POLITICAL NOTES
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, can never stop being in the news. Last week, he said he would not campaign for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, because he is working with “enemies of the state”.
Speaking during the inauguration of the Rivers PDP campaign council in Port Harcourt, Wike said Atiku picked people from Rivers as members of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council without any input from him.
“The presidential candidate entered Rivers State and picked those he wants to pick without the contribution of the governor. So, they said they don’t need me to campaign for them. They don’t need Rivers people to campaign for them. Will you force yourself on them? I have never seen how people will disrespect a state like Rivers State and go and choose those who are enemies of the state, without the contribution from us,” he said.
Imagine the governor calling Uche Secondus, Austin Opara, Celestine Omehia, Abiye Sekibo and other eminent indigenes “enemies of the state” when in fact, a request was made for him to appoint people into the campaign council but he turned it down.
Even other governors in his camp appointed people from their states into the campaign council.
It is a fact that since Wike lost the presidential ticket of the PDP and the vice presidential slot, he has refused to be placated. Under the pretext of clamouring for justice and equity in the party, he has utilised the enormous resources at his disposal to galvanise four other governors to create a crisis in the party.
Their position is that the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu must step down because Ayu and Atiku cannot come from the North.
While he has doggedly held to this position, in another breath in a viral video recently, he complained that Delta and Imo states have been given positions, leaving out Rivers State. He has become so inconsistent that nobody really knows what he wants.
When the Rivers governor and his group were appointed to join the PDP presidential campaign council, they declined, insisting that Ayu must resign first. Yet, he is saying that Atiku picked people from his state into the presidential campaign council without consulting him when he has refused to be placated.
Also in what was clearly a case of anti-party, Wike publicly endorsed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State when the PDP had a candidate in the state. It is really difficult to figure out what he really wants.
