By Donu Kogbara
Last Monday, at least 13 PDP governorship aspirants from Rivers State were disqualified by the committee that their party appointed to screen them.

Some of these disqualified individuals are highly credible and capable of performing well if elected to replace the incumbent, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi.

Odein Ajumogobia, for example, is an immensely accomplished and impressively polished SAN who has served with distinction as Attorney General of Rivers State, Minister of State for Petroleum and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Nimisoere Walson-Jack, for example, is also a respected lawyer and is, in addition, a much-liked member of the Port Harcourt social and professional scene. Bekimbo Dagogo-Jack, for example, has run an important Federal agency.

Modern approach to governance issues

Tonye Princewill, for example, is a skilled businessman who has a sophisticated modern approach to governance issues. Gabriel Pidomson, for example, was once Secretary to the State Government. Lancelot Anyanya, for example, is a retired senior army officer and one of the most intellectually gifted Nigerians I know.

And there are other serious-minded aspirants who have been cruelly shafted.

Given their above-average credentials, why have all of the above been rejected by the screeners and prevented from contesting at the PDP primaries?

The reason given by the Powers That Be is that “they are not registered members of PDP”. But everyone who is familiar with political shenanigans in this neck of the woods knows that they ARE bona fide PDP members whose names have been slyly and unethically removed from the party membership list.

As Ajumogobia put it when I contacted him for a reaction:

“I held various top government positions between 2003 and 2011 on the platform of the PDP. I have submitted my party membership cards – and membership dues receipts issued by the PDP – which prove that I have been a PDP member since 2000. I am number 001 in the erstwhile PDP members’ register in my ward. No revalidation exercise was ever carried out for issuance of new party registration cards in my LGA or other Rivers LGAs…

“…Is it not then most laughable and ridiculous for a responsible screening committee to conclude that I occupied the prominent political offices that I have occupied in any capacity other than as a member of the PDP?…

“…Is it not interesting that I was a PDP member for the purpose of the party receiving payment in respect of the costly Expression of Interest and Nomination forms – and for receiving a further previously undisclosed party administration fee imposed on all aspirations on the morning of the screening!…

“…I was a party member when I submitted my forms to the PDP Secretariat on November 7, 2014. That is why I am so amused by these antics…”

Long story short, the REAL reason why Ajumogobia et al have been tossed aside is that the First Lady – a Rivers indigene – has openly decreed that her favourite local crony, Nyesom Wike, an ex-Minister of State of Education and ex-Chief of Staff to Amaechi, must be the next Governor of our home terrain.

We are all human and therefore entitled to have personal preferences; and it’s fine, if you ask me, for Dame Patience to be particularly fond of Chief Wike (who is smart and can be very generous and has invested a lot of time, energy and cash in keeping the Rivers branch of the PDP alive since his ex-boss, Amaechi, fell out with the Jonathans and decided to decamp to the APC).

Legitimate rivalry

But is it constitutional or appropriate for the wife of the President to have this much power and to be allowed to get away with wielding power so abusively?

I also feel compelled to ask whether it is acceptable for aspirants to be humiliated simply so that Madame’s candidate can be spared legitimate rivalry.

It is worth noting, at this juncture that Wike is not the only person who should be credited for the survival of the PDP in Rivers State…and that quite a few of the in-house rivals whom he and his Big Sister are trying to royally mess up also happen to be longstanding PDP supporters who have been useful to the party in the past and toiled night and day to help Dr Jonathan win the 2011 election.

When I complained about recent developments to a chum who is in Wike and Madame’s faction, he was unrepentant. He assured me that “Wike deserves to be the candidate because he is the main and almost sole funder of Rivers PDP.”

I was horrified by this utterance because money is not everything, for crying out loud. And, by the way, I will warmly welcome evidence that Wike is spending money that he earned honestly and can afford such largesse because he is a talented entrepreneur who made big bucks before he went into government!

Meanwhile, Wike comes from the same Ikwerre ethnic group as Amaechi, while all of his disqualified PDP rivals are Ijaws or Ogonis whose ethnic groups feel that it is their turn to run Government House; and I’ll be absolutely amazed if the terrible tensions that are being generated by the Wike camp’s ruthless determination to ignore zoning-related sensitivities do not eventually undo him.

Shut Up, Femi!

Femi Fani-Kayode, a onetime Minister of Aviation who is currently one of President Jonathan’s attack dogs, has just lavished a whole heap of insults on my Governor, Amaechi, describing him as a “houseboy” and “peasant”.

I know Femi and I’m extremely disappointed that he chose to attack an educated achiever like Amaechi so unjustly. But my disappointment is not important.

All that matters is the fact that Femi – who (unlike most of us) comes from a super-elite family that has enjoyed privileges like expensive foreign education for generations – clearly looks down on ordinary, hard-working Nigerians like domestic helpers and villagers – farmers, for example – who live in rural areas.

I wonder how Femi’s new mentor, Mr President – whose humble fisherman father was not, like Femi’s sophisticated father, a graduate of Britain’s premier university (Cambridge) – feels about Femi’s rampant social snobbery.