Simply when Nigerians thought the Asoebi saga had ended with mismatched kaftans and silent WhatsApp exits, two former members have determined the story wants a sequel they usually introduced it again with sharper edges. Nyesom Wike and Seyi Makinde are now not former allies managing distance. They’re rival energy centres shifting towards collision.
The Asoebi Boys have been meant to be a chapter. 5 governors certain by shared grievance, wearing coordinated defiance, shaking the foundations of the Peoples Democratic Social gathering with theatrical unity. They moved as one. Spoke as one. Threatened as one. Their insurrection was choreographed, nearly ceremonial.
However alliances constructed on convergence hardly ever survive the disappearance of the frequent enemy. Immediately, two of these former groomsmen stand on reverse ends of the identical political property.
Not disagreement. Not rigidity. Contest.
When Wike declared himself “001 of Abuja and Port Harcourt,” it was not a nickname. It was hierarchy spoken aloud. In Nigeria’s political dialect, 001 indicators proximity to government energy, entry to equipment, affect over levers that don’t seem on marketing campaign posters. It was a reminder that authority will not be at all times electoral. Typically it’s structural.
Then got here the warning that he may enter Oyo State and scatter get together construction. That sentence was not geography. It was a sign.
In Nigerian politics, construction is oxygen. It determines delegates. Delegates decide primaries. Primaries decide candidacy. And candidacy determines who will get to jot down the long run. To threaten construction is to threaten survival. Makinde responded with a single phrase that landed heavier than a paragraph: vagabonds. In our political tradition, that phrase doesn’t float calmly. It suggests dysfunction, indiscipline, illegitimacy. He didn’t connect a reputation. He didn’t have to. The viewers understood.
With that alternate, nostalgia ended. What we’re witnessing will not be leftover bitterness from 2023. It’s succession nervousness surfacing early. The G5 have been formidable when united towards a grievance. They turned susceptible when ambition now not required coordination.
Historical past presents precedent. Obasanjo and Atiku as soon as ruled in tandem, till overlapping energy turned partnership into rivalry. Unity fractured not as a result of affection vanished, however as a result of future management was at stake. Construction turned weapon. Loyalty turned negotiable.
The current standoff echoes that logic. Wike operates from federal altitude, armed with ministerial authority and entry to the centre. Makinde operates from consolidated regional stability, a second time period granting him time and inside affect. One tasks power. The opposite tasks order.
Neither is improvising. Each public assertion is choreography. Each insult is calibration. Governors, financiers, and presidential hopefuls are usually not expecting drama. They’re calculating alignment.
Former allies are harmful opponents as a result of they perceive one another’s structure. They know the place the beams are weak. They bear in mind the personal technique classes. They anticipate the countermove earlier than it’s deployed. However beneath the chessboard lies one thing extra unsettling.
This rivalry will not be merely about two males. It’s a few political tradition the place ideology is skinny, however positioning is thick. The place events are much less philosophical houses and extra strategic automobiles. The place unity usually performs nicely in images and fractures quietly in personal. The Aseobi Boys have been by no means certain by doctrine. They have been certain by timing.
As soon as timing expired, ambition stepped ahead. And ambition, in contrast to material, doesn’t fade with ceremony. The deeper rigidity will not be who insulted whom. It’s who controls the gate when 2027 approaches. Who defines legitimacy. Who anoints construction. Who turns into indispensable to the centre of energy.
As a result of in Nigeria, energy hardly ever disappears. It relocates.And when two actors each imagine they’re central to its motion, the system doesn’t soothe the battle. It assessments capability. The tragedy will not be that allies fall out. That’s politics. The tragedy is that the voters usually stays a spectator to elite rivalry. Whereas buildings are defended and positions secured, ideology stays negotiable. The language is fierce. The stakes for bizarre residents stay unsure.
The matching kaftans are gone. The coordinated insurrection is reminiscence. What stays is intuition. And intuition, when stripped of costume, reveals what alliances have been actually manufactured from.
Ultimately, this will resolve in consolidation. Or collapse. However it reveals one thing older than the G5 and bigger than the PDP. In Nigerian politics, unity is often strategic. Loyalty is conditional. Construction is sacred. And ambition is affected person. When ambition lastly speaks with out costume, it doesn’t whisper.
It declares. And what it declares will not be brotherhood. It declares battle.
The put up AsoEbi Boys: A war beyond words, by Stephanie Shaakaa appeared first on Vanguard News.
