Literature is so lovely because it reflects some truth on its vast pages of creative vistas. Its illumination of life and lived experiences is all-encompassing, its exploration of the dual reality of our world, as gleaned from its recognition of humane deeds and excoriation of diabolical contrivances generate appreciation of its forms. The summative coherence and relevance of a literary work gives it an existential reality far beyond the epoch of its creation. It’s ironic that literature’s possession of eternal life is denied its creators! What a world! Yes, the literary process might be deemed as mere creation, mere imagination, and largely utopian, but the products of the creative impulses outlive the transient sojourn of great writers who are numbered among the rare species of human beings.
Among thematic imports of classic literature that have enamoured me over the years, none is as gripping as the dominant discourse on decision which shows the wisdom or folly of the protagonist. Unless driven by hubris and inevitably fated to a tragic end, it is choice that would define the course of a character and his approach to the causative circumstances underpinning the denouement of the plot. Take away the capacity of a character to make a good choice, then his rationality as referenced in the cognitive process of human behaviour might lend itself to further psychological examination or outright psychiatric evaluation. All this is within the realm of literary creation, however.
A correlation of the aforementioned literary perspective to the role of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), Mr. Nyesom in the crisis in Rivers State will unfold some incredulity, not in literary realm but in the real world. No one ever expected Wike to seek the destruction of a man whom he had made, metaphorically speaking. His action is akin to an enraged god that seeks to consume those it ought to protect. This apparent path of volitional choice clearly offers us a glimpse of Wike’s psychology. He initially had two choices, either to bolster the strength and facilitate the success of Rivers State Governor and his godson, Mr. Siminilaye Fubara, or to lay diverse arrows forged in his smithy and imperil the governor’s path to deliver on his promises and earn the approbation of the electorate.
The degeneration of the situation in Rivers State from a mere disagreement between a godfather and his godson to a potential threat to political stability of the country is largely fueled by the perceived docile disposition of the governor at the incipient stage of the crisis. He had been loyal like any other person who was helped to acquire political power on a silver platter, albeit with a proviso. But then, what seemed as a continual miniaturization of his person and destabilization of his government eventually emboldened him beyond the wildest imagination of many Nigerians. After being pummeled by Wike for many months, Fubara in a fit of self-assertion had suddenly discarded a perceptible lame but peaceful attribute of a lamb and metamorphosed into a wild cat.
Let’s get it clearly. The notion of godfather and godson in politics is embedded in elite theory which presupposes the coming together or relationship between elite and governance in democratic societies. While the theory is applicable to diverse social and governance structures, it describes the convergence of accomplished and wealthy individuals in various fields such as business, finance, politics, defence, and science who pool resources to capture power and influence the course of governance in a polity. Although this theory had its foundation in the early writing of Polybus who referred to what we now call elite theory as ‘autocracy’, the 19th century Italian School of Elitism which was cofounded by Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetono Mosca, and Roberto Michels, became the forerunner of elite theory in the Western World.
Understandably, politics in this part of the world is essentially transactional, a pervasive feature that captures the gross prebendal manifestation of Nigeria’s political governance since 1999. Wike as a product of the dysfunctional Nigerian system is giving an unjustified expression to a seeming elastic greed for huge returns on his investment as a godfather. He may not be queried him for choosing his successor as it’s largely the norm here, yet it’s unacceptable for a man who had acquired stupendous wealth as ex-Governor to seek total control of a state he had once governed. It shows that he may have been infected with the chronic virus which predisposes most members of the Nigerian political class to avarice. In that case, the sufferer might need socio-psychic examination and probable treatment to insulate him from excessive avaricious craving which confounds our sense of propriety.
What makes the Wike issue a problematic is his strange quest to legitimise an aberrant, reprehensible projection of an obtuse entitlement mentality. There are indeed many Wikes in the four polar axes of Nigeria that have raised, nurtured nondescript persons as gubernatorial candidates and ensured their victories often in the Nigerian way, but none is baying for the blood of their successors to maintain a stranglehold on the power levels in states they no longer govern. Among the 2023 Class of Governors, we are well aware of an open but mutual relationship existing between the mentee-governors and their predecessors, with a handful of the incumbents, servicing their needs most times but occasionally the greed of their mentors or sponsors. No right-thinking man will oppose the continual appreciation of a benefactor but doing so to the detriment of the state and the well-being of the people is totally unacceptable.
Indeed, Wike is keen on becoming a player in the political drama of state control, but the timing and other extenuating factors have combined to attenuate his vision. Firstly, he’s probably not too informed about the dynamics of the politics of his home state as no former governor of his home state had ever pocketed his successor let alone have free access to the till in the last twenty five years. Secondly, he might have been goaded by Bola Tinubu’s vice-grip on Lagos State without realizing the stealthy way that the latter started his own state capture and the difference in the ethnolinguistic variations of Lagos and Rivers State. Whereas Lagos is mono-linguistic, culturally speaking, Rivers as a microcosm of the larger Nigeria, will hardly permit the ascendancy of a sole owner of its fortune in the mould of Tinubu.
Predictably, Wike is likely to lose and his envisaged loss would emanate from a poor decision. He may plunge the state into deeper crises as expected, but his ultimate loss will do erode his social capital that he might find it difficult to play a pivotal role in who gets what in Rivers in 2027. He could however alter the reversal of his political choice by making a u-turn and embracing the other path which he earlier rejected. A good way of doing this is for him to read two good poems namely ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost and ‘We Really Cool’ by Gwendolyn Brooks. The relevance of the poems lies with their emphasis on decision as a personal thing and consequences as an unavoidable causal principle.
