He touched her chin. She held his hand. Softly. His dim eyes gazed into her eyes. She gazed at him too. They were sitting on red seats with a touch of royalty.
Other guests, especially the movie stars who were the reason for the event, became spectators – momentarily. And they had an eyeful.
It was all at this year’s African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the weekend.
His Excellency Nyeson Ezebunwo Wike and his wife Justice Suzette were ready to shock all who may have thought the public display of affection would end at the mere holding of hands. Springing up from their seats, Wike planted a French kiss on his wife. She responded sharply. Their eyes were closed as they savoured the sudden flight to dreamland.
House Leader Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and others close to the scene watched with rapt attention. Gbajabiamila, his hand on his jaw, smiled as he watched the scene of affection – and passion.
It was a short scene that ended before many could train their eyes on it. But it perhaps painted His Excellency – who is considered stiff and some could have vowed was incapable of such an open display of love – in another light. Not a few will have trouble reconciling this Wike and the one once hailed as ‘Wicked Wike’ by a colleague in his days as a member of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration.
But believe it or not, this Wike is the same as the author of those “inciting” speeches (“Write your Will if you’re coming to Rivers” and others) before the rerun, the one who boasted of carrying the day at the Supreme Court, which eventually handed him the governorship trophy – to the consternation of his opponents and some legal giants.
That, however, was then. Now Wike is settling down to govern and spare some time for love – that seductive feeling which can melt any heart and make the strongest of men appear vulnerable.