By Biobele Da-Wariboko
From 1999 to date, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has consistently won all elections. The party winning machine has been powered at different times by different people. In the 1999 and 2003 gubernatorial elections the PDP won for Dr. Peter Odili. In 2007, the party won for Celestine Omehia whose tenure was however cut short by the Supreme Court judgment of 25 October, 2007 for Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi ascendency to power. The PDP also returned Amaechi for a second term in 2011. Similarly, PDP won for Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike in 2015 and the recently concluded 2019 elections. So, one might not be wrong to say that it was the PDP that won elections for Odili, Omehia, Amaechi and now Wike, and not they themselves, as there is no place for independent candidate in Nigeria’s current electoral law. As individuals they may be popular at the time they contested the elections, but in Nigeria individual popularity does not translate into electoral victory. If elections in Nigeria were a popularity contest then all Nollywood stars who ventured into partisan politics should have won all their elections. Go and ask Kanayo O. Kanayo, Ms Ibinabo Fiberesima, Kenneth Okonkwo, Yul Edochie, Ms Kate Henshaw and several others about what went wrong in their venture for elective political offices.
Despite the PDP being the domineering political party in Rivers State democratic space, in the build up to the 2015 general elections, the party was enmeshed in crisis. The result was an exodus of notable members led by the then State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON to the newly formed All Progressives Congress (APC). With that, the PDP which was like a religion with cult followership in the state lamentably lost most of its converts with its state secretariat along Aba Road in Port Harcourt left desolate and the umbrella dripping wet from leakages. With the PDP losing all its structures in the state to the APC, the task of rebuilding the party to winning ways was a herculean one.
From the ashes of this hopeless political situation emerged Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike as the party’s flagbearer in the 2015 gubernatorial election. The election was fiercely contested between the PDP and the APC, and by the time the results were announced the PDP swept all the positions. Although, the party was to lose some seats at the Elections Tribunals, and the re-run elections to the APC, it still controlled the Brickhouse (the seat of government) and substantial seats in the National and State House of Assemblies to ensure its control of the political soul of the state. Thus, despite the divisive electoral contests, Governor Wike was able to settle down quickly to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
RIDING ON THE BACK OF HISTORY
Interestingly, before his election as Governor of Rivers State in 2015, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike from 1999 to 2006 was a two-term Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, and from 2007 to 2011 Chief of Staff to the then Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Besides, before his appointment as Chief of Staff, Governor Wike joining others mobilized human and material resources to help Amaechi reclaim his mandate from Omehia at the Supreme Court. On each of these occasions, Governor Wike shone like a shining star, acquiring the reputation of doggedness, political enigma, the ‘brain box’ of Governor Amaechi’s political establishment and one on whose shoulder rested most of the political achievements of the Governor Amaechi’ sera.
There was no time Governor Wike’s political dexterity and astute knowledge of the geo politics of Rivers State was called to test than when he was Director General of the Governor Amaechi Re-Election Campaign Organization. In that capacity, Governor Wike knew all the politicians in Rivers State and stored the entire state electoral demography in his memory, as he would at every campaign stop throughout the 23 Local Government Areas of the state without looking at any paper reeled out the names of everybody that matters politically unit by unit and ward by ward. To many Wike’s understanding of Rivers State politics could be likened to that of a man from another planet.
Therefore, when victory was achieved those who did not like his political agility felt that the best way to pay him back for doing a yeoman’s job in that election was to send him off to Abuja as Minister with the hope that Abuja politics would dim his rising political profile and cut-off his grassroots political umbilical cord. For Wike, this was a far cry from the truth. Because rather than impacting negatively on his rising political profile at home, with a large war chest, Abuja helped to promote and mark him out as a reliable political generalissimo. Combining his knowledge of grassroots politics with formidable courage, Governor Wike threw himself into the ring by joining the 2015 governorship race against the established geo political equation of the state. To win new converts into his political mission, Wike had strategies on how to regain control of the levers of power at all levels in the state by starting a grassroots political movement called Grassroots Democratic Initiative (GDI). Members of the GDI became Wike political foot soldiers and the major plank on which the rebuilding of the PDP to winning ways in the state was hinged.
It is not easy to overlook Governor Wike’ s doggedness in the face of intimidating opposition, Wike is imbued with an uncanny boldness that confounds his opponents. Besides, he baffled many political watchers by raving back the PDP into a wining political machine that has proven very difficult to stop. To achieve this, the political maestro, Wike protected the grassroots in a warm embrace, undertaking people centred projects that soon transformed the entire state into one huge construction site, as there is no community, clan and local government that did not see the good work of Governor Wike.
Rivers State in the past four years has been on a journey of massive improvement of infrastructure. Roads, the judiciary and administration of justice, healthcare, educational systems, sports, recreational facilities and security all witnessed quantum leap to excellence, and seemingly attracting more dividends of democracy than any before Governor Wike. Thus, Governor Wike’s outstanding performance in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of Rivers State soon earned him the sobriquet ‘Mr Project’ from even his political traducers and the poster boy of the PDP. The state under Governor Wike’s watch became a Mecca of sort for businesses, pleasure seekers, traditional rulers, diplomats and top government officials, even of the opposition APC who came in their numbers to commission one development project or the other constructed by Governor Wike. The improvements we see today on roads, schools, hospitals and public offices across the length and breadth of the state are seeds planted by Governor Wike while God watered and gave the increase.
In the build up to the 2019 general elections, with the APC in firm control at the centre and the PDP in the state, the fight for political supremacy between the two erstwhile political associates turned opponents, incumbent Governor, Chief Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, CON and the Minister of Transportation and immediate past Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, CON became a fight of no retreat and no surrender. While the APC had deep war chest, security and what in local political parlance is known as ‘federal might’, the PDP had performance, momentum and grassroots support. At the end of the keenly contested elections, the PDP and Governor Wike triumphed while the APC with its vastly factionalized leadership and many legal battles that deprived the party from being on the ballot, suffered serious political hemorrhage that left it to lick its self-inflicted wounds.
Governor Wike is a rare leader with enigma, doggedness, bundle of energy and talent at making things better and greater than how he met them. He is a man equipped with eagle vision and unicorn strength to see and execute projects which are dear to the people. During the last four years, Governor Wike has exemplified himself as someone who does excellently whatever he commits his mind to. He has always committed himself to the wellbeing of the people of Rivers State. He was always ready for difficult socio-political assignments. He is someone who quickly comes to the aid of his political family, friends and the people in distress. His political and professional networking ability locally and at the national stage are a great asset.
With a bridge builder in-charge, Rivers State in the second stanza under Governor Wike’s watch is set on a profound journey to greater excellence. On 29 May, 2019, as Governor Wike mounts the podium to take the Oath of Office to continue as the 6th Civilian Governor of Rivers State and the 4th under the present constitution (as amended), the hopes, dreams and desire of every Rivers man and woman, boy and girl for a better state in the next four years are assured.
SECOND TERM EXPECTATIONS
The years 2015 to 2019 despite being the golden era of Rivers State have been the most trying period in the state history. Except for the civil war era, the period threw the greatest challenge to our people’s corporate existence as one united by a common history, culture and geography. Each step taken by the government even eloquent and well thought out was seen from the narrow prism of ethnic and upland-riverine dichotomy, and spined by the opposition to paint the government in bad light. Within this period youth restiveness, kidnapping, cultism, militancy, unemployment, illegal oil bunkering, known locally among the people as kpofire with attendant black soot, and gbegeism became the signature tune that wakes Rivers people up every morning. The result is that despite the government’s massive efforts at infrastructural improvement many businesses and investors took flight from the state, with most relocating to neighbouring states, Lagos and even Dubai in the United Arab Emirate.
Sadly today, rather than Port Harcourt, Lagos is now the energy capital of Nigeria and the hub of the petroleum industry. What an irony of fate. Oil and gas companies now fly their personnel daily by chopper to and from Lagos to production fields and platforms in the deep waters and bowels of Rivers State. What is even more agonizing in this pattern of the socio economic development of the nation is that oil and gas are mined and shipped abroad from Rivers State and returned as petroleum products to the country through Lagos. Yet Nigerians see nothing wrong in this unspeakable economic development arrangement as reason for the nightmare on Lagos roads and restiveness in Rivers State. Instead, they blame Governor Wike and not the Federal Government for its lopsided economic and security policies that have fuelled insecurity and unemployment in the state and across the nation.
With all things being equal, there is no reason why Rivers State should be generating a paltry 47 percent of its annual expenditure profile from internally generated revenue, according to the recently released Economic Confidential Report 2018. That this is so is because of the ‘feeding bottle economy’ that is the nation’s economic policy, as the state does not have control over what is produced from its lands and seas. Until the nation changes its economic policies, including undertaking a major constitutional amendment, which is the basis of the call for restructuring and true federalism for the federating units to develop their resource endowments and pay taxes to the Federal Government as it was during the first republic under the parliamentary constitution, the quantum of internally generated revenue as a measure of the economic viability of states will continue to be in the red.
More than this, Governor Wike needs to think outside the box or even without the box on how to grow the state economy especially its internally generated revenue to make the state less dependent on a dwindling monthly allocation from the Federation Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) as major source of sustenance.
Today, the challenge before Governor Wike in forming his government is to seek out the best and brightest minds that the state can offer from anywhere on planet earth and not necessarily giving jobs to political jobbers and supporters. The Governor must form an all inclusive government and take political decisions to ensure equity and balance in the distribution of political offices and development infrastructure to help distinguish permanently the seemingly increasing tendency of ethnic domination that has rekindled the once dying fire of upland-riverine dichotomy in the body politic of the state. The Governor drawing from his vast political and governance experience must take back the state, especially our villages, communities and local government areas from the hands of miscreants, militants, cultists, warlords, and all those who play up the geo-ethnic card to feather their own nests. Our people need peaceful and secured environment to do their peasant farming, fishing and petty trading. The youths need to be meaningfully engaged in productive ventures to take them out of the hands of political godfathers, and from crime and illegal ventures infested creeks, bushes and dark street corners. The wealth and opportunities that the state is heavily endowed must flow and circulate to put smiles on the faces of every Rivers man and woman, young and old.
As people of great faith, Rivers people believe that God is the one who ordained Governor Wike’s second term and the events leading to his emergence to humble and make him accountable to the will of His people in Rivers State. If we believe that God is the one who caused everything that happened in the state before and during the 2019 elections, then today after the elections we must leave everything to God and act within His ordained will to ensure that Governor Wike utilizes the opportunities available to take the state to the next level of excellence. As a people, we must de-emphasize political sycophancy and what disunites us, and focus on whatsoever that is good and noble to the wellbeing of the state. Our politicians, especially of the opposition camp must cease from the PHD (pull him down) politics and how to win the next elections at all cost, and come out of their enclave to support the government to succeed. This does not mean blind sycophancy of the government even in the face of wrong and poorly formulated and executed policies, but that criticisms must be constructive to help Governor Wike do the right thing and not out of hatred and vile feelings.
As we look forward to a new Rivers State, many will say that Rivers State has found the man. But, we would say because God is always in the moment of Rivers State politics, the man was found to lead Rivers State out of her several challenges. Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike’s second term is therefore a gift from God to Rivers State.
Biobele Da- Wariboko Writes From Port Harcourt.
