. A typical example is the ongoing war in Gaza.
Such is the nature of ‘family politics’ and its inherent godfatherism now playing out in Rivers State between forces loyal to former governor of the state and present FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and his erstwhile godson, Simi Fubara, the incumbent governor of the state. So who owns the hairy hand of Esau and the voice of Jacob in Rivers State?
Across the streets of Port Harcourt known fondly as the Garden City and everywhere, the word is out that the trouble with Rivers State is traceable to the doorstep of Elder Nyesom Wike. He is perceived by many in the state as being highhanded and meddlesome in the affairs of governance of the state rather than focusing on his present portfolio as President Tinubu’s Minister of FCT, Abuja. Not a few political leaders and traditional rulers in and outside the state had pleaded with him to ‘sheath his sword’. In grapevines, brothels, news-stands, motor-parks, and ‘palm-wine joints’ in both Port Harcourt and Abuja, he has indeed earned himself quite a good number of unpalatable titles. Some have nicknamed him ‘Wike Wickedness’, ‘The Amayanabo of Rivers Politics’, and ‘the Emperor of Port Harcourt City’! Whether these perceptions are real or imagined, only posterity would judge.
Be that as it may, given the strategic importance of the state to the larger Nigerian federation, the situation on ground in Rivers State calls for urgent attention by all lovers of the state and all true democrats across the country regardless of political, religious and ethnic affiliations. The point being made here is that the case of the Biblical Isaac and his twins, and its far-reaching political implications, should serve as food for thought for the political gladiators in Rivers State, particularly Nyesom Wike and his ‘anointed sons and daughters’ in the State House of Assembly and in the State Executive Council.
There are many beautiful rivers in Rivers State from which the state derived its name, and these rivers must not be allowed to run dry – if we may now speak in parables. Let Governor Fubara ‘saddle his own horse’. He can’t do so without unfettered access to the machinery of government under his watch; and should he fail to deliver, he would have only himself to blame, and not his godfather in Abuja. Wike already has more than enough nuts in the fire as FCT Minister, and he knows all too well that Abuja politics is not chicken feed!
In the play The Gods Are Not to Blame written by our own Ola Rotimi, we were made to understand that it is very dangerous to blame the gods even if they start to play tricks with human beings as is often the case. In that play, Odewale kills his father and marries his mother, an act that leads to his downfall. Though he committed the act accidentally, his downfall underlines the inevitability of reaping what you sow.
The present political leaders in River State will do well to realize that just as they have predecessors in their respective positions, they themselves would one day become predecessors as well. From the military days of Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff in 1967, Major General Zamani Lekwot, CP Fidelis Oyakhilome, and Sam Ewang, through to the democratic dispensations of the 80’s and 90’s that ushered in the likes of Distinguished Senator Melford Okilo and Rufus Ada George, Rivers State has always been associated with progress and prosperity, not modern-day Esaus and Jacobs. As the great Martin Luther King said, “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters (in Rivers State) and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
*Anthony-Spinks is of the Delta State Public Procurement Commission. He writes from Asaba.