Indeed, Nigerians are not dummies and agree or not, politicians are very smart and are always looking for ways to outsmart not only their opponents, but even their constituents, resorting to breaching established protocols in order to get their way is not prohibitive to them, as long as the end justifies the means.
Believing that a loud-mouthed and self-praising politician is working in your interest when he tells you so, is akin to believing a trader who claims to have sold you a good product at a loss to himself, it simply doesn’t happen.
The recent drama playing out in the PDP today with the Governor Nyesom Wike’s led camp and the rest of the party, when well interrogated, will uncover a well-orchestrated and deceptive script authored by Wike to breach established protocol and occupy Aso Rock unchallenged and in dissonance with democratic tenets.
In fact, there is nothing empathetic or pro-south about Wike’s presidential aspiration, it is on record that he rancorously decimated the party, losing two performing governors in the south – a move which can now be seen in hindsight as not accidental by any stretch, as they could have been potential hurdles to his personal agenda if the ticket was to be zoned to the south in his calculation.
Again, the enfant terrible of the party, ferociously led an attack to sack Uche Secondus a southerner as party chairman and vehemently pushed for the emergence of Dr Iyorchia Ayu – a northerner, against another southerner why? He simply was playing a game of draught with the party, so that the presidential ticket will be foreclosed to the north.
With his so-called influence in the party, is it not astonishing that no Rivers indigene occupy any position of relevance in the party’s national executive? Because that would inimically minimise the (his) chances for negotiating the juiciest position when the time came, wouldn’t it? So, he wasn’t having it.
Thankfully, the vigilance of party elders in PDP has successfully upended the self-serving plot, in favour of party interest.
Sadly though, a respected elder statesman like Bode George who is believed to be a closet sponsor of the Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in his state (Lagos), rather than act like the elder and party chieftain that he is supposed to be, has teamed up with the garrulous, self-acclaimed ‘guy man’ Wike in hurling stones at his own house.
Apparently, the whole claim of single-handedly catering for PDP for four years and the ‘Mr Projects’ garb raucously coined and worn by Wike is nothing but a broad daylight attempt to hoodwink party members and Nigerians respectively into getting a free pass to Aso Rock in 2023, of course the seams of deception couldn’t hold and has disgracefully exposed the butt of the wearer in the wind.
If you are still wondering how the projects commissioning in Rivers states and the unnecessary pomp and publicity which is paid for in tax payers’ money, all to massage the over-bloated ego of one man is related, then look no farther than a telling incident which occurred in the state in January 2020.
It was the quarterly meeting of the governor and traditional rulers in the state, an event that has gone down in the history of the state as an outing of shame for the royal fathers, in particular the paramount ruler of Omuma HRM King (Barr.) Onyekachi K.Amaonwu, the Eze Eberi Ugo 9th of Ancient Eberi Omuma Kingdom, who was particularly singled out by Gov Wike for a mega dose of ridicule and denigration, is worthy of a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Here lies the nexus of that event and Wike’s now failed deceptive plot to pull wool over the eyes of PDP. After tongue-lashing and humiliating monarchs for not coming to the meeting with their staffs of office, like a colonial school teacher talking to village children, “those of you with your staff of office stand up”, Emperor Wike had commanded them and you could see the shamed faces of the revered elders as they struggled to stand and sit at his command – it was very reprehensible and of course he was heavily berated by the subjects of these monarchs after the much-televised event.
He then turned to HM King Amaonwu and said, pointing a finger at him “Stop shaking your head …. you, you, you, yes you, stop shaking your head, you’re one of those causing problems, (just like he Wike is causing today) they gave you chieftaincy, you don’t even know what to do with it and then when I’m speaking you’re doing like this, (nodding his head). All fake, fake, fake… causing problems everywhere. You just go and wear something that is bigger than you (someone also called himself Mr Projects and PDP’s saviour). When somebody is looking for power, you will think that he is an elderly person, very small young man – this boy (wow, Wike couldn’t have described himself better). Now he is wearing this thing to breach protocol (we now know why he Wike, adorned himself with the alpha and omega of PDP toga). He thinks that when he is shaking his head like this I will be happy – that’s fake, fake!”
You see, it takes a snake oil merchant to know one, whether one is wearing fake royal robes and the other is noisily commissioning projects with a hired musical band to sing him praises at every sentence pause, the end result according to Wike is to beat protocol. In his case, for the PDP presidential ticket without resistance.
Truth is most times out in the open, but some people chose to close their eyes to it – during his bid for the presidential ticket in a televised event, Wike said referring to his opponents who approached him with a consensus agenda – “all of us… guyman go guy guyman?” The term ‘guyman’ is street slang for con artists! By intoxicatingly describing himself as a con man in a careless moment, Wike lifted his pretentious garb for all to catch a brief glimpse of his true intentions.
Our people say that what an elder sees sitting down, a child cannot see even if he climbs up a tree. Wike claimed to have seen through the shenanigans of a monarch who he arrogantly described as a ‘small boy’ who used to run errands for him. By the way, Wike is 54 and the monarch is 50, and culturally, both belong to the same age grade, so one wonders how old Wike really is, if his claim is to be believed. Thankfully, PDP’s true party elders looked at Wike and also saw through his guise, a self-acclaimed con artist desperately angling for power and today the rest they say, is history.
