NYESOM Wike is not a man who shies away from any fight. And controversies. So far, he has won them all. Well, almost all.
The PDP held a national convention to nominate its presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections on 28 and 29 May 2022 at the National Stadium.
Wike was so confident he would win that he said he would behave a certain way if he lost, apparently assuming that would make those he believed he would defeat adopt the same line. He promised to support “whoever emerged” among the aspirants.
When former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a veteran of the game, dusted him 371 votes to 237, Wike was flustered.
However, he still sought the vice presidency, which was also denied him. That led him to form the G5, or Integrity Group, with four other governors to oppose Atiku’s candidacy.
The members of the so-called Integrity Group were all PDP governors: Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
But they, led by Wike, had to find excuses to work against their own party. They demanded the resignation of the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, arguing that both the national chairman and the presidential candidate came from the northern region, violating the party’s convention of regional balance.
Now, removing Ayu would have brought its own challenges because the party structure was set up in such a way that the whole structure would have had to be restructured. Either way, the PDP would have walked into the trap the group had set.
They got the excuse they wanted when the PDP ignored their demands. Individual members leaned towards different opposing candidates or worked against the PDP’s mainstream campaign, significantly fracturing the party’s chances in the 2023 election.
As Wike himself recently confessed, they did that to weaken Atiku’s chances. He said that in Benue, for instance, they told Ortom to work for Obi, among other things.
After the elections and securing a “lucrative” ministry, as it is called in Nigerian parlance, where he could dole out patronage, he dismembered the PDP, sent almost all its founding members packing, and held sway as the numero uno — or Alpha and Omega — whose word must be law.
He drove away Siminalayi Fubara, a man he made governor, who later decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC). He followed him there and refused him a return ticket.
Seeing how he brought the different parties in Rivers State under an arrangement he calls the Rainbow Coalition, he thought of replicating it at the national level.
But here is the idea: to make all the parties work for his principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while he may let the states know whom to support for certain offices.
Wike is a man who enjoys the confidence, and perhaps the trust, of Mr President. Since he has not been called to order, then perhaps…
But this must have alarmed the APC governors, who know what Wike can do. Surely, this Rainbow whatever will no doubt diminish their influence. It will push them away from the centre.
And just as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) under Shehu Shagari sent “liaison officers” to the states, Wike may send “Rainbow officers” to take over campaigns in the states.
This is because he is trying to poison the President’s mind, saying governors cannot be trusted to deliver victory to him. Only he can; only he knows how.
And so, the governors quickly met.
After the meeting, the APC Governors’ Forum Chairman, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma, read a communique saying: “The APC Governors Forum unanimously resolved that its members will not participate in, support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining the re-election of Mr President, weakening the APC or adversely affecting any candidate of the party at all levels.
“In other words, the forum has no intention to support any candidate at any level that is not an APC candidate because our party is sponsoring our candidates who are contesting the election.”
Then the party’s National Working Committee, after meeting in Maiduguri, also declared that it would work for APC candidates at all levels, opposing the idea being touted by Wike’s Rainbow Coalition.
But Wike’s push will not only push away the governors; it will also squeeze out the AbdulAzeez Yari Presidential Campaign Council.
However, how likely is it that Tinubu will be re-elected when a rainbow meant to be someone’s personal future political vehicle muzzles out his governors and campaign council?
While the individual interventionist #TMG may seem to be working for Atiku, the Wike intervention may not achieve its aim.
But will there be gold at the end of this Rainbow, or will the expected rain dry up?
Some political pundits believe Wike is working for his relevance post-2027, as he will have his handpicked people become governors and members of the National and State Assemblies. This coalition, they argue, could do his bidding in 2031.
Or so he believes.
Lest I Forget
The stampede at the Minna Government House, where almost 10 people lost their lives struggling to get ₦5,000, was unfortunate. How can such an unorganised event be allowed to take place in a Government House?
Such events are better organised at polling-unit levels to support wider distribution and better organisation, rather than in a state Government House.
It is all the more unfortunate that this is coming on the heels of the massacre of over 30 indigenes in the name of “illegal mining”.
And still, from Minna, the Power State, a living Head of State was used by a foreign hospital to advertise its expertise in kneecap replacement!
Even though the accompanying melody is sweet, it was no doubt an insult to him and to all our leaders who have failed to provide good healthcare facilities in Nigeria. But worst of all, it is a collective insult to Nigeria and all of us Nigerians to see our Head of State used as an object of advertisement for a procedure he paid for.
Okocha, Kanu and others get paid to do their Bet9ja stuff, after all!
- Dr Gimba, anipr, is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime. His syndicated column, The Arbiter, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Monday.