By Rudolf Okeke
In the heat of the jostle for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP Presidential ticket, one of the aspirants, Nyesom Wike was pinned down for a television interview. The Rivers State Governor was dismissive of the aspiration of Peter Obi, an Igbo and former Governor of Anambra State. “We are talking serious business here, pls don’t trivialise it, no no no.” He retorted when questioned on the chances of Obi, who was then, also in the race.
He pursued the same line of thought when he travelled to Anambra to scavenge for support of PDP delegates in the State. “I know your son is running, but he cannot win. I’m telling you he cannot win, no no no. So dont waste your votes on him.” The only evidence he provided in support of his bias, was that Obi had attended Atiku Abubakar’s declaration where he described the former Vice President as the man that could “fix the economy…” Of course, the rest now belongs to the ages.
The Primary has since been won and lost. 767 votes were up for grab. Atiku clinched the ticket with 371, while Wike who came second with 237 has refused to heal over the loss. His bellicosity is well known. In fact, he has since been going about like a wounded llion, seeking to pull down the house on party members.
Wike has deep pockets, from where he funds his political adventures and phantasm. It is little wonder that he has successfully recruited four colleagues in the party into his crusade. They include two second term gullible South East governors, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Abia and Enugu states. Others are Samuel Orton of Benue and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State. They go by the operational cognomen, Integrity Group.
The G-5 has withheld support for Atiku, insisting on the resignation of PDP National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, in the spirit of equity and national character. Wike helped to install Ayu, an indigene of Benue, a little more than a year ago. However, they now hold that it is against natural justice for the Chairman and Presidential candidate to come from the same part of the country.
Without doubts, the domineering Rivers Governor is the undisputed leader of the group. He has suddenly transmutted to an activist and parades about with the finer qualities of an ideologue. He likes to be seen as someone committed to nationalism, in the mode of that erudite statesman Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe. But the more he seeks to be arrayed in this robe, the more his real person comes to the fore, as an enemy to the realization of a Nigerian President of Igbo descent.
His Crocodile tears for Atiku in the wake of recent multiple endorsements of Obi by more altruistic patriots, especially former President Olusegun Obasanjo, must be understood from this perspective. Wike claimed he had hoped that Obasanjo would keep mute, if his preferred candidate was not going to be Atiku.
Going by Wike’s notoriety and grievances with his party’s leadership, his latest reaction may not be more than a smokescreen. Truth is, the Rivers Governor detests anything that gets the Igbo nearer the Presidency.
One can safely rationalize that in spite of ancestral links to the Igbo as an Ikwere person, Wike’s greed and selfishness, contributed in no small way in depriving the South East of their prospects for the presidency in the 2023 elections.
For one, the outspoken Goveenor championed the agitation for the return of the Presidency to the South in the name of zoning and under the guise of fairness and equality. He however refused to acknowledge the need to micro-zone to the southeast, being the only leg in the tripodal zone yet to occupy the all important office, since return of democracy in 1999.
Wike conveniently neglected the fact that the immediate past President, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a fellow Niger Deltan from Bayelsa State. Only a rabid ambition and greed could have made a restless, fair and just spirit switch to default amnesia, the way Wike did.
A cursory postmortem of Wike’s actions reveals something scary! His antics and intolerance chased away prominent Igbo people and others from the party, including Governors Dave Umeahi of Ebonyi, Ben Ayade of Cross River and Obi. Governors Aminu Tambuwa of Sokoto, Godwin Obaseki of Edo and his Deputy, got hooked in his throat. Wike was probably working to an answer.
What shapes Wike’s influence over members of his gang? Both Ikpeazu and Ugwuanyi are running their final terms and not on the ballot for anything. Although Ortom is also a finalist, he holds the PDP Senate ticket for his zone. Makinde is running for second tenure. Analysts believe that Wike’s inordinate spending habits hold the key.
He does not pretend about using the vault of the Rivers people for clearly extraneous affairs. The gang junkets the globe for their mutinies, on Rivers bill. I have lost count of the number of times they have travelled to the United Kingdom, for meetings that could have taken place at home, with spiral boost on the local economy. Needless to say that their states practically shut down each time these Governors travel abroad.
The group appears to be in a dilemma on where to pitch tent in the presidential race. Clearly they are not eager to touch Atiku with a long poll. Is is Tinubu or Obi? They have been reluctant to name their preference.
Is Wike playing the Ostrich on the legitimate quest of the Igbo to occupy the first office in the land? The wind is blowing.