The Nigerian political environment is fraught with very many bizarre happenings. We have pseudo-government that cannot meet the yearnings of the citizens and politicians who think only about themselves and less of the country and the citizens. We have the gullible and disillusioned public that cannot hold the leaders accountable. We have political parties not bounded by political ideologies but by ethnic and religious sentiments. Political parties are like amorphous mafia organisation without internal cohesion and disgruntled politicians swing from one party to the other unhindered because of the absence of clear-cut ideologies.
Those who grandstand as the leader of the people are self-seeking political pettifoggers. There is clear absence of the tenets of democracy. Political parties are hijacked by serving governors and those with deep pocket who feel they can foot the bill. Internal democratic processes are abused. Losers cannot go in good faith. Most politicians have no business other than politics and so do-or-die mentality and winning at all costs seem to be prevalent idea.
All these seem to be playing out in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the moment where Governor, Nyesom Wike of Rivers state and his implacable team seem to be holding the main opposition party to ransom. Something that constitutes an internal affair of the party has been escalated and made to assume an unhealthy dimension because of the intransigence of Mr. Wike. Since losig the presidential ticket to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the vice-presidential slot to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state, Wike has bluntly refused to be comforted preferring to rock the boat than settling matters with party hierarchy. He has been making provocative statements, attacking the party hierarchy, criticising the party, gloating over the party’s failures, highlighting faults and insignificant matters and persecuting Rivers state’s members of the party believed to be loyal to the party’s presidential candidate.
Wike’s recent outrageous act of publicly endorsing the Lagos state All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate and current Governor of Lagos state Jide Sanwolu ahead of his party’s gubernatorial candidate for Lagos state is anti-party activity that must not be overlooked by the PDP hierarchy if the public is to take the party leadership seriously. Wike is not above the party and the party cannot operate separate rules for its faithful. It is deliberate to test the will of the party hierarchy.
This is the time to show him that nobody is indispensable. He was not there when the party was formed and so his exit will not mean an end to the party. He must apologise or be expelled from the party’s fold. The sanction appropriate to what he has done must be applied. He cannot be allowed to behave like a political renegade since that will pollute the party’s solidarity and the esprit de corps in the party. He has continued to indulge in anti-party activities because he feels that he is indispensable. It is high time he is stopped.
By this act, Wike has clearly demonstrated that he is not in solidarity with his party and does not care if his party wins or loses the forthcoming presidential election. So, the most obvious thing for the party to do is to do away with him. He is not above discipline. I have said it before that he is implacable. He is irredeemable. Keeping him in the party will have a negative effect on the party faithful. He is sending wrong signals and distracting the party campaign team. He seems to be a mercenary working against the interest of the party that made him. His claim that he has no problem with the party is yet to be seen. If he has no issues with the party, why is he desperately and provocatively working and undermining the interest of the party at the slightest opportunity? Is it not misplaced aggression?
Secondly, Wike has shown that he is a selfish person and a bad loser that cannot be trusted. To him, if he cannot control the party machinery, everything can scatter. He does not care. What he wants is to hijack the party for his selfish political interest, not the interest of the party, the country or his zone as he erroneously wants people to believe. Don’t forget that Uche Secondus whom he installed and fired before backing Ayu was from his state.
Again, Wike’s indifference towards his party’s campaign and his romance with the APC indicates that he cares less about the nation. That he does not care if his party (PDP) loses as he has declared means that he does not care either if the APC government continues. So, what matters to him is obviously his self interest and not that of the nation. Thus, those believing that Wike is fighting for the interest of the South should have a rethink.
Furthermore, Wike’s conduct portrays him as one who is not in tune with his obligation as a public officer. He is having an ethical dilemma between his personal interest and that of the organisation (PDP) that he belongs. And obviously, the most appropriate thing for people of integrity in this situation is to bow to the general interest or resign. But Wike wouldn’t do that because he knows that no party in this dispensation can accommodate his recalcitrant posturing. So, he prefers to remain in PDP and sabotage the party’s interest.
Without doubt, public policy analysts and concerned citizens desirous of having worthy opposition and a change of the status quo are worried over the unbecoming conduct of Mr. Wike. I will advise the PDP National Working Committee to do the needful and apply the needed sanction to end this Wike’s imbroglio that is snowballing into a nightmare. The party leadership should exercise its power to make decisions to save the party and the nation. It is part of leadership obligation.
Hajia Mohammed writes from UK, London, via [email protected]
