Since the emergence of Atiku Abubakar as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the forthcoming election, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state who lost the contest, has always been in the news, and for the wrong reasons. When he is not criticising the party leadership, he is attacking its presidential candidate or romancing with the opposition or persecuting Atiku’s loyalists. It is more than a game of musical chairs, as some analysts put it; it is a game of self-destruct. Obviously, he thinks that he is getting the limelight but unknown to him, he will receive the backlash sooner than he expects.
Wike is not the only one that has lost presidential primaries in history and that is why it is surprising that he has refused to accept reality as a democrat that he claims to be. Rotimi Amaechi, his predecessor, lost the APC primaries despite his enormous contributions to the party, but like an intelligent man that he is, he has moved on. But the implacable Wike has refused to be comforted. And by his utterances and actions, he has shown that he is a bad loser, the worst in the history of Nigerian politics. He has shown that he is never a democrat.
Regrettably, he thinks that he can advance his political interest and future by destabilising the PDP, the platform that launched him into limelight, but he forgot the lessons of history. Treachery always leads to failure and regrets. He has exhibited the attitude of selfish politician who feels: it is either me or no other.
It also portrays him as a compulsive liar. He declared after the primaries that he was not going to be anybody’s running mate but got infuriated when Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state was picked ahead of him. He said that he has no problem with Atiku or Okowa but he is fighting and antagonising all Atiku’s allies and supporters in Rivers state. He revoked Raymond Dokpesi’s property in Port Harcourt, destroyed Atiku’s billboards and sealed his campaign office in Port Harcourt. Wike uses every available medium to denigrate the party and its presidential flag bearer.
Undoubtedly, Wike has false notion of leadership. He personalises the government. He feels as governor of his state, everybody should do his bidding. This is delusional. He is not aware that the position he occupies now is temporary. Many have been there before him and many will come after him.
Wike is a typical example of a do-or-die politician, practicing politics with bitterness. He believes in political enemies. He declares after attacking Atiku’s allies in his state that “if we see you associate with our enemies, we will leave our enemies and fight you.” This is petty and crude, coming from a state governor, who is assumed to have tasted leadership at a high level and goes to show that Wike lacks leadership attributes and so the PDP leadership was right to have rejected him at the primaries.
Admittedly, Wike and his gang are exhibiting the crudeness associated with the Nigerian politics by their grandstanding, pretending to be fighting for equity but with selfish motive. The average Nigerian politician does not believe in real issues. He pursues personal agenda and when he fails in his inordinate ambition, he tries to whip up sentiment by playing the ethnic or religious card. Those in the South who are misled into thinking that Wike is fighting for the interest of the region never bothered to ask if the former PDP chairman Uche Secondus whom Wike removed is from the North. And they never bothered to ask how a man who claims to be fighting for equity and integrity had to upturn the zoning formula in his state to become governor after a fellow Ikwerre man Rotimi Amaechi. And are never interested to know whether this is the first time that the party chairman and the presidential candidate or president come from the same region.
As I have observed in the past, people like Wike do not believe in dialogue or win-win; they are always rigid and fixated. The only language they understand is force, nuisance value and sanction. If the party had wielded the big stick, Wike’s nuisance would have been controlled. The party can exist and survive without Wike. The party prosecuted the Osun state gubernatorial election and won without his input. The party has been carrying on with its electioneering without him and will win without his input insha Allah. He was not there when the party was formed and whatever he has been in the past 22 years was through the instrumentality of the PDP.
I must state unequivocally here that Wike lacks decorum, discipline and the genteel attitude of a statesman. His rash braggadocio attitude is portraying him as a tout and a militant. It is always the case when people get what they do not expect or deserve in life; it may get into their heads. Wike has shown that he never deserves the position he now occupies. He is a megalomaniac that is blinded by ephemeral political office. Wike is the proverbial bird, nza in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart who after a heavy meal challenged his chi to a wrestling combat. Wike thinks that he owns the PDP and must decide what happens in the party but when he fails, he refused to be placated. How can a man who claims he rescued the PDP from collapse want to destroy the same party that he claimed he built?
His anti-party activity especially his romance with the All Progressives Congress (APC) is proof that Wike is a desperate politician, an opportunist and a sinking personality who is willing to do anything to salvage his career but unknown to him, he is on the road to political oblivion.
The sum total of all of this is that Wike has failed for he and his disgruntled gang cannot stop the PDP or Nigeria from moving forward. He should swallow his pride, apologise to the party hierarchy otherwise, he is inevitably on the road to political abyss.
Hajia Mohammed writes from London, UK, via
