Following the defection of 27 lawmakers in the Rivers state House of Assembly to the All Progressives Congress, APC, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, clock is ticking for Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to defect from the PDP.
The State lawmakers led by the Speaker dumped their party for the PDP yesterday, in what some analysts described as setting the tone for Wike, a former governor of the state to join the ruling party.
Wike and his successor, Governor Simi Fubara are currently embroiled in a battle for the soul of the state. Fubara and Wike were political allies, but have now parted ways due to irreconcilable differences.
Last month, Governor Fubara foiled an attempt by those believed to be Wike supporters in the Assembly to impeach him.
The governor said he has not committed any impeachable offence,vowing to defend his mandate.
On his part,Wike has described Fubara’s plan to diminish him politically intolerable, after riding on his back to the state government House.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and political elders from the state have tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the warring parties.
With Wike’s plan to defect to APC, sources in the state and Abuja informed the magazine that no going back in the ultimate showdown between the former governor and his successor who has also vowed not to back down.
“Wike will defect anytime from now. The governor, from all indications does not support reconciliation. If he does, he knows how to bring everybody together. But he seems to have made up his mind not to discuss with anybody. What do you expect the former governor to do. What his legacies destroyed, and his supporters eliminated politically by an ungrateful successor? a close ally of Wike said today.
The source made the statement as the magazine learned from competent sources in Abuja that the former Rivers governor is expected to join the APC before the end of the year.
A pointer to this assertion came yesterday when Tony Okocha, the Rivers state APC Caretaker Chairman appealed to him to join the party.
Okocha spoke on Monday at a press conference in Port Harcour, the state capital.
He called on Wike to join the party to ” assist it” make an impact in the state, adding that the former governor is not likely to remain in PDP till 2027 with the way things are in the party.
Okocha said, “The best thing we are asking him to do is to come and join the APC because it is the government in power.”
The APC Caretaker Chairman, a close ally of the FCT Minister was recently appointed into the position by the National Secretariat in Abuja.
Not a few insist that his promotion is aimed at preparing the ground for Wike to join the APC.
Meanwhile, those watching the state insist that the last has not been heard of the impeachment plot against Governor Fubara. Whether the governor would fall remains a matter of conjecture, as those close close to him say he’s also “gathering his troops” to thwart Wike’s plan to remove him from office.
