Wike Ditches Associates, Picks Civil Servant As Successor; Says Nothing Anybody Can Do About It

By Charles Igbo

Political associates of Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, are in shock. A number of them had thought one of them stood a chance with him. Each of them thought he could be his choice as successor.

So, they worshipped him. They followed him about. They were at his beck and call. A number of them.

At the end, however, Wike disappointed them.

At the Governorship Primaries held in Porthacourt on Wednesday, May 25, Wike picked a Civil Servant to succeed him.

The preparation was easy and meticulous.The Civil Servant, Siminiliayi Fubara, was the State’s Accountant General. Not a Politician. To prepare him for the task ahead, Wike asked him to retire from office. He did.

On the day of the Primaries, there were no protests. It went smoothly. The others could only cry in the rain. They had no courage to complain publicly.

The reason, according to the the allegation in the State is that, it was the Governor who bought the Governorship forms for all the PDP Gobernorship. aspirants.  The only deviant amongst them, Farah Dagogo, a Member of the House of Representatives,  who bought the Forms by himself is in Police custody. He neither took part in the screening, nor in the Primaries.

The Primaries took place at the Obi Wali Cultural Centre. Most delegates did the Governor’s bidding. They knew where his heart was. When the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, Professor Walter Mbotu,  announced the results, it was no surprise.

Fubara had  a landslide victory. He scored a total of 721 votes out of 898 votes cast. The immediate past Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu,  Wike’s alleged plan B, scored 86 votes. Other contestants didn’t matter. A  couple of them scored less than ten votes. One of them, a former Chairman of the Party, Felix Obuah, scored only two votes.

However, a number of the aspirants, including Obuah,  chose not to show-up. They already knew what was afoot. Others who were absent include:  Tammy Danagogo, former Secretary  to the State Government, Austin Opara, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Senators Thompson Sekibo and Lee Maeba.

While accepting his victory, Fubara was lost for words. “I don’t even know what to say. I wish I had prepared 20 years for this. All I can say is that victory for Fubara is victory for Rivers PDP and victory for Rivers State.”

Wike was his usual self: “There is nothing anybody can do about it. We have gotten a candidate, and everybody has to work to support the course.”

Said a Political Analyst on why the Governor easily had his way: “They sold their soul. The piper dictates the tune of the music. He bought the Forms for them, so their mouths are sealed.”

Fubara is from Opobo, a riverine area of the State.

The riverine Rivers had been denied the Office of the Governor in the past 16 years.

The Deputy Governor, Ipalibo Banigo, a Medical Doctor, is vying for the Senatorial seat of her Zone.