Rivers PDP; Wike’s One Man Army?
Our attention has been drawn to the recent raucous statements by the Minister of State for Education, Hon Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike in an interview with a Radio station in Port Harcourt and monitored by several newspapers including the Punch, ThisDay, Leadership all of 30th July 2014. We disagree with the views expressed by the Minister on the Rivers PDP Gubernatorial ticket, where he stated that he is the only person in the Rivers PDP and that there are no known or notable politicians of Rivers extraction who can deliver for the PDP if given the mandate. We believe that his statement is in very bad taste as it seeks to denigrate the entire members of our great party.
This hegemonic stranglehold over the Rivers PDP portrayed by the Minister of State for Education has led to a breach in the ranks of the party that has been very difficult to amend. It can be recalled that quite recently Wike under the pretense that it was meant to stop Governor Amaechi from infiltrating the PDP machinery in Rivers State had, with the instrumentality of the Courts, snatched the control of the Rivers State PDP from the hands of the national leadership of the party.
Wike’s megalomania has made him forget the fact that political competition without accommodation can rapidly degenerate into violent dissension especially where the battle for power becomes ethnically based. For instance; in the case of Rivers State what does Wike think will happen if in a multi-ethnic state as this, an Ikwerre man succeeds another Ikwerre man as governor? Politics everywhere in the world ought to be guided by the principle of give and take, where a minority should also have the opportunity to govern.
We consider it fractious for Wike to continue to insinuate that PDP in Rivers State is a ONE MAN ARMY sort of thing, a situation where people are deceived to believe that except Wike, no one can deliver on the party’s mandate in Rivers State. The truth is that Wike alone cannot deliver the PDP in Rivers State. If the party mistakenly gives him the ticket, rather than concentrate on how to win elections for 2015, he will be more concerned with bloodletting due to his vicious way of politicking. Let us not forget so soon the event that took place in the Rivers State House of Assembly, where with all the resources given to Wike to further Amaechi’s impeachment, nothing was achieved rather than bloodletting and a big waste of time. The PDP should begin to ask themselves how it was possible to impeach Adamawa State Governor and how it was also possible to initiate Al-Makura’s impeachment process to this stage? And why did Wike fail in Amaechi’s case? The answer to these questions are better left to political pundits in the PDP, but for us, we are convinced that Wike has been blinded by excess money which has affected his judgment. Consequently, his political calculations are faulty and morally bankrupt.
An individual like Wike who no doubt has the financial muscle because the system has so empowered him, will continue to forget that money does not answer all things, he will forget that even the mightiest of the mighty falls, and that in this God’s world, people must learn to put God first in their quest. Besides, all Wike thinks about and is interested in, is how to assume Amaechi’s mantle, he is not interested in using power to enhance the course of humanity neither does he have any agenda of developing Rivers State. Even while he was the Supervising Minister of Education, he did not prove himself capable of holding such a position otherwise, he would have proffered a solution to the almost one year polytechnic lecturers strike. Such a man, can never, rule over Rivers State.
In the above light, we urge the National Leader of the PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR and the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Mu’azu to be wary of the new seed of destruction in PDP (Hon Nyesom Wike) who has clearly shown with his utterances and unrestrained ambitions that he cannot be tamed. They must put an end to this endless hair-splitting in Rivers PDP and stop Wike from his inordinate
ambition; otherwise posterity will hold them accountable for any political disorder that arises from Wike’s ambitions. As fathers of our great party, the PDP, they ought to play their role when it matters most.
Sign;
Oprite Amachree.
Secretary General.
