There is fire on the mountain
And nobody seems to be on the run
Oh, there is fire on the mountain top
And no one is a-running
I wake up in the morning
Tell you what I see on my TV screen
I see the blood of an innocent child and everybody’s watching
Now I’m looking out my window
And what do I see?
I see an army of a soldier man marching across the street, hey
Hey, Mr. Soldier man
Tomorrow is the day you go to war
But you are fighting for another man’s cause and you don’t even know him
Oooh, what did he say to make you so blind to your conscience and reason?
Could it be love for your country? Or for the gun you use in killing?
So, there is fire on the mountain
And nobody seems to be on the run
Oh, there is fire on the mountain top and no one is a running…
(Asa on ‘Fire on the mountain’ (2007)
Everyone can see clearly now that there is fire on the mountain in Rivers state and nobody in authority in the state and national capitals seems to be on the run. Oooh, we can wake up in the morning and can see on television live stream how a governor can be locked out of the parliament in the state he governs. And the hit-man in the power struggle in the federal capital can be seen at the same time on the same television screens, vibrating that if the humiliated governor is impeached, heavens will not fall. Indeed we now have a country of anything is possible. That is why it is important to appeal to our leaders in Abuja and Port Harcourt to borrow from the brilliance and light of the ancient word that the bush is still burning with fire, but behold the bush isn’t consumed yet.
Yes, it isn’t a time to beat chests – to damn consequences of fire because we have the power and cruise control over violence. It is a time to build the peace in the interest of our country of complex diversity. It is a time to recall the warnings through the ancient words that our tongue is the most sensitive part of our body and so can trigger the wildest of fire that can reach the mountain top that Asa’s allegory teaches today.
There is power in the words our leaders in Port Harcourt and Abuja use at this time. What is more, our leaders in Abuja should note too that this is a time to invoke the power of this phenomenon called attitude, yes attitude! That is the weapon needed at this time to quench the fire on the mountain in Rivers state, not to become ‘Rivers of Blood’. We don’t want Asa to see an army of a soldier man marching across the street, hey
Hey, Mr. Soldier man, Tomorrow is the day you go to war…’
We should heed the warning of our daughter, Asa and ask our careless leaders everywhere Oooh, what did he say to make you so blind to your conscience and reason? Could it be love for your country? Or for the gun you use in killing?
We have seen the fire on the mountain. Let’ us with a gladsome mind, denounce our leaders who say we should not be on the run. Let’s not wait for the fire to consume us, as it did in 1966, when the same fire in the form of ‘operation wetie”, consequentially diminished our independence, took away our federalism after consuming some of our founding fathers. There is already a great deal of crisis of coherence between Abuja and Port Harcourt where our great son, Chinua Achebe would have recast W. B Yeat’s poem: “The second coming” he used in ‘Things Fall Apart’ to our leaders: “Excuse me Sirs, behold, things are falling apart in the Garden City; the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world…”
Even observers who are not part of the crisis would want the powers in Abuja to note that the reason they are in office and in power is to settle conflicts arising from our development strides. They should not be part of the problem in the interest of next elections. The optics isn’t quite good for our leaders at this time because we the people are seeing the way they place politics over governance.
The President has appealed that the law should rule in Rivers State where there is a political crisis that involves a member of his cabinet and the governor of the state. But let’s review what happened on the day the Governor reportedly appeared to begin implementation of the president’s appeal. Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, via a live media chat, scoffed at threats of consequences over purported plans to impeach Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, saying the sky isn’t going to fall if he is impeached.
The minister’s comments came after the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martins Amaewhule denied Fubara access to the Assembly premises for a re-presentation of the 2025 appropriation bill, which was ordered by the Supreme Court. The governor said he was prevented from entering the compound, despite the fact that he had notified the Assembly of his intention to visit in view of their request that he re-presented the 2025 appropriation bill. In response to the Governor’s claim, the Rivers State Assembly officials said the Governor didn’t inform them as claimed. While this drama was taking place in Rivers state capital, former Governor of the State now FCT Minister who is now associated with the crisis in the state was on television blasting the same governor, Fubura and his cohorts in the state.
The relationship between the governor and the legislature, peopled mainly by Wike’s loyalists, soured early in his tenure following political disagreements with his predecessor, Wike. Things seemed worsening for the governor recently after the Supreme Court reinstated the Amaewhule-led legislators. But foremost group of elders from the oil-producing region, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), asked President Bola Tinubu not to consider any party to the crisis superior. PANDEF urged Tinubu to take decisive steps to resolve the escalating crisis, contending that a win-win outcome must be sought outside the courts. The group urged the president to prevail on Wike and Fubara to prioritise peace and seek a lasting solution.
Similarly, Ijaw National Congress (INC) reiterated its position that if Fubara was impeached for any reason, the consequences would be too heavy for the Nigerian state to bear economically. Urging the president to prevail on Wike and Fubara to seek an amicable resolution for the sake of peace and stability, INC said it was concerned by the prolonged political impasse in the state.
However, addressing some of the latest concerns on the Rivers crisis, Wike described PANDEF, whose members met Tinubu to try to proffer solution to the festering political crisis in the state, as an unreliable organisation made up of political merchants, only motivated by money.
Wike, who spoke on a live television interview, said if Fubara had, indeed, breached the tenets of the constitution and the House of Assembly deemed the infraction an impeachable offence, then the governor should be impeached. He stated, “If you have committed an offence to be impeached, what’s wrong? Is it a criminal offence? It’s provided in the constitution. And let me tell you, and I have heard people say, ‘oh, if they impeach him, there’ll be breakdown’ and all that. “Rubbish. Nonsense. Who is he? Nonsense! “Who is not a militant? Who cannot blow up the pipeline? Why do you arrogate this power to a certain group of people? The Ijaw people are the only people who can blow a pipeline? What nonsense is that…?
Now in the complex logistics of everyday life, perceptions have gone far into shaping decisions. Most people have noticed that only the powers in Nigeria could have allowed enigmatic Wike to be talking the way he talks about the crisis in the state he has governed. The president keeps putting everything at the doorstep of the governor when there are two parties to the dispute. Insiders and observers, still believe that the last agreement the president asked the two parties to sign when he first intervened last year was skewed in favour of the other party and the governor’s people can thus perceive that the agreement was not drafted by neutral men.
This may not represent the truth but that is what perception does when conflict resolution mechanisms are mismanaged. Besides, after the PANDEF’s meeting with the President at the Villa, officials of the socio-cultural organisation have claimed that there were various issues tabled before the president who picked only the Rivers matter and ignored the rest socio-economic and infrastructure challenges in the south-south region. They have alleged that the President kept emphasising to the governor to obey the Supreme Court’s controversial judgment as the only panacea to peace there.
But critics on the other side would be quick to remind the same president that his government too hasn’t implemented the judgment of the same Supreme Court regarding local government autonomy, delivered six months ago. Critics have also quickly added that the same government has also refused to obey the judgment and order of the court of appeal against the National chairmanship of NURTW, which was against his staunch supporter, MC Oluomo who is illegally occupying the seat, against the judgment won by one Baruwa.
So, the president’s position in condoning Wike, the minister of FCT, to be insulting Niger Delta elders and even governors in the middle of strategy to resolve a dangerous crisis is what a literature in English teacher would easily call a tragic error. There can be only one consequence: emergence of a tragic hero in the denouement. From the body language of the Nigeria’s leader, the opposition leaders in this regard are bound to perceive that the president sees the governor as the problem and Wike as the victim. Would you blame the governor’s men therefore if they shout that Wike is provoking them to play into the hands of hit-men in Abuja who are in a hurry to trigger causes for a state of emergency as things get out of hands?
It is hoped that all the stakeholders and crisis merchants, in this regard, understand the dynamics of Nigeria Delta politics, particularly Rivers state that is historically crisis-prone. We need to speak this inconvenient truth to the Nigeria’s leader to take responsibility and call the hardworking and passionate Wike to order immediately. Reference to him (Wike) as a coordinator and factional leader of the now victorious legislators and the strange media chat he was allowed to address on the day and the time the Governor of Rivers state attempted to address the State Assembly according to the president’s counsel, diminished our humanity and the public space.
Our leaders in Abuja may not believe this, whatever is happening to the Governor of Rivers state who Senator Shehu Sani believes may be impeached soon despite suspicious interventions in Abuja, further diminishes the majesty of democracy and the rule of law. Security and welfare of the people of River state, is part of the remit of the Chief Executive of the Federation who cares so much about the sanctity of that responsibility. He can’t delegate his power (as president) to a clear leader of a faction in the conflict in Rivers state. The fire on the mountain in Port Harcourt requires that the President should be on the run – this time to put out the fire- before it is too late.
- Oloja is former editor of The Guardian newspaper and his column, Inside Stuff, runs on the back page of the newspaper on Sundays. The column appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.