2023: Applause, Mockery As Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, Declares For Presidency

By Adesina Soyooye

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has declared interest to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Wike declared his interest, not in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, not in Abuja, the Federal Capital, but in Makurdi, Benue State.

To many people, Wike’s declaration comes as a surprise, especially, as this declaration runs contrary to his earlier stand. Some months ago, he had said that he was not interested in contesting for any elective office in 2023. But to some other people, Wike did not surprise. They said he has been weaving this basket for a long time.

True, his recent tours all over the country has been suspicious. He has been travelling from one State of the Federation to the other. And, so has been his strong voice in National affairs and in his party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, where he is called  “Headmaster of the worst order” behind his back.

His foot soldiers have been at work for months, and had reached out to some Media Practitioners close to them, asking them to work for him.

The nearest inkling to Wike’s  ambition came from Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, who, during his recent spat with Wike let the cat out of the bag. He told Wike that nobody was stopping him from his Presidential ambition, but that he was expected to pursue it with decorum.

And then, at a meeting of the PDP Governors in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State the other day, Wike told the Party that the Presidential ticket should be zoned to the South-south. He described the Zone as the bedrock of the PDP, explaining that the State had stood by the PDP since 1999, and that 2023 is the year to show appreciation, to pay back.

On Sunday, March 27, all the speculations came to an end when Wike declared his interest in the office of the President in Makurdi, Benue State.

Addressing Party delegates at the Government House, Makurdi, Wike asked them to shun some Presidential aspirants under the PDP, as they were responsible for the loss the Party suffered against APC in 2015.

Not a few people knew immediately that he was referring to Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President, PDP’s Presidential candidate in 2019, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal. The three, who are also, aspiring to the office of the President in 2023, under the PDP,  had defected from the PDP to the APC, thus, giving the APC a big edge over the PDP. However, they re-defected to the PDP in 2019. Wike accused them of leaving the Party when it mattered most.

Wike: “Let these people who are interested in Presidency in the PDP tell us their contributions. You claimed to be one of the founding fathers of the Party, but you left and came back. You have become an ordinary person in the new PDP.

“If you form a company, and run away because the company is not doing well, then, you come back and find that it is now doing well,  will you want to come and take over?

“Some people want to use Nigeria to get back their private businesses. Let them mention their private sector that survived.” Apparently, referring to Saraki, he asked: “Is it bank that your father had”?

“Everybody is an employer of labour. Even me, I have 50 people in my house. So, everybody has been employing people according to his capacity.

“In 2015, most of these people made us, PDP, to lose elections.” But on this point, many have wondered why Wike backed Tambuwal to the in 2019, and have asked: “Did Wike not know at the time that Tambuwal was one of those who betrayed the Party in 2015?”

Referring to himself, Wike said he had stood like a rock behind the party, and have contributed much to it.”

On his penchant for hitting hard at people, he said:

“I have spoken truth to power. I don’t have problem with anybody, but have to tell them the truth. Umahi and the others have abused me because I told him that he cannot take our mandate away.

“As a Governor, I have performed well. I can go anywhere with my shoulder high. How many of them have challenged this Government (APC)?

“Don’t sell your vote. Please, give me your vote as we go to Primary.

Leveraging on the insecurity in Benue State for which tge State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has had a running battle with President Muhammadu Buhari, Wike promised: “If I become President, we will take security as priority because the main purpose of Government is protection of lives and property.”

His host, Samuel Ortom, Benue State Governor, recounted how much help Wike had given the State, especially, with the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, and promised that the State would give him support.

However, Wike’s declaration has sparked different opinions. While some people have hailed him, declaring him a strong character, who speaks his mind, and who Nigerians need, others have dismissed  him as brash, unpolished, undiplomatic, insisting that he does not have the temperament to occupy the office of Nigeria’s President.

In the South-south, Wike is the first to declare interest in the Presidential seat. It is being speculated that his predecessor, and Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, would soon declare under the APC, even though he denies it.

In Wike’s PDP, he is entering a crowded field of aspirants. Aside from Atiku, Saraki, Tambuwal, and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, there are from the South-east, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, who was the first to declare his interest in the office, Sam Ohuabunwa, and a former two-term Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, who was the Party’s Vice Presidential candidate in 2019.

Wike is serving his second term as Rivers State Governor.