Rivers: Nigeria deserves better than gutter politics — by Kio Amachree

I am African.
I am Nigerian.
But I am not a fool.

And I am not so desperate that I will accept being ruled by men who treat an entire nation as their personal possession.

The standard of politics in Rivers State has fallen so low that it is now an international embarrassment. This collapse did not happen by accident. It can be traced, clearly and directly, to one man: Nyesom Wike.

I am not interested in his feud with the governor he personally installed. That is village politics, and it deserves village-level attention. What concerns me is the global reaction to this spectacle, the damage it does to Nigeria’s credibility, and the way it reinforces the worst stereotypes about 230 million people who deserve far better leadership than this circus.

No serious country repeatedly elevates political thugs, errand boys, cultists, and street enforcers to positions of enormous power. Nigeria does. And worse, it does so proudly. This practice has brought the country to its knees.

We have educated, disciplined, presentable men and women with international exposure, administrative competence, and a sense of statehood. Yet election after election, the worst candidates emerge victorious while responsible citizens are made to feel inferior for obeying the law, paying taxes, and refusing to participate in corruption.

This is not democracy. It is organized self-sabotage.

When voters accept bribes and knowingly return incompetence to office, they surrender the moral authority that democracy requires. At that point, the system itself begins to invite alternatives.

One such alternative is already being debated globally: technocratic governance. Systems where expertise replaces noise, where data replaces chaos, where cities are run with the efficiency of major corporations, and where leadership is measured by performance rather than intimidation.

This model is being tested in parts of the world right now. If Nigeria continues on its current path, it will not be a choice. It will be an inevitability.

History is unforgiving to societies that refuse to learn. Nigeria must decide whether it wants to be taken seriously in the modern world or remain trapped in gutter politics dressed up as popular rule.

The time for excuses is over.