A pressure group, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Frontliners, has said the most crucial political events and developments during the year have emphatically affirmed the significant presence of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Barr Nyesom Wike, as one of the prime movers of Nigerian politics.
The group said despite claims of Wike’s unpopularity by his critics in Rivers State, his pivotal role in weakening the PDP’s support base, along with defections of key figures such as Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, arguably contributed to the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) electoral success in 2023.
It said over the years, Wike mentored a young man who became his successor as governor of Rivers State.
These views were contained yesterday in PDP Frontliners’ statement signed by its publicity secretary, Mr Jonah Sylbriks.
PDP Frontliners, a pressure group within the PDP, said any objective review of Nigeria’s political chessboard and power dynamics in 2023 will easily highlight the Wike factor and the need for Governor Siminalayi Fubara to sustain the deference for his predecessor as well as the accord brokered by President Ahmed Tinubu.
“In Nigeria’s ever-shifting political landscape, the hunt for heroes among politicians has been near-fruitless, leading to a fervent search for villains, especially as economic woes grip the nation; former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has become a focal point, blamed for dashing political dreams and disrupting power dynamics, notably within the PDP and accusations abound, linking Wike to shattered aspirations of presidential candidates and gubernatorial hopefuls, while paving the way for Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory.
“On Twitter (X), Facebook and other social media platforms, Labour Party supporters and those of the PDP presidential candidate who, had in 2011 led the campaign against President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential bid on the grounds that ‘it was still the turn of the North to rule Nigeria’ are struggling to overdo themselves in painting the FCT minister as a villain because of his backing for Tinubu.
“Also, in Rivers state, former PDP heavyweights who have become expired political paperweights join others in accusing Wike of insulting the Ijaw by bringing up Fubara instead of allowing them to impose a candidate; they deliberately ignore the fact that Wike made another Ijaw man an Executive Director, Finance and Administration at the Niger Delta Development Commission, and backed yet another Ijaw man to become the Rivers State Representative in the Federal Civil Service Commission,” they stated.
While urging Governor Fubara to sustain his commitment to the Abuja peace accord and avoid politicians’ cunning aimed at putting him in conflict against his long-term mentor, the PDP Frontliners asserted that inasmuch as a river that forgets its source runs the risk of drying up, Governor Fubara should not toe the line of another former Rivers State governor who repaid Dr Peter Odili with ingratitude and ran into political oblivion even after becoming a minister.
“In 1998, Wike, then chairman of Obia Akpor local government area, had Sim Fubara, a 23-year-old as his accountant/cashier, became a governor and made Fubara the accountant/cashier in Government House before making him a director and later, the state accountant-general; at 46, Fubara is one of Nigeria’s youngest governors, has spent half of his years on earth working for or under Wike,” the group said.
