In a rare departure from age-old royal taciturnity, what came to the lips of the revered Edo monarch, Oba Ewuare II, was Nyesom Wike’s comic but cutting ditty – witty to his friends, nasty to his foes:
‘As e dey sweet us, e dey pain dem, as e dey pain dem, omo e dey omo e dey sweet us!’
That jocular tease sent his guests into a long and roaring guffaw!
The APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) was visiting the Oba of Benin, as part of campaign courtesy calls on consequential natural rulers nationwide. Yet two APC governors – not on the delegation – are locked in an infamous tiff with Wike!
Kwara’s AbdulRahman AbdulRazak (AA) is chair, Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF): the honorific leader, by peer election and the sheer heft of the ruling party’s dominance, of all of Nigeria’s 36 governors.
Imo’s Hope Uzodinma thrusts even deeper in APC power matters. As chair of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), he’s the virtual heartbeat of the 31 APC governors, living their collective pulse, in all of their formidable partisan hegemony!
So, with Wike locked in a fight with the two – or is it the pair locked in an infamous tussle with Wike – who, in God’s name, does Wike’s ditty ‘sweet’ or ‘pain’?
That shows the sheer irrationality of the scuffle! It’s a ‘civil war’ that shouldn’t have happened! Yet, it risks breaking out, anyway, since the APC formidable structure is not unlike the proverbial too many cooks that spoil the broth!
President Bola Tinubu had better ask his APC to stay strategic, not emotive. Else, they risk gifting the comatose and scattered opposition another life!
Yet, Wike himself could be far more tactful – it’s a delicate juncture! But tact is Wike’s very diametric opposite. He’s a perpetual battler on the political front!
That’s the thing, though: if you must enjoy the Wike assets, you must endure the Wike liabilities!
In Abuja, the president and his party clearly savour Wike’s ministerial brilliance, though Wike is a PDP man. The Abuja make-over also sparkles with Wike’s immense street value. His visible results have paved the FCT way for the ruling party.
But beyond that federal territory, the APC Governors should learn to manage Wike’s tantrums. Else, they court dumb fire-fights that do neither they nor Wike any good.
But it’s clear both Uzodinma and AA are finding Wike’s tantrums too hard to chew! Therein then, lies the problem! If Wike doesn’t ruffle feathers, his politics is anaemic!
Still, the Uzodinma-Wike tiff boils down to a simple – but nasty – tit-for-tat.
When Rivers Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was that buzzing fly in Wike’s troubled Rivers ointment, Uzodinma somewhat found a way to cotton onto the fray.
The start wasn’t exactly clear. Was it when the lobbies that poured scorn on Wike’s rabid push for Sim to be governor, suddenly became the Sim backbone to politically crush his hitherto benefactor?
Or, after Sim had stormed into the APC, and sensationally declared himself the new lord of manor, over the PDP House of Assembly bloc that had earlier crossed? That staunch Wike bastion – remember? – nearly threw out Sim and his deputy!
Whatever time it started, Wike alleged that Uzodinma, with other APC hierarchs, were juggling the Sim-Wike crisis to prise open his tight control of his Rivers home turf. So, tit-for-tat, Wike threw in his own Imo mischief!
Governor Uzodinma, anxious to avoid the fate of his predecessor, Rochas Okocha, craved post-power influence. His carefully curated succession plan was trending towards a direction, when Wike threw in Samuel Anyanwu – his old PDP ally – though no APC hierarch. Enter, the so-called Imo Rainbow Coalition! Tit-for-tat!
So, all the roar against Wike’s Rainbow Coalition – hardly illegitimate, especially if it extends beyond Wike’s native Rivers – goes back to that mutual ‘original sin’!
But the Wike-AA war comes with an added and very troubling bogey.
Kwara’s AA is chair of the NGF. The NGF chair’s national reach is unmatched. The problem, though, is the jinx after. His visibility not only fades – since another has taken over the seat – his political fortunes also sinks!
John Kayode Fayemi (2019-2022), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (2011-2015), Abubakar Bukola Saraki (2007-2011) and Lucky Igbinedion (2003-2007) – to mention just a few – have two things in common: they were not only ex-NGF chairs, their fortunes, after NGF, have hit political near-doldrums!
Saraki’s case brings that bogey to Kwara, his joint nativity with AA, in sobering and shattering technicolor! Why, both Wike and Saraki are mixed up in the latest Kwara intrigue – which, many figure, might make or mar AA’s post-power fortunes!
As controversial APC Senate President doing PDP bidding, Saraki had dabbled into the Osun 2018 governorship election run-off, on 27 September 2018, though that was well past his NGF years.
Barely six months after, on 23 February 2019, Saraki became a politically displaced person (PDP!), near-uprooted from his Kwara hegemony, which his father had left him! That was no thanks to the Kwara ‘O-to-ge’ (enough is enough) political revolt.
Now, some ‘O-to-ge’ veterans – dying flickers of that 2019 revolt – are arraigned against AA, after signing a pact with Saraki. Having lost out in the APC 2027 ticket sweepstakes, they crave an alternative platform to run.
Meanwhile, Saraki’s Kwara PDP faction is aligned with the Wike national faction – the faction INEC has endorsed to field candidates for 2027.
AA, on account of the APC-Wike Abuja entente, expected Wike to spurn Saraki and his new friends, AA’s new-sworn foes! But Wike balked, claiming he was PDP first, though sworn to President Tunubu’s re-election!
The push coming to shove only brought out the battling beast in both sides – a terrain in which the battling Wike rather thrives – echoing that biblically famous stand-off: To your house, O Israel!
Might that rip the Wike-Abuja entente, as that whoop that tore up the united Kingdom of ancient Israel and Judah? Not necessarily.
But only if both sides are wise – and that wisdom weighs more on the APC side. They have much more at stake and clearly have much more to lose.
The President should step in and smoothen these rumpled egos! He should teach his party how to manage Wike, as he has splendidly managed the FCT minister, to mutual glory.
But Wike too must be more flexible, less combative, if he must end well, after a brilliant start to a political career. Tact, at critical junctures, is strength, not weakness. It’s called emotional intelligence.
Let AA, Uzodinma and Wike defend their home turfs – all politics is local! But let them do so with emotional intelligence. Any slip, and they risk falling on own mutual swords!