Rivers crisis: What Presidency, Amaechi told me - Soyinka

Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka has shared a deep insight into the political crisis besetting the oil producing state of Rivers State.

According to him, the root of the rift between Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and the Presidency is resource related.

Soyinka  said he had been contacted by both factions before he addressed a joint news conference with activist Femi Falana (SAN) in Lagos.

The literary icon, who is respected worldwide for his mastery of English words, , disclosed that the Presidency was unhappy over 'conflict of interests on certain resources'.

Soyinka said  he briefed on the Presidency's side of the story by  a special adviser in the Presidency, whom he did not name.

He said the adviser, visited him and outlined the official rationale for the Nigerian Governors' Forum (NGF) debacle.

The noble laureate surmised that  the conflict over certain resources, was implied as the root of the division between the NGF and the Presidency.

He said he passed the details from the encounter to Amaechi, who denied all the allegations.

The playwright added that the core issues were the threat to democracy.

Soyinka said: 'Before the press conference held by Femi Falana and myself-that is, even before the Rivers Assembly fracas-I had been canvassed by opposing sides of the face-off, both via telephone and physically.

'One such visit, perhaps the most significant, was made by a Special Adviser in the Presidency who outlined what can be regarded as the official rationale for the Governors' Forum debacle.

'In the process of this exchange, he did make certain complaints against Governor Rotimi Amaechi, including charges of a conflict of interests over certain resources. This was implied as the root of division between the NGF and the Presidency.

'I wrote down details, informed the emissary that I would pass on these accusations to Governor Amaechi-which I did. That Amaechi hotly denied them and offered contradicting facts, which he urged me to verify, remains utterly irrelevant to the democratic core of the conflict-and this has been made clear to all interventionists:

'The arithmetics of democracy involved in figures 16 and 19 at the time, and now, with increased confidence in impunity, the figures 27 and 5.

'Whether or not it is democratic, even cultured proceeding that a state governor is barred from public access anywhere within his own zone of constitutional authority, with the massive security apparatus of the centre, on behalf of an unelected individual.

'Even after the Rivers crisis has been resolved, this notorious proceeding will not be permitted to fester unchallenged.

'For the rest, since beneath the surface of most Nigerian conflicts will be found inordinate greed for public resources, it is perhaps pertinent to remind ourselves that oil is not the only marvel to emerge from the Delta swamps.

'There are also exotic creatures-mermaids, manatees, even mammy watas and hippopotami. However, unlike crude oil, which can be refined, you can extract a hippopotamus from the swamps, but you cannot take the swamp out of the hippopotamus.'