Akani Alaka
All eyes will be on the National Assembly as the Senate begins the screening of the 28 ministerial nominees submitted by President Bola Tinubu last Thursday.
But chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and indeed, politically conscious Nigerians will likely pay particular attention to one of the nominees –Nyesom Wike.
To be sure, the appearance of Wike, a former governor of Rivers State and a PDP member on the ministerial list of the Tinubu APC government was not unexpected.
There have been speculations that the President will reward the former governor who lost the 2023 presidential ticket of PDP to former vice president Atiku Abubakar for working against his flag bearer in the March 25 presidential poll.
Reward For Disloyalty
Leading a group of five governors from the Southern part of the country, Wike had in the guise of ensuring former President Muhammadu Buhari was not succeeded by another northerner gone all out to oppose and work against Atiku’s presidential bid while clandestinely working for the victory of Tinubu ahead of the presidential election.
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And though it was generally believed that the outcome of the presidential election in Rivers was tainted with a lot of malpractices, Wike was able to deliver victory for Tinubu, thus, ensuring that PDP lost the state in the presidential election first time since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
The former governor had afterwards become closer to Tinubu and was a frequent visitor to the Presidential Villa following the swearing-in of the President on 29, May. Wike had subsequently taken up the campaign of Tinubu for the leadership of the National Assembly, campaigning for the candidates backed by the APC against those endorsed by his party.
The success recorded by the President and the APC in installing their preferred candidates as presiding officers of the National Assembly was partly attributed to Wike’s division of opposition lawmakers.
Thus, the emergence of Wike’s name on the ministerial list was seen as a reward for disloyalty to his party. The former Rivers State governor has not reacted to his inclusion on the ministerial list at the time of writing this story. However, Prof Ngozi Odun, the deputy governor of Rivers has hailed the nomination of Wike as a minister-designate.
According to her, Wike is a seasoned administrator, astute politician and leader who would add value to the Tinubu-led Federal Government. However, many members of the PDP and indeed, Nigerians will not agree with the deputy governor.
For one, the nomination of Wike was met with derision by some members of his party who recalled that he had earlier sworn not to accept the position of the Vice President if he was offered during his battle with the PDP presidential candidate.
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Indeed, videos of the former governor vowing not to accept any appointment as a minister or joined the APC are being circulated on social media, obviously to portray the governor as a hypocrite.
Plotting Against Wike?
However, for the PDP, especially loyalists of Atiku, the appointment is another reason why Wike should not stay a day longer in the party. Atiku’s loyalists, it was learnt, are determined to kick the former governor out of the party especially if he failed to disown the ministerial nomination ahead of the crucial meeting of the party scheduled for this Monday.
Members of the faction of PDP loyal to Atiku had met on Saturday at the Maitama, Abuja residence of a former Foreign Affairs minister, Chief Tom Ikimi where the issue of how to handle Wike at Monday’s meeting was discussed.
Those at the meeting include suspended PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu, former Governors Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano) and Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta). The incumbent governors at the meeting were Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Ademola Adeleke (Osun), Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau) and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara).
No communiqué or statement was issued after the meeting. However, the exclusion of factions of the party loyal to Wike and allies of the former Rivers governor like Governors Seyi Makinde, and Similaye Fubara among others raised a red flag among loyalists of the former Rivers State governor.
Also, the acting National Chairman of PDP, Ambassador Umar Ililya Damagun, who summoned Monday’s meeting, was kept out of the meeting. Damagun had consistently opposed suggestions that Wike should be sanctioned over his romance with the APC to the detriment of the PDP.
However, the Atiku camp, it was learnt, are especially keen to get Wike out of the party out of expectations that the President Elections Petitions Court, PEPC may either annul the presidential election or order a rerun. “They wouldn’t want him to be in a position to influence the election in case of such eventuality,” a source said.
However, it was learnt that factions of the party loyal to Wike are also getting ready to oppose any move to sanction Wike at the meeting.
However, some chieftains of the party are also said to be advocating caution in handling issues related to Wike with the argument that the former governor still enjoys a large support base in the party.
The fear is that such a move may lead to formal factions in the party along Wike/Atiku camps and ultimately, further weaken the party as an opposition platform. It was gathered that chieftains of the party with such views may ensure that the issue of Wike will not be on the agenda of the party or try to moderate reactions if it comes up at the meeting.
Wike Divides Rivers APC
Even then, Wike’s nomination has also become another source of headache to the already troubled Rivers chapter of the APC. Ironically, a faction of Rivers APC led by Tony Okocha, former Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, had immediately after the 2023 election kicked off the campaign that the former governor should be rewarded with a ministerial position for his contributions to the party’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.
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According to Okocha, Wike also funded Tinubu’s election in Rivers. Okocha who was Chairman, the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Tinubu Presidential Campaign Rally in Rivers State and National Chairman of the Protocol/Logistics Committee had also called on Wike to take over the APC in Rivers State. “It does appear to us that the leadership of PDP in Nigeria, does not appreciate, understand the influence; they don’t understand the pedigree that is embedded in Wike. It does appear to us that the PDP does not know what they have in Wike. So, we are asking and calling on Wike to come over to Macedonia and lead us. Wike should come over to APC and lead us.”
But the main faction of the party which included the former governor and minister Rotimi Amaechi and the party’s governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Tonye Cole had dismissed the call by Okocha, who, it said, is not a member of the party.
Darlington Nwauju, the publicity secretary for the party in Rivers in a statement rejected claims that Wike was responsible for the victory of APC in Rivers in the 2023 election, arguing instead that the former governor unleashed terror on the members of the party in the cause of his ‘eight years maximum rulership in the state.’
Rivers APC had followed up with a letter to Tinubu to protest “Wike’s overbearing influence on the party”, especially at the national level.
“Mr President Sir, we wish to recall that the 2015 presidential election melted unquantifiable brutality on members and families of APC in Rivers State with countless casualties. Yet the Rivers APC resisted the onslaught of the former governor Wike-lead aggression on innocent party followers and members. Dear Mr President, we wish to clear the air that Gov. Wike did not deliver any value to our dear Rivers State APC, rather he fought against our dear Rivers APC,” the party said in the letter also signed by Nwauju.
Yet another group which described itself as Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Thought in a statement jointly signed by the convener of the coalition, Sunnie Chukumele, and secretary, Josiah Onoriode, said instead of Wike, Tinubu should appoint Sen. Magnus Abe as a member of his cabinet.
According to the group, Sen. Abe single-handedly built the political structure for the promotion of Tinubu’s presidential ambition in Rivers State while he suffered persecution at the hands of the Wike-led PDP.
“We know it as of the truth, that the faction of APC and indeed all those sympathisers who followed Senator Abe into SDP for his gubernatorial ambition and election voted Tinubu for President,” they said.
Tinubu Defies Rivers APC
However, the President defied such protests to nominate Wike as minister. “Wherever the president wants to make as a priority in his renewed hope agenda, he (Tinubu) should assign former governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, and he would be happy he did,” Okocha said while commending the President for the appointment.
However, members of Rivers APC seem to be still in shock over the nomination and are still consulting with stakeholders on how to react to it, according to its spokesperson. “APC in Rivers State will give the most appropriate response after due consultations with relevant leaders and stakeholders of our party in the state.”
Members of Rivers APC had before now threatened to dump the party if Wike is appointed Minister.
Nigerians will keep an eye on how the simmering fire sparked by Wike’s appointment will be doused in the days ahead.
