By Donu Kogbara

Longstanding readers of this column might recall that I was extremely unhappy when my Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, spectacularly fell out with the Presidential Duo – Dr Goodluck and Dame Patience Jonathan – in 2013.

For years, I had fervently prayed for a South-South Presidency. Now that this dream had finally been realised (I’d shed tears of pure joy when Goodluck was sworn in!), I wasn’t in the mood for disruptive, undisciplined, embarrassing, annoying, immature, avoidable in-house quarrels. I wanted a totally united front.

As far as I was concerned, any eminent member of the South-South political family who didn’t strenuously avoid internal conflicts was selfishly and treacherously Letting The Side Down. And I yearned for Amaechi and the First Couple to quickly resolve differences that seemed surmountable at the time.

I wanted Jonathan, Amaechi and other Niger Deltan leaders to join hands like siblings, come up with inspiring socio-economic development plans and dynamically transform our ailing region – and the entire nation – with help from enlightened compatriots from other parts of our potentially great Federation.

I wanted Niger Deltan leaders to enable Niger Deltans to intelligently control, enhance and benefit from our resources, while also generously sharing the oil that flowed from our ancestral lands and creeks with citizens from other zones.

But it was not to be. Things rapidly went from bad to worse. Dame Patience, who is not famed for stylish restraint, became increasingly crude and combative. And her husband allowed her and her sidekicks to run amok in Rivers State.

Amaechi, who is not as tolerant of monstrously overbearing females as the Oga At The Top, got tired of being provoked and joined the main Opposition party.

By then, I was also tired of the Jonathans. After months of begging Amaechi to bend over backwards to make peace with them and 3 whole years of making excuses on their behalf whenever they were criticised by anyone, it had finally dawned on me that the Jonathans would never be the iconic leaders I wanted them to be. And I concluded that Amaechi was right to decamp to the APC.

It was an immensely tough decision that required enormous amounts of courage, not least because of the massive amounts of emotional blackmail to which Amaechi was subjected on a daily basis.

The Jonathans were especially significant, historically and sociologically, because they were the FIRST-EVER First Couple from our backyard.

They both came from very humble backgrounds and typical riverine fishing villages. They were seen as representatives of long-suffering minorities who had never risen to such dizzying heights before; and Amaechi was constantly harassed, reproached, insulted and guilt-tripped for “betraying” them.

No day went by without various appalled individuals and concerned delegations landing on Amaechi’s doorstep to lecture or nag or cajole him to patch up his relationship with his “Big Brother and Big Sister”.

Interventions were staged by close friends of Amaechi and by major dignitaries he respected. But once he had made his mind up, nothing could persuade him to budge. And I’m glad he stood firm because it is time – this is the twenty first century! – for Nigerians to adopt more progressive mindsets and abandon backward geographical and tribal obsessions.

Amaechi has successfully undermined Jonathan on his home turf. This week, at a PDP rally in Port Harcourt, the stadium was only 70% full.
He has bravely taken a gamble and I pray that it pays off on February 14.