Emmanuel Aziken
Whether the claim by the All Progressives Congress, APC in Rivers State that Governor Nyesom Wike brought down his age by five years is true or not can only be a side-line to the political achievements of the governor.
On the day he was supposed to be celebrating his 50th birthday, the governor of Rivers State was in Delta State commissioning projects executed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. Wike’s choice to commission projects in Delta State could only have reaffirmed the ascendancy of a man who days earlier was practically being sought out like a god at the PDP convention in Abuja.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike
Among those who threw in congratulations to the governor on his birthday were Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal among many others believed to be in reckoning in the shaping of the 2019 presidential contest.
Wike’s political ascendancy is best depicted by his near singular role in the enthronement of the new national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus.
Until now, governors in the country had rejected invitations to produce chairmen of their political parties. For a governor, the idea of having a national chairman from his state is seen as a distraction to his political clout. That is the creation of a rival political base.
The narrative of PDP governors and national chairmen from the same state has been very unsavoury. Recent ugly cases include Governor Isa Yuguda and Alhaji Ahmad Muazu in Bauchi State; Governor Murtala Nyako and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in Adamawa State; and Governor Sullivan Chime and Dr. Okwesileze Nwodo in Enugu State.
Isa and Muazu were like cat and mouse who could barely stay in the same room. Tukur and Nyako despite the fact that their children were married to one another broke the party leading to the defection of Nyako.
Nwodo’s story ended on national television when PDP governors led by Chime, humbled him at the December 2010 national convention of the party when he was made to take a backseat in a convention he ordinarily should have presided over.
Indeed, in the approach to this year’s national convention, it is instructive that with the notable exception Secondus and Prof. Tunde Adeniran, that all other chieftains from PDP controlled states forsook their ambitions mainly because they did not have the approval of their state governors.
Prof. Adeniran from Ekiti State, unarguably one of the leading strategists and intellectual buffs of the party who pursued his ambition despite the disapproval of Mr. Ayodele Fayose saw his aspiration crash on the convention floor. That was despite the fact that many of the party’s old hands, especially in the North, were in support of him.
The seeming revulsion by PDP governors to produce national chairmen from their states is an infectious political malaise that has also spread to their All Progressives Congress, APC colleagues.
Those who know would recall that the present national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun at the time of his election did not initially receive the support of the Edo State chapter of the party as led by the then governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
What was perhaps an exception was Chief Bisi Akande who all through his years as national chairman of the APC and the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN had the support of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
The simple reason a governor would not want a national chairman of his party to come from his state is the fact that he would not want another power center to be created in his state. Even more, governors are conscious of the fact that a national chairman of a major political party can with his signature deny the governor or his protégée a nomination ticket for election.
In 2010 at the peak of the battle between Governor Chime and Nwodo, the governor’s re-election ticket had almost been taken away from him. Senator Ike Ekweremadu who the Nwodo group called on to take the ticket rejected the offer and stuck with Chime and by that saved the governor from the disgrace that he not too later, served on Nwodo.
So given the experience of many governors, the decision of Governor Wike to stick his neck for Secondus is particularly interesting. Those in the know say it goes beyond claims of wanting to control the party and the nomination of the 2019 presidential ticket. One narrative says it flows back to repaying a favour Secondus did to Wike at the peak of the political conflict between Wike and his former political godfather, Rotimi Amaechi. How the story ends could help redefine what has been a cat and mouse game or tell us if truly, Wike owns the PDP.
