Hate him or love him, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike played a vital crucial role in the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President of Nigeria.
Hate him or love him, former Rivers State Governor Wike is the reason why the incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara is occupying the Brick House in Port Harcourt.
Hate him or love him, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike is the reason why both Rivers State APC and PDP are now rooting for President Tinubu’s campaign for second term as 2027 general election draws closer.
Hate him or love him, FCT Minister Wike is the reason why the 2022 EFCC alleged N117 Billion case against Governor Fubara as the then Rivers State Accountant-General never saw the light of the day, though FCT Minister Wike could have been involved one way or another as an accomplice.
The latest political brickbats between political father and son is hinged on who becomes the next Governor of Rivers State.
The inferred barking like dog comment credited to Governor Fubara now in APC when he assembled Wike’s arch political rivals in Rivers State PDP at Government House Port Harcourt to rally support for President Tinubu, poured inferno in the ever evolving crises.
Wike promptly fired back during a visit to Okrika Local Government Area, stating that the same dogs barking now, backed Governor Fubara to win the highest office in Rivers State.
The bipolar political crises in Rivers State are both a recurring decimal and a recurrent feature of politics in the State.
It is a trail well-known in Rivers State politics. Former Governors Rufus Ada-George, Peter Odili, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Nyesom Wike and now the incumbent Sim Fubara have one thing in common – political disagreements with the previous occupant of Brick House Port Harcourt.
With the recall of Governor Fubara after 6-month hiatus from state governance, political observers and commentators had presumed that the hatchet had been buried not knowing that it was only buried halfway. The political gladiators are back to the trenches with the return to intense infighting, alignments and realignments.
As is not unusual in the annals of Nigeria’s slippery banana peels political equation, the two political pugilists are not lacking backers with varied agendas within and outside the State.
Governor Fubara has a swell of support including Governors and party officials from his new Political Party, APC. His APC backers are head over heels in support of the Governor’s second term bid.
On the flip side of the political chess game are FCT Minister Wike and his backers within and outside the Presidency, not forgetting majority members of the Rivers State House of Assembly holding the impeachment hatchet like the Sword of Damocles over Governor Fubara.
There are two obvious power undercurrents at play – the undeniable undying desire of Governor Fubara for a second term and the unquenchable desire of FCT Minister Wike to hold on to the levers of Rivers State influential political power for future positioning within the Nigerian political landscape.
Having played and still playing an outsized roles for President Tinubu’s election then in 2023 and now for his re-election in 2027 by dismantling PDP one piece at a time, Wike remains the arrowhead and pivotal player in the undemocratic quest to turn Nigeria into a one-party State.
If Governor Fubara gets a second term, it will be interpreted to mean that Wike has been caged. On the other hand, if Wike gets his way by backing another Governorship candidate with Fubara not contesting, the incumbent Governor will be seen as the sacrificial lamb.
The third alternative which is for Governor Fubara to contest on APC platform while Wike backs a PDP candidate will likely lead to tensions and uncertain bloodbath unseen in annals of Rivers State politics.
Either way the political time bomb is ticking.
From The Desk Of:
Nnamdi Obieze-Nwadialo,
Mansfield Texas.
