What is the price of loyalty?

In 2015, former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola, when he appeared before the senate for ministerial screening, was asked by a senator if he will be loyal in the discharge of his duties to the nation.

Fashola a very smart man gave us the famous quote “all I will say is that may our loyalty never be tested”.

This piece today is the premise of the visit of some All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to River state governor, Wyesom Wike. Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, led the chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, and the outgoing governor of Ekiti State, John Kayode Fayemi, to see Wike and woo him to join the party.

No matter the denials or media spin about the meeting, it is obvious the meeting was to woo the Rivers governor to APC. It is no coincidence that Wike is not happy with his party after losing out on the presidency and vice presidency slots. Wike is now the beautiful bride that all suitors are wooing.

In my opinion, the three governors’ visit to Wike is in bad taste and total disrespect to the former minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. What are the three governors trying to prove or what message are they sending to Ameachi? That, in the scheme of things in Rivers, he is not important or what exactly was their mission?

Lest we forget, Ameachi finished second in the APC presidential primary ahead of a sitting vice-president, a sitting senate president, and three sitting governors. To me, he is a winner and that’s impressive. After the primary, he collapsed his structure and told his supporters to vote for the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu. That is a loyal party man. He didn’t get the party ticket but he is prepared to work for the electoral victory of the party and juxtapose it with a Wike who is ready to play the spoiler role because he lost out on the presidency.

I remember the things Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, said about Amaechi during the campaigns for the APC presidential ticket.

“Let me tell you my history with Amaechi. When we started discussing with the G-7, the seven governors that wanted to defect to the APC, I was holding nocturnal meetings with Amaechi and Governor Nyako of Adamawa state until we got five of them to move to our party, and that was the game-changer,” El-Rufai said.

“And for you to understand how difficult it is, imagine Amaechi of Rivers state from the same south-south with incumbent President Jonathan.

“He made the sacrifice to move to our party. It was a game-changer. This is part of the reason President Buhari loves Minister Amaechi till tomorrow.”

So why is the APC throwing Amaechi under the bus now — after going against the majority decision of his region in 2015 and for some months seen as an enemy for being one of the major people that scuttled President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid. So has he outlived his usefulness to the party?

To be sure, I think the plan by the APC to woo Wike into their fold is an exercise in futility. I don’t see Wike defecting to the APC and I don’t see the electoral value he is going to bring to the party.

Unless the APC is living under a rock, even with a Wike in the party, APC won’t win in Rivers state. The state is a PDP stronghold and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

What again is the price of loyalty in Nigerian politics? Just like politicians, political parties are only interested in the present and who can deliver for them no matter their antecedents. Loyalty is hardly rewarded.