River 2015 and the Wike Factor - Thisday newspaper (02/12/2014). Despite misgivings, Daiyeriton Douglas writes that a former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike is the aspirant to beat in the race for the Peoples Democratic Party’s ticket in Rivers State Unarguably, Rivers State provides one of the most intriguing scenarios in the march towards the 2015 general elections, given the strong inter-party contention on ground and the web of legal and moral considerations plaguing internal democracy particularly within the PDP. Here is a state where the sitting PDP government defected to the opposition APC, desperately employing the machinery of state to retain power in the forthcoming elections as against the PDP that requires consolidation to be able to regain power. Beyond the security concern about the arsenals being stock-piled that is already steaming up the political atmosphere thus requiring extraordinary security presence for the elections, the greater threat to PDP’s victory is the ethnocentric sentiments already playing out over the party primaries ahead. The contention itself has conveniently been drawn between Chief Nyesom Wike on one side and all the rest aspirants on the other side, which in itself is an indication that Chief Wike is the strongest contender, the aspirant to beat. The contention of the other aspirants is that the acclaimed strength of Chief Wike, the very credential needed to retrieve power from the APC, is unfairly obtained by cornering the party structure in the state and taking advantage of the goodwill that attended the Pro-Jonathan campaigns he leads in the state under the aegis of the Grassroots Development Initiative (GDI) to further his gubernatorial ambition. But if this is not what politics entail, what then is politics one may ask. To be fair, the present PDP State EXCO was one that was elected by the party when Amaechi held sway and therefore was replaced arbitrarily only to be restored by the court. Everybody hailed Chief Wike’s doggedness then because Governor Amaechi was perceived to be working against the interest of MR. President, using the party’s structure in his firm control; so why now the soured tune? Interestingly, the louder point of the agitation against Chief Wike is even that he is from the same Ikwerre ethnic group as Gov. Amaechi, hence it will be unfair and inequitable to the other ethnic groups for him to emerge the governor in succession. Frankly, it is myopic of those flying the ethnic kite against Chief Wike’s ambition not to see that, not being the party in power, the 2015 election is not such that affords the PDP the luxury of transition of power as to consider sectional sentiments but such that demands putting up the strongest front to be able to wrest power from the sitting government. This is why the position of some of the opinion leaders in the state, particularly from the more outspoken riverine block, who have out rightly called for the slot to be given to a riverine aspirant, possibly from the Kalabari axis, is glaringly self-serving or at best short-sighted. The more interesting thing about the Rivers State case, however, is the expectation of the other aspirants from President Jonathan. Before obtaining their forms, they were all apparently looking up to the president for endorsement while Chief Wike was busy building network of support across the state. They all have obtained the forms without the expected endorsement and are supposed to be all gearing up for the party primaries, but they are renouncing the outcome of the congress to evade the contest, and are relentless in their parochial clamour thus raising some salient questions in the countdown to the party primaries that need to be resolved if the PDP is to avoid an implosion that may cost it a deserving victory. Firstly, are the anti-Wike aspirants shying away from the party primaries expecting Mr. President and the party’s National Working Committee to stop Chief Wike from contesting on the basis of his being an Ikwerre man? Secondly, are they expecting MR. President and the NWC to call off the primaries and hand-pick one of them on the basis of consensus such that the rest of them will be willing to give up their ambitions to support that person? Thirdly, does any one of them to be so picked and the support of the rest of them for him strong enough to win the election in the state without Chief Wike and his expansive electoral machinery? If NO is the answer, obvious as that is, then why should the party settle for less? For the avoidance of doubt, the demand of those sounding the ethnic bell against Chief Wike is underscored in COMPROMISE rather than popularity, and if compromise is it, then for the party’s sake it ought to favour the clarion call to overlook Wike’s ethnicity in other to put up a strong front to win back the BRICK HOUSE. Following the law, stricto sensu, Wike’s right to contest for the governorship of Rivers State is guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution and unfettered by his being from the same ethnic group as the incumbent governor. If on the other hand reference is to be made to zoning as enshrined in the PDP Constitution, then nothing will be as unjust as to employ it in Rivers State for the first time in the middle of the game just to stop a man from pursuing his legitimate aspiration. Besides, were zoning to be adopted, then it will still not be on the basis of the upland and riverine divide but on senatorial zones with only the Rivers South East Zone left to produce the governor of the state, meaning that Kalabari is even not considerable in equitable terms. Now that the APC’s political wagon is riding bumpily in the state with obvious electoral baggage spilling into the widening electoral ambush being laid by the electorate as would be uncovered during the PDP electoral campaigns, the peoples party must not fail to effectively employ the tool of compromise to achieve the party’s corporate rather than sectional goals. Even if it means persuading Chief Wike to agree to serving a single term when power is eventually regained. It’s always better to jaw-jaw to win than to war-war to lose.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 01:25:14 +0000
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