It is no longer news to hear that a governor, or any other politician of note for that matter, defected from whichever political party to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Defection to the APC has become a national pastime; a political trademark of sorts. Defection as a political phenomenon may not be unusual, but it has acquired a certain notoriety under the Bola Tinubu presidency. The Tinubu political arrangement signposts an era when the ruling party coerces or blackmails those who are not of its fold into joining its camp. But the ploy or plot does not stop at coercion or blackmail, it is made to look as if there is something special about the Tinubu presidency that makes everyone gravitate towards it. That is the absurdity that defines and characterizes politics and politicking under the Tinubu presidency. That is how degraded the political space in Nigeria has become.
Yet those behind the show of shame have refused to stop pretending. They still carry on as if the rest of us are fools. In no other region has this desecration taken place more than the south south. The zone, from what we have before us, is the most vulnerable, the most mesmerized by the Tinubu political despoliation. All the governors of the region now operate under APC, including the four that were originally elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The last to join the fray is Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State. Given the peculiarity of his circumstance, not many considered Fubara a candidate for the APC circus show. But he has just done otherwise. After his unconstitutional suspension from office as the governor of Rivers State, Fubara took what befell him with philosophical calmness, or so we thought. He did not express anger or outrage. He did not talk tough. He simply went under. But his supporters acted differently. They agitated. They protested. They demanded for his reinstatement. But all that did not matter to those who set out to decimate the governor. They ignored the howls from the waterside.
After six months of forced incubation, Fubara was released from captivity, having been properly weaned to serve the purpose of President Tinubu and his hatchet man, Nyesom Wike. Upon his return to office, Fubara did not do anything to draw attention to himself. He stayed pliant and obedient. Many understood his disposition to be that of someone who has lost interest in what he is doing. His grave yard silence was taken to mean that he just wanted to amble along until his last day in office. He didn’t want to assert himself as governor. He didn’t want to contest or agitate for anything. He just wanted to have his peace.
When therefore some PDP governors of the south south decided to join Tinubu’s APC, it was imagined that Fubara would not be part of the rat race. The assumption was that the governor was not looking forward to anything. He was not even interested in a second term, knowing full well that such a quest would be futile in the circumstance in which he found himself. Based on this reasoning, observers understood Fubara’s reticence. They gave him the chance to be himself.
But contrary to the way Fubara was packaged, the man has stepped out from his cocoon. He appears to be acclimatizing with the political terrain again. His showing in recent weeks is that of a man who is regaining lost grounds. He is excited by his membership of the APC. He flaunts his credential as the number one person in the party’s register in Rivers State. In other words, he is even ahead of Wike, even though that one still claims to be a member of PDP. The way Fubara is prancing around lately, he seems to be dancing to strange tunes emanating from discreet quarters. But the music he is dancing to must be sweet and melodious. The man must be enjoying the rhythmic cadences. Whatever may be the case, something is clear about the song that Fubara is singing. The keynote in the symphony is President Tinubu. The governor is waxing melodious for the president’s sake. He seems to be saying that his love song is the balm that Rivers State needs for reawakening. That may explain why his speeches are punctuated with Tinubu. In fact, the name of the president has become his new mantra. Tinubu, he seems to be telling us, is a man we should all love and support for a second term in office. That is what Fubara has been saying.
If Nigeria were to be a country where shock has a place, many would have been stunned by Fubara’s volte face. But the truth is that when he spoke, Nigerians did not express shock or disappointment. As a people, Nigerians have become accustomed to the unusual and the awkward. If everything were to be all right with our values, many people would have been choked with disgust when Fubara spoke. But they just swallowed the assault on their sense of proportion because none exists any longer. The sense of proportion in the Nigerian has since expired.
In singing the Tinubu love song, Fubara is unabashed about it. He is delivering his message with unapologetic directness. Indeed, he is not seeking justification for his action. He seems to have nothing but pity for those who do not understand or appreciate his position on his new-fangled political game. From Fubara’s offering so far, PDP was not part of his consideration. But he chose to patronize the dying party all the same by stating that the PDP did not protect him when he was in trouble. So who did? Was it Mr President who, instead of calling his traducers to order chose to remove him from office? Having rendered Fubara helpless, and having extracted as much commitment as he wanted from the suspended governor before restoring him to power, Tinubu now has Fubara in his kitty. The governor is now the president’s lackey. Fubara said he joined the APC as a mark of gratitude to the president. He also joined the president’s party, because, according to him, he wants to support the president from the front not from the back. All this are attempts by Fubara to explain his new role. But whatever he says or does not say, what should be taken for granted is that the ongoing gyration by Fubara seems to suggest something. He is behaving like someone who has a secret pact with the president. If it were not so, we cannot but wonder what purpose the governor’s defection is expected to serve. The governor, it does appear, is plotting about second term. It is possible that the president has given him some assurances. Fubara, on the basis of that, is imagining that he could be the president’s anointed candidate for 2027. Well, that is optimism. But he must know one thing: Tinubu must do away with Wike for him (Fubara) to be relevant in Rivers State politics. Is that what is about to happen? We will soon learn more from Fubara’s love song.
