Opinion
PETER OBI/PDP > The First Kiss
PDP/PeterObi> The First Kiss
By Sam Omatseye
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s dilemma about embracing Pitobi is not PDP’s alone. It is also an Obidient quandary. The LP dilemma over PDP merger is not LP’s alone, it is also a PDP’s. It is the jigsaw puzzle of Nigerian politics. It was created by PDP itself.
But it is too simplistic to put it that way. We saw it last week when PDP said it was on the cusp of healing itself, and one of its formulas is to bring everyone home, including Kwankwaso and Pitobi. Like Medea in Euripides’s rendition of the Greek tragedy, they are looking at what might have been. Before she slaughtered her two sons, Medea avenged her traitor and power-crazed husband Jason by murdering his new wife and her conniving father, King Creon, who snatched Jason from Medea. Medea looked back at the time of her love with Jason with an unblended alchemy of fury and tenderness. Memory drove her to a witchcraft of envy and murder and regicide.
PDP spokesperson spoke with sumptuous nostalgia on how they might have trounced Tinubu and his APC if they had come together. Kola Ologbodiyan probably read in his mind the scripture when David eulogized how “good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Only that the precious oil of the election poured on their head did not reach down to Aaron’s beard before it gave them a splitting headache. They were already three persons. This trinity had no unity.
They are like divorcees with the fantasy of their first kiss. The fantasy is sweet, but the reality is like quinine without the cure. Between the first kiss and divorce, they had blisters and sores, fought bedbugs of cash in the other room, flew dinner plates across the sitting room after equity failed in sharing it, lied to their children about what they shared, kissed lovers across the aisle in furtive hours. They want to cancel all that memory to reenact the hour of the first kiss?
That is the problem with PDP. The first kiss never comes back, like Chekov’s short story of a woman who had a kiss in the dark in a party and spent all her life wondering about it and who had kissed her. Neither Pitobi nor Kwankwaso’s NNPP are sure they can reenact the bliss of that romantic kiss.
They hope to return to the first kiss believing that they are like water into water and no one can know their differences anymore. Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new.
First, they must stop lying to themselves. One, Pitobi has outgrown who he was when he was a candidate who rebelled against PDP and picked up LP ticket. Since then, he has amassed a big and rambunctious following, and that makes him a force in the political sweepstakes. How formidable that force is today is doubtful. It may have retreated into a rump. But it is still far bigger than Pitobi ever could have been under the umbrella. During the election, PDP lamented the collapse of its unity as stormy Nyesom Wike turned the party upside down. Now, the story is not different. Pitobi did not relent, after building a coalition of faith and tribe in southern and central Nigeria. He hoped he had enough to pull off a win.
It was an illusion that political Mathematician Babatunde Raji Fashola(SAN) laid bare as a prophecy. But Kola Ologbodiyan and Professor Pat Utomi goaded their candidates on. Fashola’s Math as prophecy came into reality because, like Oedipus in Sophocles’ play, they did not listen. They saw victory in a cloud. They were afflicted by what literary critic G.D. Killam called “insistent fatality,” in characterizing Okonkwo in Things fall Apart. They saw death and careened into it like a drug.
Since things fell apart, PDP has been trying to bring everyone home. But it is important for them to know who they are now. Pitobi does not know. He has diluted the religious part of his Obedient movement. The Tinubu administration has allayed fears and quieted ballyhoos about an apocalypse about the Muslim-Muslim ticket, with a cabinet and appointment profile that undermines any allegation of pious bigotry.
So, if Pitobi goes to PDP, will he become a deputy to the party’s point man? That will not suit the feminine-voiced Anambrarian. That will, to all intents and purposes, be the Nunc dimittis of the Obedient movement. PDP forgets that the reason the Obedient movement was born was because, one, they wanted a party to fix their dilemma of southern and central Nigerian Christians not voting for a Fulani man and a Yoruba man. They did not want Tinubu, a Yoruba, and did not want the moral cross of voting a Fulani man in a prostitute like Atiku for another possible eight years. For this big chunk of the Obidient cause, Pitobi was not a candidate, or even a person, he was an excuse as a cause. But the excuse has grown into a myth for its core followers, many of whom dumped Kanu as a cultic hero (almost as sacred as Ojukwu) for a more practical one in Pitobi.
PDP will have a lot of problem blending that crowd into its own party. Again, there were the Endsars component and ill-digested radicals and lawyers who clasped to their bosom the same Pitobi who they had associated with a perverse elite before his born-again LP sojourn. How will they blend? I can hear them echo Apostle Paul, “Come ye from among them and be ye separate.”
But that makes the Obidient crowd too small to fight alone. Wike is the immediate nemesis of Ologbodiyan’s party. Last week, the FCT minister warned the Bauchi governor and other interloper PDP governors that he has the capacity to undermine peace in their states. For sure, they cannot expel Wike form the party. Unlike Ganduje,who had ward miscues, Wike is still a stalwart of Rivers State PDP. He put the party echelon on notice last week for a reason. He is capable of determining the presidential candidate of the party next election cycle. Remember, but for Tambuwal, he was on the path to victory in the last PDP primary.
It shows how powerful he can still be. Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, the hypocrite who called for removal of fuel subsidies in the open during Buhari’s time, suddenly became a critic of its removal because he wants to run for president. The megalomaniac, who responded to this column the last time I ribbed him, has been quiet over Wike’s jibe.
What it means is that we are back to Fashola’s mathematical prophecy. Their followers are only going to line behind them. And as troubled as the APC may be today, it is more united than its foes, and a house divided against itself must beware of its wobbly legs.
Before any of them can unite, they must decide who is guilty. For without guilt, there is no reconciliation. The issue with Nigerian political class is that we allow guilt to fester without atonement. If these groups reconcile, there must be penance. Who will do penance if Wike reconciles with Bauchi Governor? Or if Pitobi goes back to PDP? Greek playwright Aeschylus wrote the Oresteia trilogy, the first was about guilt known as Agamemnon, the second about atonement known as The Libation Bearers and the third is about absolution and known as Eumenides. When have we had a major reconciliation in our politics that evokes absolution? I don’t know when. Our politicians don’t reconcile. They embrace like pigs. We keep a narrative of patchworks that turn back to haunt us. Hence, we have parties without philosophies. The people inherit their lies and illusions. Sir Ivor Jennings had Nigerians in mind when he asserted that, “the people cannot decide until somebody decides who are the people.” Pitobi must be wary to make a decision like a merger for the Obidients. He risks losing them. If he joins PDP, he would have decided who his new people are, and they may not be called Obidients.
Shakespeare advice, “to thyself be true.” In a satire of class and manners, the great Oscar Wilde penned the play, The Importance of Being Earnest, in which lovestruck men try to change their identities in order to marry two women who only want to marry men named Earnest. In the end, saying truth to themselves matters.
Nor is identity so easy in politics anywhere. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Catholic France was defending Protestant Netherlands against its Catholic enemies and Catholic Spain and Germany pitched tents with Protestants called the Huguenots in France against the Catholic French king. And Oliver Cromwell, a Protestant who slaughtered many Catholics at home, made alliance with the great Jules Mazarin, French Catholic leader. If you compromise faith, you can compromise anything. We saw Pitobi the other day in the shadows of a mosque.
The story of PDP and Pitobi’s LP will make a great study in crisis of love and marriage in politics.
If their first was luscious, the next will be Judas kiss.
NB: Sam Omatseye is a respected columnist with The Nation
Opinion
FLOODING: “Despite the Huge Amount Received, the Niger Delta States Still Experience Perennial Flooding” Mulade Laments
* Calls for Judicious Use of Ecological Funds, Blames Persistent Flooding on Governors’ Failure
Warri – Renowned Niger-Delta born environmental and development advocate, Comrade Mulade Sheriff, has re-emphasized the need for the state government to judiciously apply the ecological funds to address and tackle the perennial flooding and erosion in the region.
According to the environmental advocate, while the federal government has spent over N600 billion to various States in the country for ecological funding and erosion control, he lamented that though the Niger Delta governors received a larger chunk of the funds, no significant impact has been made over the last 10 years.
“We commend the federal government for the support towards reducing ecological impact in the various flood prone states with erosion issues.
“For the Niger Delta States, there has been no improvement in the past 10 years. Despite the huge amount received, the Niger Delta States still experience perennial flooding, loss of lives, destruction of livelihood, and shortage of food as well as increase in unemployment due to washing away of farmland and crops,” he lamented.
The development advocate took a swipe at the Niger Delta governors for turning the ecological fund into a looting jamboree through the setting up of what he described as “political Flood Management Committee” that are used to siphon away funds meant to address the perennial flood issue.
“It is imperative to State that failure of government at all levels is one of the greatest reason for the occurrence of the continuous flooding, loss of lives and destruction of properties in the Niger Delta States. Despite the huge investment of ecological funds in the region, the funds are diverted and swallowed up by political elites or gladiators of the region.
“Political overbearing coupled with corruption have made the Niger Delta governors not to properly put in place measures to tackle and address this critical issues.
“Rather, in order to cover their failure and mismanagement of the funds, they set up a political Flood Management Committee in some state to oversee the impact of the flood with the means to siphon millions of naira at the erection of temporal IDP Camps without regard for modern facilities, portable water, sanitation and hygienic environmental measures. There is no proper drainage system, natural waterways were blocked by building houses on water courses and deforestation by community members,” he added.
Mulade therefore called on the Niger Delta States to instead establish an agency that will tasked with oversight functions on the issue of perennial flooding in the region.
“The Niger Delta States need to create agencies saddled with specific responsibility to manage the funds, and respond to the construction of storm water dam systems, open existing drainage systems, and natural waterways,” he proffered.
In the annals of Ijaw history, whispers of a bygone era echo through the ages, recounting the tale of Agadagbabou, a fabled city on Wilberforce Island, where the Ijaw nation once thrived. This sacred land, imbued with the essence of their forebears, served as both a political and spiritual hub, where Agadagba, the revered spiritual and military general, once walked. The dispersal of the Ijaw people from this island, centuries ago, has left an indelible mark on their collective memory, a testament to their rich heritage.
Today, Wilberforce Island, nestled in the heart of Bayelsa State, lies dormant, its ancient spirituality awaiting rediscovery. As the island of origin, it cradles the remnants of a bygone era, where Ijaw ancestors rest, their spirits lingering, awaiting the revitalisation of their sacred land. The island’s significance extends beyond the realm of history, for it is the Jerusalem of the Ijaw nation, a land of unity, where the fragmented threads of Ijaw identity can be woven together.
Wilberforce Island is currently home to 13 communities, spread across four local government areas of the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State. It also hosts notable institutions, including the Niger Delta University and an international airport, which contribute to the island’s modern-day significance. Niger Delta University, established in 2000, is a state-owned institution that offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programmes across various disciplines.
Since 2018, I have been advocating for the rebuilding of the Ijaw city on Wilberforce Island through public lectures, emphasising its historical and cultural importance. I must confess, I am not certain whether the island’s spirituality is passing through my agency, guiding me to underscore the need for its rebuilding, or if it is merely my passion for revitalising antiquity in our contemporary times that drives me. Whatever the catalyst, I am resolute in my conviction that Wilberforce Island is the foundation of Ijaw identity, a land that holds the secrets of our past and the key to our future.
Significance of Wilberforce Island
– *Spiritual Centre*: Restoration of the Ijaw city’s spiritual centre, reconnecting the people with their ancestral heritage
– *Unification*: Unification of the Ijaw nation, fostering a sense of shared identity and purpose
– *Economic Growth*: Potential for economic growth, as the island’s development could attract investment and create opportunities for the local population
– *Cultural Preservation*: Preservation of cultural heritage, safeguarding the history and traditions of the Ijaw people for future generations.
Let the Ijaw people heed the call to reclaim their heritage, to rebuild the city of their ancestors, and to revitalise the spirituality that once defined their existence. By doing so, they may unlock the secrets of their past, forge a brighter future, and ensure the continuation of their legacy for generations to come.
* Urged Swift Implementation of Ward 0Delineation Report
June 9, 2025
Chief (Dr) God’s power Gbenekama JP, the Fiywwei spokesperson of the Gbaramatu Kingdom, has raised concerns over the lingering delay by the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in implementing the Warri Federal Constituency Ward Delineation Report, warning that the continued inaction could jeopardize the fragile peace in the region.
The Ijaw leader made these remarks during a media engagement with members of the Ijaw Publishers ‘Forum (IPF) at his residence in Effurun, Delta State, on Monday.
Calling for urgency from the electoral body, Gbenekama stated that postponing the implementation of the ward Delineation exercise does not serve the interests of peace or stability in Warri and it’s environs
“These noises that the Federal Government is listening to is not in the favour of peace”, he said, referencing objections reportedly raised by some Itsekiri groups regarding the outcome of the delineation process.
The Fiyewei noted that despite these tensions, the region has remained relatively calm, thanks in part to effort by traditional rulers who continue to advocate for unity and stability.
“Niger Delta kings, especially the Pere of Gbaramatu Kingdom, has been going round the region with other kings to sustain the peace. Those that can sustain peace, if not properly handled, can bring about violence,” he cautioned.
He went further to criticize those opposing the delineation, describing their resistance as a reaction to the loss of unfair advantages.
“So, what the Itsekiri elements are saying shouldn’t be taken seriously. It is very clear that if you are enjoying something belonging to someone else with trickery and the truth comes out, you are bound to fight because food has been taken from your table.
“The Itsekiris are a sinking boat that is grappling for anything to stay afloat. We, Ijaw people of Gbaramatu, Ogbe-Ijoh, Egbema, Isaba, and Diebiri, are not taking them seriously because we are not ready to fight them. It is peace we want, and we will continue to maintain peace. ”
Reiterating his appeal to the federal government, Gbenekama urged for decisive action to enable INEC to finalise its work without further delays.
“The government should do what is necessary so that INEC can conclude their work. The delays of INEC work is not in the interest of peace,” he warned.
In a strong message of reconciliation, the Fiyewei extended an Olive branch to the Itsekiris, calling for mutual respect and coexistence.
“We are outstretching our hands of fellowship to the Itsekiri people, let them support what Aketekpe, Pere Oboro Gabaraun II, and other Ijaw monarchs are doing to maintain the peace in the Niger Delta.”
He also revealed that there are reports of plots to sabotage oil pipelines to undermine the credibility of High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) and his security outfitTantita Security Services Nigeria Limited.
“We have information that some elements are planning to attack pipelines to discredit Tompolo. Let it be said that nobody at this time can discredit Tompolo and Tantita. Many of the Ijaws and Itsekiris would have died if not for Tantita,” he asserted.
High Chief Gbenekama’s call comes amidst heightened anticipation over the electoral Wards delineation and reflects growing concerns from Niger Delta leaders about threats to the region’s delicate peace and development trajectory.