Open Letter to The Chairman, Board of Trustees, People’s Democratic Party,
Wike’s Anti-Party activities and a call to action.
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.
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