It looks like there is a spirit getting governors mad in the Rivers State Government House. Since the return to civil rule in 1999, no governor of this oil rich state which should be the hub of development and business in the Niger Delta has finished well.
There has always been a mad rush to the centre greeted with resounding failure from the Peter Odili administration through Chibuike Amaechi to NyesomWike.
While for Odili, it started with the donor spirit, throwing Rivers money to all ends of the country which earned him an Obafunminiyi of the Source title from the Oni of Ife, then a shot at the 2007 presidential election where Amaechi was initially (arrested) for allegedly attempting to bribe delegates and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was chosen eventually, over and above Odili, as running-mate to Umaru Yar’Adua.
Still walking on the same path, Amaechi in his second tenure as Rivers State governor, picked up a fight with President Goodluck Jonathan, a carryover from the Odili failed project. He so stretched the fight that he began to attract visits from the South West leaders, who though baiting him, first asked him to reconcile with Jonathan as his elder.
He later moved away from the PDP to join forces with ANPP, AD, AC, CPC and others to form APC and drag the state leadership into APC.
Wike challenged him effectively and retained the state for PDP, but Amaechi funded the APC alongside Tinubu and co, Muhammadu Buhari to come on board as president. He was rewarded with the Transportation Minister portfolio.
Believing that he had the power brokers in his pocket after taking the Transport University to Daura and a Maritime University to Kano after attempting to halt the Maritime University at Okerenkoko, as well as ensuring that the railway system was effectively in place in the north, Amaechi unmindful of history, jumped into the APC presidential race confident that he had enough on his side to become a consensus candidate.
He was not only roundly defeated but also thoroughly insulted by persons manning operations at the delegates voting arena. He has since lost his voice, quietly licking his wounds.
For incumbent Governor Wike, after a stint as minister of State for Education, he found himself reigniting the Odili political engineering – donations. He was doling out millions to any state in the country to lay a foundation for future support at the presidential primaries. All through the primaries campaign, Wike was comfortable, assured he had made enough contributions to coast to victory for the PDP presidential primaries. But the PDP primaries taught him the cruel lesson that politics is beyond throwing money around.
His supposed loyalist, Aminu Tambuwal, the Sokoto State governor played the northern game by stepping down for Atiku (the way Atiku stepped down for Babagana Kingibe in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primaries in 1993) making it easy for Abubakar Atiku to defeat Wike.
Buoyed by his perceived influences, Wike did not court his sister South-South governors, whivh contributed to his eventual failure at the May presidential primaries of the PDP.
As was with Odili with Yar’Adua, Atiku picked Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, as his running-mate and since then, there has been trouble in the house. An angry and frustrated Wike has been kicking up dust, unable to understand the history behind his race.
He is now courting APC chieftains, forgetting that he told the world that APC is stage four cancer. He is now shooting with words attacking the PDP presidential candidate and punishing perceived supporters of Atiku.
Wike is facing what is becoming a norm – the outcome of power madness that captures those who step into the Brick House, the Rivers State Government House.
