2011: Nyesom Wike wanted the Senate seat for Rivers East, Rotimi Amaechi insisted on Equity and stood by Senator George Sekibo for a 2nd term. Indeed, there are many insiders who believe the political crises engulfing Rivers State from the disagreements between Wike and his erstwhile boss began from this particular clash of his interest and Amaechi’s principles. 2015: Wike wanted the Brick House, Amaechi went for Equity insisting that power should rotate to other ethnic groups. In fact, he insisted that it goes to the Riverine after 16 unbroken years in the Upland axis of the State from Dr Peter Odili to himself (1999-2015). Senator Sekibo instead opted for Wike’s interest and got a ticket for an unprecedented third term in the Senate. Backed by the powers-that be at the Aso Rock Villa, Wike and Sekibo settled scores at the expense of Amaechi’s goodwill and Statesmanship.
Fast forward to December 10, 2016, Wike wailed and riled over the suffocating presence of troops at the rerun elections. Apparently because the deployments frustrated the rolling out of his human tanks to have an encore of March 28, 2015. The supplementary rerun elections on the former date was a repeat of the initial rerun of March 19, 2016, which was ordered by the Rivers State National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal. Amaechi was on ground just as Wike but pulled out to Lagos to honour an invite by Channels TV. With Amaechi out of town, Wike swooped in on the Port Harcourt City Council which serves as the Rivers East Senatorial District Collation Centre with his “men” and an assortment of regular security men. He moved like a blitzkrieg to take the final moments that fell on his laps. A broken skull and dripping blood were some of the features of the horrendous canvas that resulted in the siege on City Council. Amaechi’s plane had hardly touched down in Lagos when the declaration and return of the same Senator George Thompson Sekibo was announced by the smothered Returning Officer of the long-drawn poll without adding the figures from Ikwerre, Etche and Emohua LGAs to the tally. Wike and Sekibo had a good laugh while Amaechi and his man, Chief Andrew Uchendu, wore smug faces. The principle of “Win first; let them go to Court” has effectively been applied and Sekibo scampered off with the candidate’s copy of the INEC results.
And so in obedience to the Constitution and the law, AIU and the APC (his party) headed back to the Courts. But here is where Poetic Justice took its definitive stand. The Elections Petitions Tribunal in June 2017 again rolled off the rug in the Red Chamber of the Senate from under the feet of Wike’s Sekibo after it summed up the figures from those LGAs which results Wike, Sekibo and the PDP shut out. The ball effectively now in Sekibo’s court, he opted for the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision rolling away the priceless red rug from under the National Assembly dinosaur and ranking Senator. Hope still hung on Sekibo’s dropping shoulders. His English bowler hat trademark was still a regular presence on his side of the Senate chamber while time counted on the appeal. He even blew a whistle one day and went down the history books as the first Senator in Nigeria to so indulge during plenary on the floor of the hallowed Chamber. After all, if Nigeria remembers Dr Ibiapuye Soala Martyns-Yellowe, that cerebral Senator from Rivers West (1999 to 2007) for his excellent oratory and prolific output in the unprecedented number of Bills and Motions he sponsored, what’s wrong with the locus of attention of a memory flagstaff shifting to the East Senatorial District? But August 24th 2017 came upon the issues and as William Shakespeare taught us to always say, “All is well that ends well”.
Sekibo leaves the Senate with a frown, having received his just deserts for rebelling against a benefactor for whatever reason. Amaechi and Uchendu are on the upswing of the balance of power. As for Wike, the journey of 2011 has turned full circle. In the final analysis, this is an epic story of poetic justice and the Orphanage called political misfortune.
