2019: Wike's second-term declaration...As West challenges Wike for PDP's ticket

By NATH OMAME


The delay appears to have been strategic, rather than inspired by lack of support, or personal doubts, on his popularity among his supporters, or the people of Rivers State that the electorates will warm up to him again at the polls.

Even though, Governor Nyesom Wike, kept his declaration to vie for a second-term of four years as the Chief Executive of Rivers State in 2019, late, there was really no doubt that he would do so considering the outpouring of support from members of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) for him to contest.

The call for him to put his name forward for nomination in 2019, actually began in the second year of his first term. His foray into the construction of roads, starting with Port Harcourt Local Government and Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, dumbfounded even his harshest critics.

Wike's infrastructural strides later earned him the sobriquet, "Mr. Project." While the governor and his supporters enthused the projects, including the construction and rehabilitation of roads, hospitals, schools, and buildings, the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) insisted that the projects are concentrated in Port Harcourt and Obio-Akpor local governments.

His critics have also accused the governor of implementing projects mainly in local governments of Ikwerre ethnic stock, of Port Harcourt, Obio-Akpor and Ikwerre local governments.

However, the governor has also implemented projects in other local governments of other ethnic groups even though they may pale in comparison to projects in Port Harcourt and Obio-Akpor which comprise of the metropolitan cities in the state.

Governor Wike has often responded to his critics by saying that Port Harcourt and Obio-Akpor are the first places visitors come in contact with when they visit the state. Therefore, the metropolitan cities deserve to be transformed first, before communities in the other parts of the state.

On the strength of his achievements in the area of infrastructure, calls for the Wike to contest for a second-term heightened.                               

However, following the publication of the timetable for the 2019 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the call for the governor to vie for a second- term snowballed into a din with scores of political and pressure groups calling on him to contest.

On Saturday, September 1, Wike eventually declared that he will run for a second-term in 2019. He made the declaration during the commissioning of the office of the One Million Youths For New Rivers, a political pressure group that asserted that it will mobilise one million youths in the state in support of his second-term bid.

The group was put together by two members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, representing Ahoada-East State Constituency 2, (chairman) and Major Jack, representing Akuku-Toru State Constituency 1 (secretary).

Wike declared: "Many groups have asked me to contest in 2019.  I said I will make the decision when I am reasonably sure those urging me to run are also prepared to protect and defend their votes. There cannot be a successful election without the active participation of the youths."

"Now that the youths are ready to protect and defend their votes, I will contest again in 2019. So, you have a lot work to do in sensitising the electorates to vote for the candidate who has done well for the state. And be ready to protect your votes."

Wike's declaration re-ecohed a statement he made in December 24, 2017, in Port Harcourt, when Apara Kingdom honoured him. "I will declare when you assure me you are ready to protect our votes .”

 “I will continue to remain focused. Some people did not expect us to perform very excellently , but we have been able to put them to shame. The way Nigeria is going today, the APC - led Federal Government is only prepared to write results. But this time, the results will write them”

Wike had noted at that event: “Even if there is fuel, there is no money to buy fuel. Today,  the exchange rate of the dollar to the naira has degenerated and prices of foodstuffs have gone beyond the reach of Nigerians. They deceived Nigerians with all kinds of lies, but today they are compounding the problems of the people.”

Even before Governor Wike declared that he will contest for a second-term in 2019, the emergence of another governorship aspirant under the aegis of the PDP was unlikely. But strange things do happen in politics.

Barely 24 hours after Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, declared that he will be running for a second-term in office, in 2019, another aspirant, Soalabo West, announced his willingness to contest for the governorship on the platform of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP.

West, an energy and maritime lawyer of the Kalabari ethnic extraction, said his willingness to vie for the 2019 governorship election on the platform of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, "is anchored on a new paradigm to make Rivers State great again."

He stated, in Port Harcourt, on Sunday, September 2, that the circumstances that threw up Wike in 2015 have been actualised with his emergence as governor in 2015 under the aegis of the PDP.

"The prevailing argument then, was that Rivers was a PDP state and the people of the state needed to wrest the leadership of the state from the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party which the then incumbent governor' Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi defected to in 2013."

West recalled: "Governorship aspirants from the riverine ethic nationalities were asked to work with Wike, not because the Upland/Riverine dichotomy was not there, but essentially because of imperatives of the time."

"One, that Rivers State should go to the PDP, and second, that the state should be properly mobilised to deliver majority votes to former President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2019 presidential election."

West emphasised that his governorship ambition is propelled by his desire to bring to the fore: vision; youthful vigour; and a pragmatic and dynamic approach to the development of the state devoid of political bickering and sectarian exclusiveness that is currently being institutionalised."

He added: "My appeal to our youths and all stakeholders is to eschew violence and thuggery because according to former President Jonathan, nobody's blood should be shed for anybody's political ambition."

Considering Wike's expansive clout in the PDP and his intimidating political structures in the 319 wards and 23 local governments in the state, will West be able to sustain his political ambition to participate in the PDP governorship primary?.

Does West have the political machinery to galvanise the Kalabari ethnic group to key into his quest to challenge Wike for the PDP ticket for 2019, or is his declaration a kite being flown by some Kalabari business moguls and political establishment to test the political waters for 2023?

West was the spokesman of the 16 aggrieved PDP governorship aspirants under the aegis of the Mainstream Coalition from the riverine communities in 2015, who boycotted the PDP governorship primary held on Monday, December 2014.

They protested that the venue and time of the primary was not communicated to them. They were vexed that their prospective delegates were excluded from participating in the ward and local government congresses by refusing to sell nomination forms to them.

Soalabo West is said to be close to Atiku Abubakar and had worked for him in the past as a political field soldier. With the entry of the Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal and President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki into the presidential race on the pedestal of the PDP, Atiku's earlier political mileage appears to have diminished.

There are speculations that West's entry into the Rivers State PDP governorship primary maybe part of the game plan by Atiku's supporters to expand and deepen their support base among delegates from the riverine communities. However this remains to be proven.                             - Nath Omame is a public affairs analyst resident in Port Harcourt.