The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike, is eager to commence a reconciliation drive in order to overcome the challenges occasioned by his emergence, writes Davidson Iriekpen. For those following the political developments in Rivers State, the emergence of the former Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, last week as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not a surprise, despite effort to stop him. Continue...
Considering the way he started, perhaps the only group of people who did not believe that he would win the governorship ticket of the party were the 17 other aspirants from the riverine area of the state, who later boycotted the process upon reaslising that the former minister might be unstoppable.
While Wike was said to be busy building network of support across the state, the other aspirants were allegedly busy obtaining their forms and looking up to President Goodluck Jonathan for endorsement and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP to stop Wike from seeking the ticket of the party.
However, when the endorsement did not come, they started renouncing the process, culminating in their boycott of the primary election. A few others who had the courage to participate in the primaries were outclassed by the former minister.
The contention of the other aspirants was that the acclaimed strength of Wike was unfairly obtained by cornering the party structure 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.
For a state where the sitting PDP government had defected to the opposition APC and keen about retaining power in the forthcoming elections, the PDP requires consolidation to be able to regain power. It was at the point that what the PDP needed was a strong candidate to confront the weight of incumbency
Observers are of the opinion that those flying the ethnic kite against Wike’s ambition did not to see that the 2015 election is not such that affords the PDP the luxury of power rotation but demands putting up the strongest front to be able to wrest power from the ruling party.
This is why they saw the position of some of the opinion leaders in the state, particularly from the riverine bloc, who had called for the slot to be given to a riverine aspirant, possibly from the Kalabari axis, as self-serving.
The state chapter of the party was in near collapse and sinking with internal crisis. While a lot of those who later sought to contest the governorship on the platform of the party were afraid to challenge Amaechi, it took Wike to stabilise the ship of the party through the instrumentality of the courts. The second step was the setting up of the GDI which helped to mobilise grassroots support that assisted in stabilising the party.
While other aspirants felt that the snag to the former minister’s governorship ambition could be the fact that he is from Ikwerre as the incumbent governor, a lot of others feel otherwise. They posited that the circumstance was caused by the fact that the PDP is not in power and that if the party is to resolved win the 2015 elections, then it must field the best and most competent governorship candidate, irrespective of where he hails from.
Moreso where Wike hails from has four local government areas which can produce 1.1million votes, with Obio/Akpor and Port Harcourt as the swing areas needed to defeat the APC in the February 2015 election.
To add to his political strength, the chairmen of the PDP in the 23 local government areas in the state had endorsed him for the party’s ticket. In a resolution signed by the 23 Chairmen on the platform of the Forum of PDP Local Government Chairmen of the state, the group said it had recognised the constitutional right of every qualified PDP member to contest the governorship and other primary elections in the state.
As a two-time Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Director General of the Amaechi campaign organisation in 2011 and Chief of Staff, they know that the former minister could be said to have understood the workings of a successful election.
However, having secured the party’s ticket, what is next for him is to embark on an aggressive reconciliation drive to get the support of other ethnic nationalities and aggrieved aspirants. And this, he seems to have started. In his acceptance speech, he urged other aspirants in the party to come together to deliver the state to the party at the next election.
“I congratulate especially, all my fellow aspirants as worthy gladiators and hereby publicly invite them to join hands with us in the great tasks ahead; the task of ensuring total victory for the PDP in Rivers State. We need to work together to rebuild our once beautiful Rivers State.
“I urge you all not to weep. I urge you all my brothers and sisters to put on your working clothes and commence immediately, the process of rebuilding our great state. This we shall do first, by recovering it from the grip of its present poor handlers. We must achieve this through the ballot box.”
For those who think that the former minister would not want to see them because of the attacks launched on his person, he has this to say: “In the course of this contest, a number of people, politicians, elders and opinion molders amongst others poured some vituperation upon our persons. We consider these comments, criticism and attacks on us as friendly tackles in the field of play.
“I hereby declare that I have forgiven them all. In the same vein, I apologise to all those we may have offended directly or indirectly through our comments, speeches and actions in the course of this struggle as we believe that in the process of a complicated surgery, as politics, nerves, arteries and veins may be affected by the surgical knife.
“However, the recovery and the healing process in the end save lives. In the name of God, please forgive as we have forgiven all those who may have offended us,” he pleaded.
According to him, such reconciliation must be genuine. We seek to bring back everyone to the sheep fold and rebuild our once strong, virile, united political family. It is going to be a challenging assignment. But we have confidence in the ability of our people to discharge this onerous responsibility of true political reconciliation. It is the basis of our march to victory.”
While efforts are on to reconcile the aggrieved aspirants, an elder statesman and chieftain of the PDP in the state who himself is from the riverine area, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, has cautioned those castigating Wike to forget the past and accept for the sake of the party and the state. Alabraba said the party would have gone into extinction in the state with the defection of Amaechi, to the APC but for the intervention of the minister.
He said Amaechi left the party with most of the structures that supported the survival and growth of the party (PDP) in the state, adding that it was wrong for the people to accuse the former minister of hijacking the party when in effect; it was he (the minister) who re-invented the party after the exit of the governor.
“Without Wike, the PDP would have been gone in the state. Amaechi practically took the structure of the PDP with him to the APC. When it happened, most members of the PDP felt dejected but did nothing until Wike rose up to keep the PDP intact in the state. Most of those angling to run for the ticket of the party in 2015 are identifying with the party today because of its popularity in the state.
“But it is sad that they have chosen not to identify with the running of the party. It is not feasible to run for a party position when you do not identify with the running of the party. How can you show interest to run on the platform of a party without contributing to its growth and development? They forget that we are running party politics. And for anyone to run on the platform of the party, he or she has to identify with the party. How can they achieve their ambition if they do not identify with the party?” he queried.
The PDP chieftain noted that most of the people aspiring to run for the gubernatorial ticket of the party were neither known nor have contributed to the running of the party. He called on the aspirants to show more interest in the running and growing of the party to enable it bounce back in 2015.
“My advice to them is to come close to the party, identify with the party, contribute to the party, mobilise support for the party so that the party could be stronger to actualise their respective ambitions. They should also support the leadership of the party as it is today. Clearly, Wike has demonstrated unparalleled leadership that has taken the PDP to where it is today in the state,” he said.
The party leader also expressed support for the decision of the PDP not to zone the gubernatorial ticket to any section of the state, stating that it would aggravate rather than douse the tension in the state. He said he did not believe that the decision of the party not to zone the ticket to any area was designed to favour any particular candidate but to ensure that the party instills internal democracy and gets the best candidate through the party process.
"If you zone it to the Kalabari area, what about the Ogonis, the Etches and other areas asking for the same ticket? We must realise that the PDP as it is now is going through a very peculiar situation which was unexpected by its members. We never expected that a governor elected on the platform of the party will defect to the APC. Therefore, what the party needs to do is to present the most saleable candidate at the gubernatorial polls in 2015.
“I make bold to say that it is not in the best interest of our party to zone or limit the selection of a governorship candidate to any zone or senatorial district or ethnic nationality for that matter. We must ensure that the party gives all contending aspirants a level playing field,” Alabraba said.
He added: “Just like what happened in Ekiti and Osun States elections, the elections in Rivers State will be peaceful, free, fair and credible because of the presence of adequate security agents and preparations by INEC."
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