The overbearing influence of the governor of Rivers Stare, Nyesom Wike, in the affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has finally boiled over. Weeks after the primary election of the party that produced Atiku Abubakar as the party’s flag bearer for the 2023 presidential elections, Wike’s foot soldiers are massing up against Atiku and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State. They are also up in arms against the leadership of the party.
When it all began, Wike flexed muscles over power shift. He shouted as loud as he could, parroting southern presidency in 2023. When therefore he stepped forward to jostle for PDP’s presidential ticket, the thinking was that he meant business about power shift to the south. With so much oil money at his disposal, Wike has become a factor in money politics. He has been able, through monetary inducements, to demolish political strongholds. His selling point has been his ability and capacity to deploy copious cash to achieve his objective, whatever it may be.
Beyond money influence, Wike seems to have a character trait that borders on the brash and the audacious. In recent years, the governor has been known to rush in even where angels would fear to tread. He describes himself as courageous and fearless, and this was the major credential he flaunted in his presidential campaign. To live true to his vaunted fearlessness and courage, he, at some point, became too cantankerous for most people’s liking. Regardless of all that, my impression of Wike is that he is not exactly the way he presents himself in public. He is probably being driven by monetary power and influence. Whatever may be the case, the fact of the matter is that Wike stepped forward with gusto for the PDP presidential ticket. But he lost the bid.
Given his seemingly avowed commitment to power shift to the south in 2023, I was somewhat surprised when rumours started making the rounds that Wike was being considered for the vice presidential position. I thought that the governor would not accept the offer if one was made to him. I thought that he would continue to insist on southern presidency as he had been doing. But Wike shifted ground. Still he lost his vice presidential bid. Atiku, in his wisdom, picked Okowa as his running mate.
Since then, all has not been well within the Wike camp of the PDP. Wike’s most faithful disciple in his bid for the presidency is the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom. Both have been flocking together for some time as fellow governors. But their association became closer lately over Wike’s presidential ambition. As things stand, Ortom has become Wike’s super salesman. He has also become Wike’s spokesman. Through Ortom, we have come to know what Wike’s grouse with PDP is. The Benue Governor is raising issues on behalf of Wike. Ortom said he is not inclined to supporting Atiku’s presidential bid because he (Atiku) did not pick Wike as his running mate. Ortom is particularly piqued by the fact that majority of the 17-member committee set up to recommend a running mate for Atiku voted in favour of Wike. Yet, Atiku chose to pick an Ifeanyi Okowa who got less support from the committee members. Based on this, Ortom wants the PDP and Atiku to placate Wike. This is a case of one governor making a case for another governor in a way and manner an aide would make a case for a boss. By his subservience to Wike, Ortom is fast losing his gubernatorial aura without knowing it. How did this Benue governor become Wike’s lapdog?
As we worry about Ortom’s descent into political boyishness, we cannot but also express surprise at Wike’s volte face on his earlier insistence on power shift to the south. I had thought that Wike would keep faith with his convictions about southern presidency in 2023. But that is no longer the case. When did a frontline presidential contender become so steeped in vice presidential dogfight? Was Wike in the race just for the vice presidential ticket? I thought the governor really meant to wrest power from the north. But it is now evident from his disposition over the vice presidential ticket that he was not actually jostling to become Nigeria’s president.
Ortom is not the only member of the Wike gang that has broken loose. Ayo Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti State, has also been spoiling for war. Fayose declared the other day that Atiku will not be president of Nigeria in 2023 because he does not come from the south of the country. He said that the next president of Nigeria must come from the south after the eight-year reign of Buhari, a northerner. Fayose did not stop there. Just recently , he ferreted three All Progressives Congress governors of south west extraction to Port Harcourt to woo Wike. As we wait to see what comes out of that surprise visit, Fayose needs to be reminded as a PDP faithful that his insistence at this time on southern presidency is belated, except if he wants to rock the boat. From the look of things, Fayose wants to ditch his party and pitch tent with his kinsman in APC. Fayose, it would seem, is playing an ethnic card.
Ortom and Fayose may be Wike’s lackeys in this matter, but they are fighting a common cause from contradictory standpoints. While one wants the vice presidential ticket for his master, the other is pretentiously kicking against his party’s plan to retain power in the north. But their point of convergence is that both have a self- serving agenda. It was this agenda, for instance, that Ortom relied upon when he ensured that the zoning committee he chaired retained the presidency in the north. Given his stand on zoning, Ortom could not have therefore worked towards seeing a Wike emerge as PDP’s presidential flag bearer. That would have defeated the motive of Ortom’s zoning committee if it had happened. But it was never programmed to be. Therefore , the real game plan of Ortom and his cohorts in the Wike gang was to see Wike as a vice presidential candidate.
Unfortunately, those behind this well crafted plan never gave Atiku, the owner of the ticket, the right to choose his running mate. They wanted to impose one on him, and by so doing, dictate the tone and direction of his presidency. This was a coup of sorts and Atiku would have been naive to fall for that bait. As an old political warhorse, Atiku is certainly smarter than all the braggadocio from those who wanted to impose a vice presidential candidate on him.