These days, I really do not have to recharge my Direct Satellite Television Station (DSTV) subscription because of the African Magic station since the terrestrial news stations are replete with the unfolding drama from Rivers State to satisfy my desire for such genre of entertainment.
If Rotimi Amaechi is not doing the latest dance steps on television, he has enough words to insult everyone from the President of his country, to the wife, or anyone that catches his fancy. His audience usually, when he chooses to dance, include conservatives like General Mohammadu Buhari, who looks like a misfit on such occasions.
Well, someone has said that when a man gets desperate for power, he is ready to stomach anything; and Buhari, since the last time he shed tears on network television, has shown he is ready to do all it takes to step in the saddle of power in Nigeria. What a pity! Whoever thought General Tunde Idiagbon’s twin brother would become as fickle as to associate with the kind of company he now keeps!
But for Amaechi, who relishes insulting the same presidency he is said to have an eye for, it is not a great surprise, for, since his university days and his time as the Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, many knew the stuff he was made of. In fact, there are those who are ready to swear he takes something more than tea in the morning and during the day.
Like every actor, Amaechi has his supporting actor; and who better fits the bill than the next in rank politically in Rivers, Senator Magnus Abe, who was allegedly shot with a rubber bullet. The police say there was no such thing as a rubber bullet fired at the Senator. In fact, police spokesman in Rivers State has described it “as a blatant lie.”
In reporting the story, one news website gave an interesting account of the doctor’s comment, presumably the same doctor on Channels Television, who looked more like a man from either the same political rally or an “Owambe” party.
The report: At Krisany Hospital where Mr. Abe was rushed to for treatment, the medical director of the hospital, Dr Mckay Anyanwu, told newsmen that the senator was brought to the hospital in a state of shock caused by low blood pressure.
“He was unable to talk or eat, and he was feeling restless as a result of traumatic shock,” he was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, as saying. “The implication is that there is haemorrhage; this is a blood trauma, it is not a sharp one.” He suggested Mr. Abe may have been struck by a rubber bullet.
“There is a history of an impact; a blunt impact on the left chest wall. Now there might be bleeding internally because if you watch the chest wall; the affected wall is larger than the right side,” he said.
After reading what appeared to be an orchestrated speech from a medical doctor who should be facing a professional board for speaking so eloquently on his patient’s case on network television, I could not but wonder how easy it is in these heady days of democracy in Rivers for journalists to enter a patient’s ward and take copious photographs and interview a doctor with an emergency case. Except, of course, if it was all part of the script!
It bears remembering, also, that it was in the same Rivers that another patient, Hon. Michael Chinda, who was attacked with the Mace of the Rivers Assembly, was seen by many Nigerians in the media on his hospital bed with tubes on him. His attacker, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, after committing the heinous crime, was the first to be seen on a hospital bed by Nigerians in the media. That was before the video of his vicious attack on his fellow House member made the rounds.
And now we have photographs of a distinguished Senator, being attended to by men who do not look like medical personnel while photojournalists clicked on and on. May be Abe’s own photo opportunities are intended as a balancing act to those of Michael Chinda.
Tony Okocha, the Chief of Staff to Governor Amaechi, was also said to have been injured in the alleged police attack, but Nigerians are awaiting the publication of his own photos. In a curious twist that beats the imagination, one of the supporting acts in the Rivers Nollywood production, the Rivers Information Commissioner, Ibim Semenitari, said the attack was targeted at Amaechi..
“The Rivers State government has it on good authority that Senator Abe took the bullet originally meant for Governor Chibuike Amaechi who was billed to be present at the event…. This is disconcerting especially in the light of recent revelations that the presidency may be training snipers ahead of the 2015 elections and that Governor Amaechi is top on the list of those to be eliminated,” she said.
I think everyone in Rivers State has gone gaga if a spokesperson for a whole state government can stoop this low to talk of a watch list of questionable integrity. Well, her inanity can be forgiven since her boss once told us he was number one on the phantom list.
Rivers police spokesman, Ahmad Muhammad, had his own position. “For anybody to say that Senator Magnus Abe was shot at is a blatant lie and a misleading statement…. We used minimum force to disperse them and not even single ammunition was shot. I repeat it; not single ammunition was expended.”
He put the blame squarely on the Save Rivers Movement, which he said flouted a ban on political rallies in the state and refused to seek approval before staging one.
“This same group knows about the ban which still in full force. During the launch of their group last year, they informed the police and they were given adequate security in Elekahia then. How come did they decide to carry out a rally without informing the police today (Sunday)?” he queried.
Courtesy of one of Abe’s aide, Honour Sirawoo, we now know that the distinguished Senator of the federal republic was actually a site supervisor who was hit by a rubber bullet as he went to supervise preparations for the rally.
But a nagging question remains; is it because Amaechi’s tenure is about to end in 17 months’ time that he and his officials are giving the impression that Nigeria’s democracy is fragile and should be truncated?
Or, is this part of the grand plan by the opposition to win the election through the same men who frustrated their victory in 2011? Or does the Rivers government want the police boss in the State posted out so desperately that the country has to be fed these doses of drama every week? Someone should call everybody to order, because I do not believe that Amaechi and his ilk are so unruly as to sabotage this hard-won democracy.
On the part of the media men and women, they should cease to promote this kind of annoying drama that seeks to rob them of whatever integrity they have.
Ikejiani sent this piece via nicholasikejiani@yahoo.com
