Last week, on this page, I reproduced a letter from Rescue Rivers, a group I founded, to President Tinubu. The opening paragraphs:   

We, the People of Rivers State and as concerned citizens of Nigeria, are writing to express our utmost outrage and condemnation of your recent [unconstitutional] declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the subsequent suspension of:-

1.    The democratically elected Governor, His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara. 2. Deputy Governor Professor Ngozi Odu. 3. All elected Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Due to lack of space, I wasn’t able to name the co-signatories. So, let me do so now because I am very proud of them for publicly standing up to be counted and they deserve credit for their principled stance:

Aleruchi Cookey-Gam, Ibim Semenitari, Lloyd F. Ukwu ( NADECO USA/Project Coordinator), Julie A Dyer (Coord/ Admin), Ibiba Omotoso, Kariba Braide, Aselle Abigo-Tshiunza, Karibo Lawson, George Ibifubara Jumbo, Dr Pax Harry, Ogu Emejuru, Nimi Amachree, Osa Cookey, Soala Iyalla, Daba Ibiama, Arnold Amino Amacree, Ibiba DonPedro, Derego Somiari, Michael Aloega, Abosi Israel, Sam Warmate, Osmond Dumo Barango, Aji Amachree Ihetu, Onu Nkiru Uba and Pius Dukor.

Only time will tell how the situation in Rivers State will eventually pan out. Rumours are rife that our PDP Governor, Sim Fubara, will soon defect to the APC, to prevent his tormentors (FCT Minister Nyesom Wike primarily) from making mincemeat of him.

I will be extremely disappointed if Fubara follows the path of least resistance and takes this easy way out because most Rivers indigenes are tired of bullying from Abuja and firmly behind him.

I cannot be sure that Fubara will win this dirty political game if he fights back against the powerful federal hijackers and usurpers who have humiliated him and seized control over our money.

But I do know for sure that Fubara will go down in history as a premier league hero if he girds his loins, behaves like a leader of substance, displays self-respect and courageously refuses to cave in.

Let’s wait and see what happens. Watch this space!!!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A friend posted this write-up on a WhatsApp group we belong to; and I think we all need to heed the wise words therein.

“I chuckled the first time I came across the phrase, ‘Until you have money to finance your temptations, don’t brag about morals.’

“Too much is hidden in poverty.”

“It was clever – yes – but more than that, it was quietly confronting.

“It peeled back the comfortable layers of ‘self-righteousness’; we often wear and expose an uncomfortable truth: that what we sometimes call morality may, in fact, be a privilege of limited options.

“It reminded me of another saying: ‘You call it corruption – until it comes your way. Then you’ll call it connections. And if you’re religious, you might even call it grace.’

“In our moral superiority, we confuse being untempted with being upright. We mistake the absence of opportunity for the strength of character. In doing so, we judge others through a lens clouded by comfort, detachment, and unchecked privilege.

“It’s easy to seem disciplined when nothing desirable is within reach. Easy to appear loyal when there’s no better offer on the table. It is easy to claim honesty when a lie has never promised to save you.

“And so we stand on our ‘safe little hills’ of assumed virtue, pointing fingers at those who fall—never pausing to ask whether we’d have done any better in their place. Maybe we haven’t resisted as much as we think. Perhaps we’ve just never been offered the shortcut.

“This isn’t to ‘romanticize’failure or excuse poor choices.’ It’s not to say wrong becomes right if it’s understandable. No. It’s a call to humility.

“A reminder that judgement without context isn’t strength. ‘It’s laziness masquerading as righteousness.’ It’s easy to judge others simply because they sin more differently than you.

“It’s easy to look down on the woman who stays in a toxic relationship—until life forces you to choose between safety and self-worth. Easy to mock the man who numbs his pain—until you’ve carried a grief that words can’t hold. Easy to scoff at the one who compromised – until your own values are tested not in theory but in fire.

“And when that ‘fire’ comes – and it does come – you begin to understand that real morality is quiet. It’s forged in private. And it costs.

“So, no, we shouldn’t glorify mistakes or blur the line between right and wrong. But we must stop weaponising virtue. Because morality isn’t proven by the absence of failure. It’s revealed in the presence of options.

“It’s folly to assume we’re better simply because we haven’t faced the same storms. Life has a funny way of humbling people. The very thing you once judged may become the thing you one day understand. And when that moment comes, may you be met with compassion – not condemnation.

“We’re all human. All learning. All navigating the chaos of life with the tools we’ve been given in stories the world may never fully know. So hold your standards high – but hold your heart higher. Speak truth—but season it with tenderness. And let your integrity be the kind that doesn’t need a stage to be real.”