Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State
By A.A.S Opeyemi
It’s over three months, still Nyesom Wike, the governor of the oil-rich Rivers State, haven’t gotten over his loss of the PDP presidential ticket for the 2023 general election.
His serial and unrestrained outbursts evoke an imagery of a toddler throwing tantrums over a loaf of bread. His incessant wails make one wonder when the loss of a political office equates the loss of a child. When did the presidential seat become Wike’s birthright? Which ancestor willed Nigeria and its citizens to Wike as an inheritance? Isn’t there anybody on our planet who has lost something more precious than a presidential ticket?
While the anticipation of the 2023 general election is yet surrounded with a lot of uncertainties, it is almost cast in stone that Wike’s sense of entitlement will erode his people’s chances of victory.
He has persisted in harassing the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and its leadership, instead of making peace with the reality of his own defeat. At one point, he angered Sule Lamido, the two-term governor of Jigawa State, who told him to “go to hell and do his worst.” Lamido said that since no PDP member has insulted Wike, there were no grounds to make amends with him.
The collective victory of a party, by all means, takes precedence over individual’s ambitions except in cases of selfishness rather than selflessness which defines Wike’s disposition. Besides, if Wike was looking for attention beyond the party lines, as some pundits have suggested, hasn’t he already gotten enough of it?
Wike met with Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, the presidential candidates of the opposing All Progressives Congress and Labour Party, respectively, months back.
Despite the former governor of Jigawa State’s criticism of the weeping Rivers State governor symbolizing the growing outrage within the party, Atiku had to meet with him to discuss how his battered ego might be stroked, possibly concerned by these encounters.
Still Wike would not be appeased. He continues making mockery of his alleged rivals both locally and nationally, while threatening to drop a bombshell that would bring the PDP to its knees.
He was widely reported to have threatened that “something big will happen in the PDP soon,” and he has also sought attention with the press regarding his complaints. What will be his next move? Will he deflect? What value will he add to another party if he deflects? What will happen to his candidates in his state if he does that?
Wike’s numerous outbursts speaks to his incompetence as a politician who, lacking a viable plan, has grown too frantic to examine his failed strategies, further eroding his already slim options.
It is not difficult to see how his strong sense of entitlement has continued to push him towards the edge of political disaster. What possible benefits can a man, who acts as if others don’t rate, derive from a political negotiation that calls for compromise? What concession could he have made to the APC presidential candidate, who also has a contender in the Rivers State elections, given the current situation? What would a deal like that cost Tinubu politically?
Although it is unknown what concessions Wike requested of Tinubu, his alleged requests from Atiku seemed designed to complicate discussions and come to a stalemate.
The party constitution stipulates that the next person in line from the region the previous occupant comes from shall fill the position in the event of a vacancy. So, for example, the demand that Iyorchia Ayu, the national chairman, step down, cannot resolve the issue of northern dominance of the party hierarchy.
In this instance, Umar Damagum, the deputy national chairman, will fill the role. Is it reasonable to assume that Wike, a prominent party member is ignorant of this constitutional clause?
Many PDP leaders have actually come to the conclusion that Wike is actually making unreasonable demands in an effort to start and maintain a crisis that will destabilize the party and divert attention away from the more crucial task of building a strong platform for the upcoming election campaign. Many of them believe that the Rivers State governor should be called to order at this point.
Their fear is valid if one observes the pattern since 2014. On the party platform that year, some northern governors claimed that President Goodluck Jonathan shouldn’t compete for reelection because the North should present the president that year. Despite the incumbent president’s constitutional right to run, they made and insisted on this demand. They caused so much problems that Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku, Bukola Saraki, and Aminu Tambuwa — along with four other key party members from the zone: Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdulfatah Ahmed, Aliyu Wamakko, and Murtala Nyako — decided to join the new APC.
Five years later, in 2019, it would appear that Atiku, who served as the rabble-rouser in 2014, was due for a payback, as South-East governors and prominent party figures from the region refused to work with him on the selection of Obi as his running mate, largely because each of them preferred to serve as his vice-presidential candidate. None of them left the party, but they remained to undermine it in the 2019 presidential election that brought President Muhammadu Buhari back to power.
According to some PDP officials, it is past time for the party to learn from its past errors of appeasing refractory members who feel that they must bring down the roof whenever things do not go their way.
They reasoned that if Wike’s network and electoral worth are overstated, reining him in should be simpler. He has already experienced a significant setback as a result of his inability to obtain any significant concession from his prowling around Tinubu and the APC. The sitting governor-friends he has, such as Oyo’s Seyi Makinde, Benue’s Samuel Ortom, and Abia’s Okezie Ikpeazu, as well as his motley group of former this and that who have since lost numerous elections, won’t be able to keep up with him.
The incumbent governors, who are also candidates in the general election of 2023, which will see the beginning of electioneering later this month, have their own fights to face in their different states. What time would they have to be hanging out with Wike who is under attack at home for his bullying tactics?
It is time for the PDP hierarchy to start developing its own electoral strategy without Wike and to tell him to either ship in or ship out, according to these figures. Wike should not forget he has a lot at stake. In the tradition of governors choosing their successors, Wike has his anointed candidates for governorship, House of Senate and House of Assembly which he will have to superintend .
His attitude now can cast a shadow of doubt over their performance in the elections. Without reconciliation early enough, it is not just PDP that will lose, Wike also risks losing his state to the opposition, and all of them will be damned.
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