NYERISI, BACK TO TASK OF FINISHING STRONG, By Monima Daminabo

The deluge of twists and turns that heralded the Abuja National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as the outcome and aftermath, seem to have introduced fresh dimensions to the matrix of factors, which define the emergence of political leadership in the country. Courtesy of the dexterity of just one man, Nyesom Ezebunwo Wike, governor of Rivers State, a new chapter has been added to the calculus of picking a President for Nigeria. Hence forth, the nation will need to reckon with the fact that with proper arrangement, the President can come from any part of the country – the factor of ethnic dichotomy with reference to majority-minority communities notwithstanding. Wike it was, who adopted a missionary zeal to challenge the status quo by not only contesting the Presidential primary polls of the PDP, but was even leading in the votes count when he was torpedoed by his long-time friend and governor of Sokoto State – Aminu Tambuwal. The latter had breached existing protocol not only to announce his withdraw from the race, but directed his supporting delegates to switch their votes to Atiku Abubakar who evenly won the ticket. At the end of the day Wike got 237 votes to trail Atiku’s 371 votes with 134 votes.
Ever since, the situation has been the subject of political discourse not only in media circles but at every possible fora of political discourse, with the dominant considerations bordering on the merit or otherwise of actions of the various actors especially Tambuwal. Hence while some condemned the betrayal of Wike by Tambuwal, some others especially the National Chairman of the PDP Iyorshia Ayu hailed the latter by describing him as the hero of the convention. Meanwhile Wike who is the cynosure of all eyes in this matter had as soon as he returned from Abuja addressed party faithful as a war commander who returned from a battle front. Not to be lost however is a recent post where Tambuwal was advocating the primacy of winning power before considering what should be zoned to where. Was he thereby justifying his action on the basis that only Atiku can win the power from ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)? This is a matter for another day.
Meanwhile, with the Abuja drama now in its post mortem stage, the time is now set for governor Wike to return to the task of finishing his current and last constitutional tenure, strong. And there are at least three areas that should engage his attention henceforth. Firstly is the need for his party to win the Presidency. Secondly is for him and his party to also win the governorship of the state. And thirdly is for him to complete the numerous projects that are littered across the state, in fulfilment of his oft-stated promises to complete same before leaving office on May 29th 2023.
For instance, it should not be lost on his camp that even if clinching the presidential ticket did not materialize, the burden on him vis a vis the presidential campaign by the PDP, may not have lessened. That is if his pledge to support whoever emerged from the primaries remains valid. For he had promised for all to hear, that what matters to him mostly, is to “recover power” from the APC to the PDP. Hence even as he did not get the ticket personally, the party still looks up to him to ensure that the power shift takes place from APC to PDP, come 2023. This expectation also moves into insignificance, the issue of his failure to secure the ticket at Abuja.
For those who may want to know, what happened in Abuja during the convention is not new to the discerning and was just a reenactment of an old drama script. The present generation of Nigerians should not forget that every situation where a Southerner had served as Head of State or President had been by negotiation. From Nnamdi Azikiwe, to Ernest Shonekan to Olusegun Obasanjo and to Goodluck Jonathan, their ascendancy had been facilitated through negotiation between the representatives of the North with those from the South. Hence, to what extent was a negotiation fostered between the North and South with respect to the Abuja PDP Convention is a matter that qualifies for interrogation some other time.
Meanwhile, beyond Wike’s national assignment of facilitating the winning the Presidency for PDP, and another imperative for finishing strong, is the local challenge facing the Rivers State PDP of which he is the leader, to retain the governorship especially with his unconcealed bias in favour of the flag bearer Simialaye Fubara. To expect that the PDP flag bearer will simply pick up the victory at the polls in 2023 without a fight, is to indulge in defeatist presumption. Unlike in 2019 when the PDP won the polls with an uncoordinated opposition from the APC and other parties, 2023 is already manifesting as a different kettle of fish. For instance, lined up for battle against the PDP are Tonye Princewill of the APC and of course the iconic Dumo Lulu-Briggs of the Accord Party, and whose mantra ‘The We Agenda- putting people first’, is fast gaining traction as a preferred third force and alternative from the dominant APC and PDP.
Then there is as an area to finish strong, the traditional challenge of completing the coterie of ongoing projects in various parts of the state, featuring infrastructure development and other social service ventures. Not to be left out from this complement of outstanding outings is the issue of unemployment and endemic poverty in the state. In this regard, standing in bold relief as a sore thumb is the deplorable circumstances of the public bureaucracy, with the major buildings housing the Rivers State Government Secretariat wallowing in appalling state of deterioration. While critical power supply is usually epileptic for most of the working hours of the day, water supply to offices is routinely rendered by jerry can bearing water hawkers (known in local parlance as ‘me ruwa’). It is a common sight to see them competing for space in the few available, working lifts with other users as they carry jerry cans of water to as high a floor as the sixth.
In the same context have the personnel not fared better as the career prospects for most of them have stalled in limbo, courtesy of the silence of the government on matters of staff promotion and fresh employment, to replace disengaged staff. For instance it is of interest that the government in 2020 announced plans to employ 5,000 new staff, a development which resulted in state wide frenzy with eligible youth scrambling to take advantage of the offer. However, even then the offer betrayed itself as ill thought out, given that it was not preceded by any needs-assessment exercise by the government, which should have delineated the various categories of fresh staff to be engaged, and the criteria for their placement.
In conclusion, suffice it to be said that as it is with the unemployment issue, so it is with several other areas of the state which the governor needs to address before leaving office. But with less than one year left for him in office, the coming days must be very interesting for Nyesom Wike governor and ‘Nyerisi’ of the Rivers State, as he needs all the prayers he can get to wade through, as a strong finisher of his governorship tenure.