By Charles Igbo
The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has effectively taken over the leadership of both the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In taking over the APC, Wike, surprisingly, still a PDP member, has pushed Rotimi Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State, and the immediate past Minister for Transportation, out of political reckoning in the APC – both at the State and National level.
Instructively, the APC, was founded in Rivers State by Amaechi when he, as a second term Governor, dumped the PDP, and became a founding member of the APC in 2014.
Wike took over tye APC when he became the most powerful tool in Rivers State to the controversial electoral success of the APC in the February 25 Presidential election. He proudly worked against his Party’s Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in favour of the APC Candidate, now President Bola Tinubu. Then, he, also, successfully installed a PDP Governor, his choice, as his successor. The result is that the leadership of both political parties are answerable to him and he bestrides both Parties like a collosus. Forgotten, by the APC, and even those he thought were his loyalists, is Amaechi, who has, it seems, quietly crawled back into his shell.
And now, based on his leadership of both parties, the APC in Rivers State has nominated and recommended him to President Tinubu to appoint him as a Minister to represent the State in the expected new Cabinet.
The Party put up his name in preference to Senator Magnus Abe, another foundation member of the APC, who followed Amaechi, but later fell out with him. Abe, a strong supporter of Tinubu, long before Wike, was forced to quit APC for the SDP, when Amaechi muscled him put of contention for the APC Governorship ticket.
Abe has, however, been recommended by a group to Tinubu for the State’s Ministerial slot. But the “new” leadership of the APC has asked the President to ignore Abe who they insist abandoned ship mid- sea, and pick Wike, who is yet to quit his membership of the PDP.
At a news conference members of the APC, under a group, Amalgamated Bola Tinubu Campaign Council Rivers State, led by Chief Tony Okocha, former Chief of Staff to Amaechi when he was Governor, said their nomination of Wike is based on the huge roles he played to perfect Tinubu’s victory in the State during the February 25 Presidential Election.
At a news briefing in Abuja, he asked Tinubu to ignore the “cheap political stunt by Governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party, SDP, Magnus Abe who is now taking the front seat in Tinubu’s political veranda, after he left the APC at a time he was most needed.”
Okocha attributed Tinubu’s victory in the Presidential election to Wike who he said kept the party together when major stakeholders abandoned it.
His words: “When Amaechi had left, Magnus had left what remained was the little I could control with an amalgamation of support groups. Since 1999, PDP has been in control of Rivers State back to back. Even in 2015, when I was Chief of staff, Ameachi was Governor and during that Presidential election, APC scored about 69,000 votes, PDP scored about 2 million votes and we were in charge and he doubled as the DG of Buhari in 2015, in 2019 Wike had become governor, it became even worse.
“In 2015, APC scored seven per cent, in 2019 we scored 5 percent. Then, in 2023 APC is now winning. What was the magic? Wike’s PDP scored 32/32 in the state House of Assembly in Rivers state, Wike’s PDP scored 12/13 of House of Reps seats, Wike’s PDP scored 3/3 of the senatorial seats, Wike’s PDP won the governorship and then Wike’s PDP did not win Presidential election in Rivers state. What happened?
“Is it not the reason that all of us know that the G-5 Governors said until things are made right, until power shifts to the South and that until Ayu resigns that they will not work for Atiku.
“Now, the spin doctor who made sure everything worked out for Tinubu, was Wike.
“We have 6,868 polling units in Rivers state across 319 wards and across 23 LGs and you and I know that every politician has his own polling unit agents that are paid on a stipend or the other. Who paid for the 6,868 agents in Rivers for APC?
“The activities of the G-5 is instrumental to the success of Tinubu in Nigeria politics today. Look at the ratio, APC won 12 states, and PDP won 10 states. Assuming PDP people worked together, they would have taken more States.
” I am telling you that in our own case, I am saying it categorically, I would have been the one person to say no don’t give it to him because I had the house. He didn’t come to see an empty house. I would have decided to appropriate everything to myself and behave like a crab.
“If you have somebody that is more than you, why don’t you invite the person. If he helped us to win in 2023, are we now going to tell him to come to us in 2027 to help us win? Why don’t we bring him in because he has value to add. No politician in Rivers state today can surmount Wike. No one in Rivers State can challenge Wike. He is the best.
“We are saying that whatever is due us as Rivers state should be handed over to Wike because he knows who worked for Tinubu in Rivers. I would have claimed it all because I was the last man standing when everybody took off but we are saying, look, this man contributed more.
“Magnus’ media stunts are mere grandstanding and only for benefits. My own satisfaction is that if you marshal out Tinubu’s soldiers today, even people that hate me the most will say I was at the epicenter of Tinubu’s victory in Rivers state, to me, it is enough food if there are other benefits that will come, it will be secondary but if anybody is coming out with the primary aim of getting an appointment, I will not accept.
“You’re now eulogizing Tinubu, you didn’t know that Tinubu was the best person when you left him for another party. Now, you defeated him in your unit and ward but now that the man has won, you want to eulogize, you want to grandstand, you want to say all manner of good things just for political appointment, it will not work. It is against common sense and reason.”
Wike has been a regular face in the APC corridors of power, Abuja, and has visited President Tinubu, at least, three times.
Speculations are rife that he could be appointed a Minister, just as it is rife that he is likely to dump the PDP, finally, for APC. Even if he does, he will still be in charge of the PDP in Rivers State.
