Rivers 2015: As Wike Ambition Affects Jonathan, PDP, APC Gains Michael Oche — Aug 1, 2014 | 9 Comments Michael Oche takes a look at the gubernatorial ambition of Nyesom Wike, the current minister of state for education and how it is affecting the fortunes of his party (PDP), in the forth coming elections, giving the APC, the needed in-road. Few days ago in his usual character, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike boastfully told newsmen in his Port Harcourt residence that he has all it take to run for and win the governorship of Rivers State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, the junior minister, who served as Chief of Staff to Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi between October 2007 and June 2011, said all the party’s governorship aspirants in the state put together cannot defeat him in their various wards. Wike boastfully said; “I read a lot of things where people say, it is our turn to produce a governor. Assuming what they are saying is correct, does is stop another person from running? What it means is that you should face the person in an election. That is the important thing. Most of them who say it is zoned to them, can they win in their local government areas? “I can tell you that if I declare to run today, nobody, of all those that are clamouring that it is their turn, will win me in their wards. So, if you can’t win me in your ward, which person’s zone do you want to use to win the election? For example, in Ogoni where we have Tai, Khana, Gokana and Eleme, those who want to run under PDP, which of them can win me? “Come to the riverine area, those who want to run there, I hear one Rtd Major Anyanya, which one? He won’t win me in his ward, if I want to run. Come to Opobo, who wants to run? Come to Bonny, who wants to run? Come to Akuku-Toru; I read yesterday Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack says he wants to run; Walson-Jack, Dumo Lulu-Briggs, Tonye Princewill, one Emmanuel Georgewill; which of them will beat me in their various wards if I want to run?” It is a known fact that the minister’s comments and aspiration to run for the governorship of the state on the platform of the PDP, despite the fact that the current governor of the state, Amaechi hails from the same Ikwerre ethnic nationality, and Rivers East senatorial district with him, will certainly affect the fortunes of the state. Already, he has pocketed the Chief Felix Obuah-led executive committee of the PDP in the state, forcing them to endorse him for the governorship ticket, and at the same time extract endorsements from some members of the House of Representatives led by Hon. Ken Chikere, as well as from about six members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Hon. Evans Bipi. Wike’s desperate aspiration to succeed Amaechi in 2015, have divided the PDP in the state, forcing most chieftains and leading lights of the party in the state, including Senator Lee Maeba, Dr. former Minister of Transport, Dr. Abiye Sekibo; former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Prince Chibudom Nwuche, and others to shun the activities of the party in the state. Without mentioning names, the junior minister boasted that he will defeat governorship aspirants of Ogoni extraction in the four local government areas that make up Ogoni ethnic nationality, and by his statements, Wike was referring to Senator Maeba, and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Don Baridam, both of whom have declared their interest to run for the governorship election on the platform of the PDP. For the riverine axis of the state, he mentioned the names of Dagogo-Jack, Walson-Jack, Princewill, Lulu-Briggs, Georgewill, and the rest of them, as aspirants, who cannot win him even in their respective wards, insisting that none of them are closer to the party chairmen at the ward level than him. Wike said; “This is my game; I have been chairman since 1999. There is nobody that I don’t know in the various wards. You know that I headed the campaign of Amaechi in 2011. Is there any ward, any local government that I cannot call the politicians in each of the wards? I am not talking about the local governments, in each of the wards. “I know those that matter; I know those that will decide what will happen. It is not by internet posting. If I decide today that I will run for an election; I am just giving you as an example; check these local governments. Why will everybody be depending on endorsements? You don’t want to go to your various wards, your local governments to build the party and try to make the people have confidence in you and make you to win the election. Each time you leave Port Harcourt, you fly to Abuja, and you are looking for endorsement. When you have been endorsed, who will make you to win the general election? “Mention any one of them that can tell you who is their ward chairman. As I sit here, from my (Obio/Akpor) Ward 1 to 17, I know the entire ward chairmen; I know all the party chairmen in the 23 local governments. I know the state executive committee. I challenge them to tell me who are members of the state exco; who are chairmen of the party in the 23 local governments. How does their ward function? It is not only by going to newspapers, taking up adverts saying, it is our turn. The issue is how far have they come to make PDP to be strong for that their turn to be realized. That is the point.” From the look of events, Wike is out for a fight with the President Goodluck Jonathan because all those he boasted he would win in their various wards as well as powerful chieftains of the PDP like Sekibo, Maeba and Nwuche, who he forced out of the activities of the party in the state, were those that worked for the successfully election of the President in 2011, and have at various fora, declared their readiness to repeat same feat in 2015. Another look at the minister’s allegation that the aspirants fly from Port Harcourt to Abuja, to seek endorsement, means that he was indirectly accusing President Jonathan of giving endorsements to the aspirants, as he was not happy with that. But in very clear words, Wike dared the President, saying that not even the “President can stop me if i decide to run” for the governorship of Rivers State. On Bekinbo Dagogo-Jack, who is the Chairman, Presidential Taskforce on Power, and one of the governorship aspirants, Wike said; “The truth of the matter is that if you want to be a politician, you don’t just go to the house and begin to check how many barrels of oil wells your father has produced. You don’t say, I am in Abuja working with Mr President to check the electricity tariffs.” It is pertinent to note that with the way and manner the junior minister is going about his governorship ambition desperately, despite several calls on him from the Presidency and chieftains of the PDP in the state not to run, he has not only created enemies for himself in Ogoni ethnic nationality, and the entire riverine communities that cut across more than 11 local government areas in the state. Also, to many, Wike’s desperation has created factions within the PDP in the state, which he admitted during his recent interview with journalists in Port Harcourt, saying; “Yes, you know in PDP, we have camps.” The minister’s aspiration if not stopped is likely to affect the success of President Jonathan in the 2015 election in the state, considering the fact that the state is presently controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 07:43:28 +0000
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