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By Etim Etim

On the surface, the exit of Gov. Sim Fubara from Rivers State governorship contest and the abduction of school children and murder of a teacher by terrorists in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, might appear as two distinct occurrences in two different places, but in reality they are symbols of the continued decline or failure of the Nigerian state. One represents the cause and the other the effect. With Fubara pushed out and replaced with Ogundu Kingsley Chinda, a Nyesom Wike Man Friday, as APC candidate, Rivers is now in full control of the FCT minister and the damage would be incalculable. It’s the victory of Wike in the long drawn battle and an ultimate state capture in the real sense of the word.

For three years, Gov. Fubara had fought hard to keep the state from Wike’s reach, but the Nigerian government failed him for reasons we all know. Wike played an ignoble role during the 2023 presidential election and the beneficiaries of his action are bent on keeping him in power and aiding his takeover of his state so that he could mastermind a repeat in 2027. To achieve this, the FCT Minister needs to put someone who would do his bidding in the Governor’s Office. The stooge would then open up the treasury and make it available for the master and the ‘’master strategist’’. Rivers people are in for it and they’d pay dearly for their inability or unwillingness to resist this monumental conquer.

The last time someone tried this nonsense in Akwa Ibom State, the whole state rose in unison against him and he fled. I am so disappointed that Rivers people could not join hands with their governor to repel such a brazen attack on their motherland. They have now become slaves in their homeland and generations unborn will never forgive those who colluded to loot and desecrate their state.

State capture is different from ordinary corruption in the sense that while ordinary corruption entails such activities as bribes for specific favour or favours; one-off transaction and violation of existing rules like embezzlements or money laundering, state capture occurs when powerful individuals or groups take control of state institutions and use them to serve their own private interests instead of public interest. It’s a form of systematic corruption where the rules themselves get rewritten. So, instead of bribing an official to look the other way on one deal, state captors influence laws, regulations, appointments and even court decisions.

The goal of state capture is to change the system itself and turn everything into the private estate of the capturer.

If Wike, a PDP chieftain, could influence the choices made by APC National Headquarters, including choice of a governorship candidate in APC, then there is no bigger state capturer in this dispensation. Make no mistake, Rivers is not the only state that has fallen into private hands, but it is a good illustrative example. In years to come, students of development economics and politics will use Rivers as a case study of state capture in their Ph.D dissertations. Over the years, state capture has resulted in the weakening of vital institutions like the military; police and other law enforcement agencies; judiciary; legislature; civil service and even INEC. There is no facet of our national life that has not been negatively impacted by state capture. This is why terrorism has persisted this long, and the government appears too impotent to protect its citizens.

State capture means the military does not have the required equipment, men and intelligence to defend the country. State capture means that the politicians are more engrossed in designing schemes that would line their pockets than providing for the welfare and security of the people. State capture means even the media have become paid defenders of state captors – the same media that once fought the military to secure democracy have themselves been captured by the politicians. State capture is the reason terrorists are invading the country from the Sahel region through neigbouring countries and moving into the Southern parts of the country, while leaders make laws to perpetuate themselves in power and weaken opposition.

The attacks on Baptist Nursery and Primary School; Community Grammar School and Local Authority Primary School, all in Orire Local Government Area of Oyo State, last Friday, show just how vulnerable we all are. Terrorists on motorcycles launched coordinated raids on the schools during school hours. Forty six people were abducted – seven teachers and 39 students, including a two-year-old toddler. But police later say that 25 people and teachers remained missing. One of the abducted teachers, Michael Oyedokun, was beheaded and a video of the gruesome murder has been going around in the social media. An Assistant headmaster, Joel Adesiyan, and a commercial motorcyclist were also killed during the attack. This would be the second brazen mass murder committed by terrorists in South West Nigeria, after the church massacre in Owo, Ondo State, on Sunday, June 5, 2022.

I lived in Lagos for decades and raised a family there. It is my second home, indeed. I know Yoruba people to be very accommodating, polite and resilient. They fought the June 12 crisis with courage and determination. I urge them not to show weakness in the face of invading terrorists. It should now be clear to the Nigerian government that terrorists want to penetrate the southern parts of the country and takeover the whole nation. So far, it is only the South-South and South Eastern parts of the country that have been spared. The time to create state police is now!