By Tonye Awoye Whyte, New York, New York
The K-LEG Act informed the rest of Nigeria and the world that in Rivers State the Nigerian democratic project has been privatized, solely owned by tyrant Obasanjo and Co.

Students of American history will recall how frequently George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others insisted that the ability of the U.S. to avoid tyranny depended upon American citizenry clinging to the path of virtue. Nigeria’s own Nobel laureate the erudite Wole Soyinka is even more direct, he says, “…the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny…”

Well, the man did not die in a certain public spirited, virtuous Rivers man called, Ezebuwo Nyesom Wike. He mobilized material and moral resources to fight the K-Leg Act in court while the Plaintiff was on self-exile and righted this grave injustice to the Nigerian democratic project. The court righted this injustice and reinstated the winner of the PDP primaries Rotimi Amaechi as governor of our beloved Rivers State.

One of the chief virtues necessary to the good citizen is public spirit; without public spirit there is no nation. It is the foundation on which the national edifice of any nation is reared. Hence it is most important that men and women, old and young, should understand what is meant by the civic virtue which we call public spirit.

What is public spirit

What is public spirit from the ideal standpoint? It is the outer manifestation of the noble emotion called Patriotism, the love of country, state or home town. Out of the emotion of patriotism, out of love of country or state, grows the virtue of public spirit, which is patriotism manifesting in activity. A virtue is a general and lasting love emotion. “Treat all elders as fathers and mothers, all young ones as brothers and sisters,” said Manu. Then the family emotion becomes the civic virtue. When the instinctive love of a man for his country, state or home town grows permanent and action compelling, then we have public spirit. Public spirit is steady patriotism in action.

The action by Nyesom Wike to mobilise material and moral resource to fight the K-Leg Act in court, and restore the legitimacy of the democratic process in Rivers State, the action to stand by the judgment of Justice Iyayi-Lamikanra and support the chairman and councilors of Obio/Akpor local government, the action by Wike to set up the Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI) to reinvigorate the People’s Democratic Party and restore the PDP in Rivers State as a grassroots political party and not the private property of a tyrannical governor.

Nyesom Wike’s unwavering loyalty and solidarity, to a fellow Rivers man and the leader of his party, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan are the public actions of a Public Spirited, virtuous Rivers man.

You cannot build a good house out of rotten bricks; you cannot build a great Nation or State out of citizens of bad or indifferent character. As there is no house apart from its bricks, so there is no nation or state apart from its citizens.

The citizens are the nation, and as is their character so must be the character of the nation or state. Since, 1999 or the dawn of this republic our beloved Rivers State has been led by a very indifferent and undemocratic leadership. This is the first time since 1999 that our Politics has finally become a public affair not the private domain of a governor or a connected, so called political class.

In the eighteenth century in England ‘politics’ was commonly contrasted to the principle of ‘establishment’. Politicians were people who challenged the established order of Crown, Court, and Church; and they challenged it in a peculiar way, not by Palace intrigues of despotism, but by trying to create clear issues of policy and by making them public. Politicians were people, whether high-minded like Pitt the elder, or low-minded like Jack Wilkes, who tried to assert the power of ‘the public’ and ‘the people’.

This is exactly what Nyesom Wike is or is doing, asserting the power of the Rivers public and the people. No candidate in the current electoral cycle whether in the PDP or the APC has done what Nyesom Wike has done for the Nigerian Democratic project in Rivers State.

Politics is, then, an activity –it is not a thing, like a natural object or work of art, which could exist if individuals did not act upon it and it is when we act on it and make it public that we create political activity.

Personal politics

Over the past several years this public activity called politics in Rivers State has been privatized by Governor Amaechi. The Amaechi leadership withdrew from public politics and has become only interested in personal and career development and as a result he has created a more personalized non-competitive politics in the places were Rivers people spend their time.

This personal politics is not committed to the spirit or practice of democracy. The de-concentration of power and the right of Rivers people to pick its leaders in their local government has been usurped by Amaechi.

This personal politics by making appointments of chairmen and councillors continually concentrates power with the governor not the people of Rivers State. This personalized politics of Amaechi continually denies the people of Rivers State the leadership they deserve.

This personalized or tyrannical politics of Amaechi totally ignores the trend in the twenty-first century, the dramatic revival in emphasis in local democracy. This renewed interest in the principles and procedures of democratic governance at the level closest to the people is in some ways a return to the very foundations of democratic theory and practice. Direct citizen involvement is the basis of community spirit and health. It is the right of all citizens to voice opinions and grievances. In local civic arenas, the meaning of democracy – rule by the people – is given life and form.

Nyesom Wike is the only candidate in this election cycle in our beloved Rivers State that understands that a vigorous and effective local democracy is the underlying basis for a healthy and strong national-level democracy. A wise sage long time ago gave an advice on leadership, he said, “…let them begin by improving the life of their own town; let them see to its paving, its draining, its lighting, its general comfort and cleanliness; let them learn to rule men on a small scale, and train themselves to be leaders in local politics.

When they have done this, let them bring their trained abilities to the service of the motherland in larger areas…” Nyesom Wike was two term chairman Obio/Akpor local government and national chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria. He has done what our great sage advised and gone above that to defend the rule of law in the judgment given by Justice Iyayi-Lamikanra, while the governor he risked his life to ensure that justice is served in the K-Leg Act arrogantly undermines the rule of law in our beloved state.

Courts under lock and key

Today, in Rivers State our law courts have been under lock and key for close to ten months, thanks to our tyrant governor whom our illustrious sons mobilized the resources to fight his court battles and ensure his mandate. A famous quote by George Washington, etched in stone above the entrance to the Supreme Court building in Lower Manhattan, New York, reads: “The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.” Going by this quote our beloved state does not and has not heard good government for a very long time.

The Amaechi legacy is a Rivers State without courts. A legacy that ensures that ordinary Rivers men/women cannot go to the courts for justice – the way our public spirited son Ezebuwo Nyesom Wike ensured that all material and moral resource was mobilized to get candidate Amaechi victory in a court of law.

Hypocrisy at the highest levels of state government is toxic to the moral fiber that holds our communities together. The open contempt for moral values by governor Amaechi has a corrosive effect. It is a sad period for Rivers people when their governor offers such poor leadership on moral values and ethical behavior. Rivers people are a moral people, and the first lesson of a democracy is not to hold the public in contempt.

Governor Amaechi holds Rivers State and its people in contempt and totally lacks the virtues of public spiritedness.

Public spirit is what a good citizen must have for the state or republic to survive. A willingness to, sacrifice one’s own individual interests for the common good.

In Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister novels, we read that “a man’s highest merit always is, as much as possible, to rule external circumstances, and as little as possible to let himself be ruled by them” are enjoined “to learn to live for the sake of others and to forget [ourselves] in an activity prescribed by duty”, and learn that the precept, “let each endeavor everywhere to be of use to himself and others,” is “the utterance of life itself.”

It is refreshing to say in Ezebuwo Nyesom Wike Rivers State and its people have found such an individual.

Happy New Year!