Wike Versus Secondus as PDP’s Headache

That there’s a struggle of interest between the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and his installed National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, is not news. What is news, however, is the cause of their disagreement and how this might have constituted huge headache for the party leadership in the runup to 2023.

In the 2023 power struggle, Wike’s major concern is how to get in a successor of choice as many governors are wont to do, when they leave office. Whatever tussle that’s going on at the centre is barely of concern to him. Indeed, you can hardly find Wike in Abuja or holding meetings on how the party could seize power again at the centre. All he cares about his keeping Rivers and through a choice successor.

But someone appears to be standing in the way of that dream and that person is his chairman – a man he put in office – perhaps, to take care of his interest at the centre. How is this so? Secondus is said to have a brother from the Riverian area that he wants to succeed Wike in answering to ‘power shift’ in the Rivers political equation. But that person is certainly not who Wike wants.

Unfortunately, for as long as Secondus remains the party’s chair, then, he seems to be well positioned to actualise his dream of installing his brother as Rivers governor. And none of this Wike wants. But the party, especially, the governors, are worried about the turn of things in the state. Yet, whomever the governors support is likely to emerge victorious in this survival battle.

Will they go with their colleague, Wike, or their national chairman, Secondus? If they went with Wike and appealed to Secondus to shelve his plan, it might be easier to achieve peace, depending on the compensation offered in place. But if they sided with Secondus at the expense of Wike, it might just be the beginning of another round of intense crisis in the Rivers PDP, a development that many fear could see Wike take very drastic options. And if that happens? Your guess is as good as anyone else’s.