We write to draw the attention of the leadership of our great party to the inordinate, selfish political ambition and reckless activities of Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike that has brought a series of internal crises to our great party which as you know has led to the departure of aggrieved members and more planning to leave.
You would recall Mr. Chairman, that the implosion of our party in 2014 was as a result of governor Wike’s political ambition to become governor at all cost that made former governor of Rivers and current Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and four other governors to leave our party for the newly formed All Progressives Congress. The G5 governors that would eventually move to APC in 2014 and cost us the presidency in 2015 would not have left if Wike had not hoodwinked former President Goodluck Jonathan into a needless political tussle with the then governor of Rivers State. The PDP lost Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers State), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto) to the APC and this eventually shifted the tide to the APC’s Favour. The other agrieved governors who stayed back in the PDP stayed only to work against the party in the 2015 general elections.
Nyesom Wike’s sins are many. He fueled and instigated crises in Rivers State faction of the PDP, with the aide of Patience Jonathan and the loud silence of President Jonathan, he hijacked the party structure from his former boss Chibuike Amaechi. This internal crisis that GEJ failed to resolve to the benefit of Nyesom Wike enabled Wike to win Rivers state even as it violated political equity and fairness as it would mean that another Ikwerre man would be in power for a prospective 8 years.
Wike swam on the blood of over 200 people to the Government House of Rivers State in an election marred by violence and killings motivated by Wike’s desperate ambition.
Wike exchanged the Presidency for his own governorship ambition and manipulated the Jonathans to further his own ambition and not to advance their own.
The Chairmanship Tussle
The PDP had lost the presidential election and suffered several defections and internal wranglings but the membership was determined to rebuild and prepare its house for 2019 and several other upcoming local elections.
Nyesom Wike struck again, this time, in furtherance of his selfish political ambition, collaborated with former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose to bring a known affiliate of the APC and in- law of President Buhari , Ali Modu Sherrif to head the PDP. The leadership and other Governors immediately resisted the idea as Sheriff’s antecedents were publicly known. The Chairmanship office was too sensitive to be given to someone of Sheriff’s pedigree but Wike and Fayose rejected all advice and counsel of the party leadership and went ahead to name Sheriff Chairman in the hopes that he would be a tool for them to further their individual agendas in 2019, a move that backfired and eventually created a lingering crisis in the party that lasted for over a year.
We have it on good record that Governor Wike is working closely with the cabal and had the clearance and backing of Aso Rock to bring in Sheriff in order to weaken the party. Wike’s game plan was to have Sheriff handpick his (Wike’s) preferred Presidential candidate and himself (Wike) as running mate in 2019. When they (Fayose and Wike) realized that Sheriff had his own agenda and would not play ball, Wike and Fayose immediately plotted to remove him. This led to the long sheriff – Makarfi factions in PDP structures nationwide. Wike himself brought Makarfi to wrestle the party away from Sheriff and promised the latter that he would support him for President when the internal crisis of the party had been resolved. Makarfi himself, became a victim of Wike’s scheming when Wike failed to support his Presidential ambition and claimed to have paid him off when Makarfi sought his support.
After a long battle in the high court, appeal court and Supreme Court, the PDP was finally able to get rid of Sheriff but had lost Edo and Ondo Gubernatorial elections because of the factional war within the party structure in those states. All of which could have been avoided if Wike put the party before his ambitions.
Mr Chairman, Governor Wike’s loud, boastful character and arrogance as he is known, began to brag after Sheriff was sacked from the PDP that he (Wike) had the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen in his pocket.
It was Wike’s irresponsibility that led the country and Wike’s South South Zone to lose the CJN.
We do not believe that the CJN was under the control of Wike, however this was the irresponsible boast of Wike in private meetings with close political associates, where a very drunk Wike made the careless and boastful statement to the amazement of his guests. This would eventually leak out to the presidency and coupled with the judgements on the Rivers State Governorship Election, the PDP Chairmanship tussle and other election cases at the time, naturally, it alarmed the powers that be in Aso Rock. There are also claims in the security circles that they have Wike on tape boasting about his control of the Judiciary. This made the presidency to be alarmed in an election year, and out of self preservation embarked on steps to remove the CJN Walter Onnoghen for the first time in the history of the country, in the way and manner that it happened .
We condemn it totally, but history should note that it was Wike’s recklessness that lit the flames which burnt Onnoghen.
The PDP Chairmanship
It is also pertinent to note Mr. chairman, that governor Wike’s inability to honor a simple gentle man agreement in the zoning arrangement of the position of chairman of our party to the SouthWest, also contributed to the crisis that nearly consumed our party and inevitably led to the loss of the Presidential elections in 2019.
While the party had micro zoned the office of the Chairman to the South West to give the zone a sense of belonging as Presidency and Vice Presidency had been zoned to the North and South East respectively, several South West PDP leaders were already in the race for Chairmanship and it was looking to be an interesting elective convention when Wike’s ambition struck again. This time, in the image and form of Uche Secondus, a fellow Rivers man and of course from the South South. Wike manipulated Makarfi to deny micro zoning and rather open it up to the entire south instead of the earlier agreement to micro zone, thereby allowing Wike’s candidate Prince Uche Secondus to enter the contest which he eventually won by a landslide.
Wike’s Machiavellian politics saw him agree a closed door deal with Bola Tinubu to ensure that the PDP did not have a South Western Chairman so that Tinubu’s grip on the South West would not be challenged while he (Wike) could now also further his agenda of becoming a Vice Presidential Candidate.
Wike’s ultimate goal was to continue the plan initially agreed with Sheriff, he wanted to be Vice President to his preferred Presidential Candidate and Prince Uche Secondus would facilitate his ambition as Chairman of the party. This fall in the agreement, you would recall, Mr Chairman led to the massive exodus of several PDP leaders like Professor Jerry Gana and Professor Adeniran including others.
2019 General Elections
History should note that Wike almost scuttled the PDP presidential primaries of our party because of his ambition. He
threatened the party that was preparing for Primaries in opposition and forced the party to hold its convention in Portharcourt which he had arranged with the Villa. The home advantage he (Wike) thought, would give him the advantage to produce a weaker candidate for the opposition party in the 2019 election.
On the morning of October 7th , Governor Wike walked out on the party in the full glare of the world at the PDP Presidential Primaries when it was discovered that his preferred candidate Governor Aminu Tambuwal was losing. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar eventually emerged as PDP’s Presidential Candidate and was never congratulated by Wike who had previously made it clear that he was not going to support Atiku since his own candidate lost.
Wike’s plan was for Governor Aminu Tambuwal to emerge as Presidential Candidate and pick him (Wike) as Vice President while also having the ticket as Guber Candidate under Rivers PDP. The Presidential elections would ultimately hold before Gubernatorial elections and the outcome would have seen him either abandon his Gubernatorial return if PDP won the Presidency or return back to contest for Governor of Rivers State if the party failed to win the Presidency.
Wike planned a win -win situation – made sure the APC did not have a candidate in Rivers State, become Vice Presidential Candidate and Gubernatorial Candidate in Rivers State and would face little resistance if he returned back as Guber candidate as the APC had no candidate, luckily, the PDP was able to resist his antics in the Port Harcourt Presidential Primaries.
It took the dexterity of the party chairman and the political experience of the presidential candidate to manage Wike and get him to play some roles in the PDP presidential campaign which he reluctantly agreed after months of dilly-dally. He never campaigned with Atiku publicly except when the latter visited Rivers State.
We have it on good authority that while he pretended to fund the PDP candidate Atiku, Wike through a former senator also contributed ₦5bn to the APC Presidential campaign in order for him to retain Rivers State.
The events that took place in Rivers state where APC did not have a Gubernatorial candidate was Wike’s prize for his role in weakening the national PDP structure via a South South Chairman as opposed to a South West Chairman which would have destabilized the electoral balance for the APC in the South West.
Wike currently has a marriage of convenience with the cabal and is solely committed to neutralize Amaechi’s political influence in Rivers state and the South-South in general.
To concretize his arrangement with the cabal, Wike was the only PDP governor to publicly congratulate president Muhammadu Buhari even when our party and its candidate were challenging the outcome of the 2019 election. He was also the only PDP governor at the Airport to welcome President Buhari on his return from medical vacation in the UK. While we do not see anything wrong with the show of empathy towards the president, if it were to be another PDP governor or party person, Wike would have been the first person to publicly brand the person as a pro Buhari supporter.
Wike’s other Anti Party activities
Wike’s desperate desire to control the affairs of the PDP, even in states where PDP governors are holding sway is another indication of his Machiavellian and dirty politics. Instead of supporting and encouraging his colleagues (other Governors) Wike has sponsored several PDP aspirants while also funding their APC counterparts secretly. It is a public secret that Wike sponsored litigations up to the supreme court against Governor Ben Ayade to have him replaced with his friend, Mr. Joe Agi SAN. It took frantic effort on the part of Governor Ayade to survive the legal onslaught sponsored from a fellow PDP governor.
In 2018, Governor Wike traveled to Anambra for the PDP Guber primaries and bastardized the process, organised a primaries that disgraced the democratic character of the PDP just so he could impose his candidate Oseloka Obaze on the party, this clear violations of the democratic character of the party in the primaries saw a lot of aggrieved aspirants including Stella Oduah and Ifeanyi Ubah who abandoned the party and supported/worked for APGA to retain the seat as revenge on PDP.
Wike while also pretending to be a friend to Emeka Ihedioha, governor of Imo state, sponsored Senator Sam Anyanwu against Ihedioha. A move that destabilized the PDP in Imo state. It took a concerted effort from the party leaders and the grace of God for Emeka Ihedioha to survive the political onslaught. Wike believes that Emeka Ihedioha is a frontline contender to be PDP’s Vice President running mate in 2023 to their mutual friend Governor Aminu Tambuwal who is a strong contender for the PDP Presidential ticket in 2023.
Wike’s tribalistic politics has also crippled the democratic potential of the PDP. He is more bothered about raising his tribesmen than protecting the interest of the party. Last year, he displayed his tribalistic politics by trying to impose his brother, a man from the same LGA as him – Hon Kingsley Chinda on the PDP faction of the House of Reps as House Minority Leader. We are grateful, Mr. Chairman that the Board of Trustees did the right thing and resisted Wike’s antics even after he supported the illegal announcement of Kingsley Chinda as Minority Leader.
We have it on record that Wike resorted to blackmailing the party and threatening to leave the party because the Board of Trustees and most PDP House of Rep Members endorsed Hon Ndudi Elumelu as House Minority Leader.
Wike also insulted the members of the Board of Trustees and alleged that they are corrupt, he also accused them of sharing money and buying House of Rep members into their agenda for Ndudi Elumelu. Meanwhile, Mr Chairman, it was he (Wike) who went around Abuja bribing several PDP house of Rep members to support Kingsley Chinda. Wike’s dirty politics is eating deeply into the foundations of unity, transparency and integrity that our party is known for and it should not be allowed to continue.
We also condemn Wike’s recent anti party activities in Bayelsa state where he worked assiduously with former president Jonathan and his wife to bring in an APC member, Timi Alaibe few months to the governorship election and built a national coalition for him without regard to the implication of that on the party cohesion and unity back home.
Wike’s agenda is to have a friendly governor in Bayelsa who is also close to his anointed Rivers PDP Guber candidate in 2023, Austin Opara, another Ikwerre man.
Wike knows that Timi Alaibe will not pose any challenge to the Austin Opara-Ikwerre agenda as they are friends. This agenda is parallel to governor Dickson’s pro Ijaw tendencies and would pose to be a major problem for the Ikwerre agenda because of the interconnectivity of the two states which were previously one.
Aftermath of Timi Alaibe’s PDP guber primary loss, Governor Wike desperately pitched with The Jonathans to fund and support the APC candidate in Bayelsa in order to weaken governor Dickson’s influence after the completion of his tenure.
It is well known that Rivers State was the coordinating center that was used by Security agents, APC governors and INEC officials to write fake election results. These fake results were only escorted to Bayelsa for onward announcement with the support of Wike.
If Wike was truly a party man, he would not have been a megaphone for the APC by legitimizing and rationalizing the apparent rape of the electoral process in Bayelsa state.
There are reports that the APC leaders also called him to interfere in the Bayelsa state elections related court cases.
His Anti Democratic Behavior
It is also worthy of note that governor Wike has never spoken up on the issues of restructuring and resource control, rather, he opposes and attacks the proponents of these ideals such as PANDEF, Afenifere, Ohaneze Ndigbo and the Middle Belt Forum as against the beliefs of our party which stands for an equitable country that works for all on the tenets of unity, fairness and justice.
Governor Nyesom Wike’s divisive politics in profiling Christians and Muslims by demolishing mosque and declaring Rivers state as a Christian state is one that fans the embers of disunity and religious intolerance in not just South-South but Nigeria at large.
Mr Chairman, it is very clear that if the PDP must rebuild and regain the trust and confidence of its members and Nigerians at large, the Party cannot continue to accommodate Governor Nyesom Wike and his excesses. Governor Wike has continuously tried to turn Africa’s largest political party to be a personal vehicle for his political agenda. He lashes out at dissenting voices that seek to protect the party’s interest instead of his and accuses them of anti party activities thereby creating unneeded tension and disparity.
Governor Wike has reduced PDP’s National potential and appeal via his imposition, political recklessness and unintelligent machinations that seek only to advance his ambitions instead of the party.
We ask, Mr Chairman, that Nyesom Wike be cautioned, suspended and if possible expelled from the party so he can finally join the APC where we believe he has been secretly working with since 2015. With Wike’s exit, the PDP can finally put its house in order and begin the long journey of reconciliation, rebuilding and restrategizing for the 2023 General Elections.
A stitch in time truly saves Nine.
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