Amaechi’s Obasanjo coup

FOR two days last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was ferried from one project to another by his host, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, to commission projects. Both guest and host relished the roles they foisted on each other. Ordinarily, not constitutionally, the role of commissioning major projects is reserved for the president who often synchronises his visit with the completion of huge state projects. But President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience, are at daggers drawn with Mr Amaechi, and that conflict has degenerated so badly and obscenely that even the constitution is endangered.
Fortunately for the governor, Chief Obasanjo is not only at worse daggers drawn with the president over what many describe as egotistical trifles, the former president also had sufficient clout to make his visit to Rivers both important and memorable. The message and implication of the visit and project commissioning were of course not lost on Nigeria’s mischievous reporters who latched on to the visit to give it very copious treatment. Mr Amaechi not only carried out a coup, he did it with aplomb, amidst jokes, banter and dithyrambs certain to leave President Jonathan chafing and envious.
It is unlikely that after this celebrated role reversal between Chief Obasanjo and President Jonathan, there is unlikely ever to be any reconciliation. Neither President Jonathan nor Governor Amaechi is temperamentally suited for succumbing to pressure or making peace after war. As the 2015 polls draw near, both gentlemen will indulge their bizarre talents to the fullest, the former to levy war earnestly and heedlessly; and the latter to fire ripostes with disproportionate and unqualified youthful zest.