MAY 29, 2024 NYESOM WIKE'S DAY OF GLORY?
By Taiye Olaniyi
The advent of 29th May in the political history of Nigeria is one that cannot be easily rubbished nor described as insignificant.
Why? May 29th, 1999, marked the beginning of the actual change of baton from the then military Head of State General Abdusalam Abubakar to another former Head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo, who had been a politician in the garb of a civilian after his retirement from military service, and on that day became a civilian president of Nigeria. Previous to that day, the incarceration and the demise of late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola who was a presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party and presumably the winner of the freest and fairest election on June 12,1993 but the election was annulled by the military president General Ibrahim Babangida. The former military head of state Olusegun Obasanjo, who also had been jailed on alleged phantom coup by the late military head of state, General Sanni Abacha, by fate and destiny on May 29th 1999 became a civilian president of Nigeria after receiving state pardon for his alleged involvement in a phantom coup.
Since May 29, 1999 and the resultant change of baton from the then military head of state General Abdusalam Abubakar and the ascension of President Olusegun Obasanjo as the president of Nigeria in 1999, May 29th has been a memorable day of democratic relay race from one civilian government to another.
The significance of May 29,2024 is multidimensional in the sense that this year marks the first anniversary of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. It also marks the first time Nigerians at the public occasion of the inauguration of Abuja Metro Rail Line proudly sang the Old National Anthem, "Nigeria We Hail Thee.. now a replacement for that of the most recent"Arise O Compratiot" of 1978.
The third significant aspect of that day was not only the commissioning of Abuja Metro Rail Line, the train ride by President Tinubu and other dignitaries, but a lot of encomium showered on Mr Nyesom Wike the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja by the president.
For me, Wike was greatly showered with encomiums and Son of Man equally heartily felt impressed that during this President Tinubu's tenure, a minister from the opposition party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not only a minister under the rulling All Progressives Congress (APC), but a great achiever within the ambit of available resources, time and geopolitical spectrum of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.
I could feel Wike's happiness, joy and humility radiating from his heart, sense of achievement and self-fulfillment. The intermittent nodding of Wike's head, his mouth beaming with smiles and his head oscillating in applause on this great day may also be likened to the radiance of fate, fortune and destiny in a man's life cycles.
Is this day truly and would it be a "day of glory" for Wike? On the other hand, could it amount to another rhythm of his usual song, "As it dey sweet us, it dey pain them, as it dey pain them it dey sweet us"?
Would this day to Wike be a means of self-pilgrimage, a jihad into self, a holy war where the finest aspect of his most refined and spiritual finest of his being takes over the penchant for the bulldozing of whoever or whatever is regarded as an enemy be rightly or wrongly based on self aggrandizement and judgement?
Would May 29, 2024 be just a mere day of applause, clapping of hands, smiling and showering of encomiums or a day that the project of past years uuncompleted, now completed and to be continued in content, context, quality and quantum for all and sundry to enjoy?
Being a politician and the mystery of the "Nigeria Factor" always recurring like a decimal to bulldoze and wreck anything and every relic of good thing in the Nigerian geopolitics, would 29th May, 2024 further make Nyesom Wike to be a more humble achiever and servant of the nation or ooze in his heart, mind and soul the impressions of once a minister of state, a former governor now a minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, maybe angling in the future to be president of Nigeria.
Since "nothing happens by chance" to soothsaying elders of past ages in the dictum of old, so, my concern with May 29th, 2024 in the life of Nyesom Wike is borne out of my direct and indirect contacts with Rivers State, the railways and my beloved nation Nigeria.
From Rivers State's perspectives and during Rotimi Amaechi's time as the executive governor of Rivers State, I was privileged to be sponsored on Christian pilgrimage to Israel from December 30-10th January of 2011/2012 respectively.
Surprisingly I had never dreamt nor prayed to go to Israel for anything until such an opportunity came to me for a slot by one of my colleagues in NIPOST and through another NIPOST Staff who was a member of both National Union of Post and Telecommunication Employees, NUPTE and the Nigerian Labor Congress, (NLC).
The pilgrimage afforded me the first opportunity to travel in business class to and from Israel, equally the conviction that Nigeria is that land the Bible claims "flow with milk and honey" and not Israel to me. As a toast of the tour guides, I was privileged to convince them that the spiritual kernel of pilgrimage is another means of revenue generation through tourism. For me till this day and ever shall it be, the holiest of any "Holy Land" reclines in the pureness and worthiness of the hearts of those who transverse what and where they visit during the pilgrimage.
Secondly with Rivers State and this time around during Wike's tenure as an executive governor of the state, Rivers State with a couple of others created at the same time were approached by NIPOST to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their States with a set of commemorative postage stamps. The initial designs sent by Rivers State had one of them with the artist impressions of Nyesom Wike and his wife which I sternly pointed out to be rejected amongst others because of its nonconformity with one of the policy criteria for issuing postage stamps in Nigeria. The then stamp selection committee of NIPOST of which I was a member opted for the ones that were later considered worth featuring as having historical importance to the State. That was when NIPOST had not been bastardized by the politicians and political rigmaroles by having politicians as the Postmaster-General against career officers.
Anything relating and concerning the railway and transportation by train simply reminds me of the beauty of train services during our childhood days at Offa, the period of our adulthood during our school days in higher institutions, good friends we had met and those lost along the way those days when men were men.
Today, as a member of Legacy 1995, The Historical and Environmental Interest Group manning the Railway Museum at Jaekel House, Lagos, my members and I take pride in the preservation, restoration and promotion of the chequred history of the railway at the Museum and Heritage in all ramifications in Nigeria. It is on this note that I congratulate Nyesom Wike as being part of railway history in Nigeria, the minister of transport, the managing director and the entire staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation for this epochmaking event of that day in the railway history in Nigeria.
The Lagos State Government has blazed the trail in their red and blue railway metro lines. I pray for such for Kwara State, Offa and environs one day.
As a retired postman, senior citizen and an elder statesman though without financial portfolio and muscles too, I can conveniently affirm that though "silver or gold" I don't have, I still take pride in my 35 years of meritorious service to my fatherland,"Nigeria and will ever be proud of it come rain, come heatwave associated with the climate change.
I similarly pray that "Though Tribe and Tongue may Differ" in an enriched "Brotherhood" Nigeria shall remain standing in Light, Life and Love in Peace Profound.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired postman, lives in Lagos.