BY ABRAHAM OGBODO.
The assumption is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is enjoying the fellowship of Nyesom Wike. Without waiting for Bayo Onanuga to issue a confirmation or denial, I can go ahead and speak for the President on this. The man is not enjoying anything. If anything, he is thinking and very seriously too, of how to discharge Wike with minimum collateral consequences. To smash the tsetse fly that perches on the scrotum requires more tact than might. That is the constraint of Mr. President. But I can also tell you right away that President Tinubu, known for plotting victories without noise making, has already done a lot regarding the containment of octopus Wike.
Tinubu’s key strategy in the deep south ahead of 2027 is to cut off middlemen and deal directly with the auctioneers. Today, every Governor in the South-south is in the APC and they are all standing equal on the mandate of President Tinubu. None is standing outside or taller than another. By that, BAT has established a direct line to the field workers. For instance, he doesn’t have to cultivate a Godswill Akpabio before touching base with Akwa Ibom voters. It is the same scenario in Rivers State where Nyesom Wike is fighting to stay put as a transactional middleman. The FCT Minister is fast losing the status of the ultimate contact man in the politics of Rivers State. There is no longer division between Abuja and Port Harcourt. The signals now flow freely either way outside a booster or repeater station.
It is a symbiotic arrangement that offers equal benefits. Governor Siminalayi Fubara can also now visit Aso Rock and move straight into the powerhouse instead of hanging about in the corridors of power for a privileged courier to facilitate his entry. This is the new reality which is unsettling Nyesom Wike. He is near paranoid. At this point, I would suggest the intervention of close kinsmen. They should find the courage to tell him, preferably in Ikwerre dialect, to slow down. That he, Wike, was not the only person that worked for the victory of President Tinubu in the 2023 Presidential election. Others, including Governor Seye Makinde of Oyo State, who also worked hard for Tinubu to emerge President, are not going about with an offensive badge of performance.
That will not be all. The same set of Ikwerre advisers should tell Wike that he is not the first man to install a governor after himself and that the practice of technical self-succession in Rivers politics and politics elsewhere in Nigeria, shall not end with him. In other words, Wike should be made to understand that he shall not go down the records as the first and last political godfather in Rivers State. They should remember to add that God who created and endowed us with all the beautiful things of life without preconditions, finds the heart to accommodate our follies, and does not breathe down on us, the way, he, Wike, breathes down on Fubara. They should remind him also that, his factor in Rivers and national politics was occasioned by the benevolence of others. That outside politics, he, Wike, holds no other strategy that guarantees survival. This is not disputable. The starting point is to return to 1999 and take stock. Who was Nyesom Wike before 1999? There is no use retelling the story here. This is why it is advised that those who had their hard nuts cracked by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble.
Wike lacks humility in spite of his humble beginning.
The beauty today is that some exigency has forced an unprecedented political consensus in the South-south. Everybody is standing on the mandate of Tinubu until further notice. Except Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, the rest Governors in the zone are on their first tenure. Times have changed. The term, opposition, is losing its place in the lexicon of partisan politics in Nigeria. Under the Tinubu brand of democracy, to stand in opposition is to stand alone and be faced with sure extinction. And so, all the Governors who entered office on the wings of the PDP, have become wise and moved to the APC to remain alive. It is only Monday Okpebholo that entered originally on APC wings. They have acted in self-preservation. Now that they have managed to come under the same house, they have a responsibility to collectively defend the house against invaders.
Back to Wike. His motivations are very complex. He seeks what is not missing. He lacks the confidence of his orchestrated leadership. The result is that he is never calm. He cannot function outside intrigues. Even as an undisputed champion, he feels perpetually challenged and threatened by elements under his conquest. He has been served red oil and blood but still baying for more red substance. In the spirit world, any god that refuses to be appeased is abandoned to dissipate. Wike is very close to that point. He is consumed by his role as a political spoiler and may not know when the curtain will drop to separate him from his audience and terminate his shameful performance. He is still parading membership of the PDP to retain the power to cause maximum damage in that party. While he enjoys the cover of the APC to deliver havoc on the opposition, he has not formally pitched camp with the party. He is fast running his course as a political hermaphrodite. The APC is learning to live without him. The PDP no longer holds content to contain him.
And so, more than ever, the prospect is real that Wike could be stranded in nowhere and become perfectly useless in the months ahead. This is the crux of the matter. The man has refused to listen to any call for moderation. Like the heedless hound, he is doomed to die in the woods. On the other hand, Governor Fubara appears to be ahead after joining the APC. He has been recognized as the leader of the party in the state. And for the first time, a voice in the leadership of the APC summoned guts to tell Wike to shut up. He is Bala Ibrahim, the APC’s director of information. In a nutshell, the APC’s spokesman told Wike to stop living in the past and embrace current reality. And this is how he explained the current reality: “Leadership follows office and position and not past influence.” In the context of Rivers politics, the one in office and position is Governor Siminalayi Fubara. The one basking in past influence is Minister Nyesom Wike. Here is the interpretation: Wike must follow Fubara and not the other way round.
That was even mild. The APC National Secretary, Senator Ajibola Basiru was more acidic. He reminded Wike that the butterfly is not bird. He asked Wike to either stop destabilizing the APC or consider the option of resigning as the FCT Minister and leave the APC government alone. It is a testament that Wike has improved in the work he is doing. He has burst boundaries and now destabilizes both the ruling and opposition parties. More grease to his elbow. Yesterday, a group, by the name APC Leaders Forum staged a peaceful protest in Abuja asking the National Chairman of the party, Prof. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, to prevail on the President to fire Wike. They described the conduct of the FCT Minister as “egregious.”
But the man in the centre of the storm is impervious. He loves wrestling with his chi. Since he didn’t quit the stage when the ovation was loudest, he is pushing his bad acting in anticipation of a second crescendo. Second chances are rare in real life. He has therefore elected to swim or sink. Amid the salvos from the APC, Wike staged another triumphant entry into Port Harcourt during the week to foment more trouble. He is buoyed by the fact that Senator Magnus Abe and Hon. Chibudom Nwuche have become his loyal ‘boys.’ Both men have joined Wike’s cheering crowd who was everywhere crowing as if there is no official governor in Rivers State. He provided insights into the nature of things to expect in 2027. One of it is that Governor Fubara is not good to return in 2027. He spoke with a finality that mocked God.
In fact, Wike is in such a big haste that he does not want to wait for 2027 to come before determining the fate of Fubara. He wants it now! He has activated the State legislature to begin impeachment proceedings against the governor for allegedly changing naira to dollars to bribe and gain the support of some stakeholders in Abuja. The legislators have cut short their vacation to hurriedly resume for the job. Instead of the scheduled resumption date of January 26, they gathered yesterday to begin the impeachment of Governor Fubara. I would not know what lies ahead. What I do know however is that, unlike before, Wike does not hold all the ace cards.
Fubara actually holds more and I guess he has been adequately tutored on how to place them to checkmate the ravaging Nyesom Wike. The APC at the national and state levels have been talking tough even on this latest move against Fubara. Tinubu has Trump to manage. He needs a clear head without Wike’s headaches at this moment. Actually, the emerging scenario fits into the President’s game of outsourcing Wike to any quarters that can crack and discharge him without fire. I am also trying to figure out a reliable ally of Wike among the six South-south governors. Maybe, Monday Okpebholo of Edo State? On that front also, Fubara is not exposed. He is adequately covered. I can see the Governors closing ranks in defence of Rivers State.
And so, where is Wike coming from this time around? His task is copiously uphill. He has more enemies than friends. He shall have few mourners when he finally falls. The gods make mad those they want dead. This is why it is endgame for Wike in this ill-advised outing.
