Nigeria’s election season may have long come and gone. But it appears from all indications that the wounds inflicted by the election are yet to heal. At least for Nyesom Wike who played a critical role in the election.
On February 25, 2023, Nigerians queued at different polling units across the country to take their political destinies into their hands.
In different states, Nigerians braved the weather and the odds to line up for hours to cast their votes.
Many knew that it was important to have a say with the direction the country had gone in the last eight years under the listless and lethargic administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigerians were worried sick too about the prospects of their country under the administration of the ruling APC’s convoluted combo of a same faith ticket of a rumoured terrorist sympathiser and rumoured master kleptocrat.
As the elections approached, there was surely another reason for Nigerians to go full throttle in casting their votes and protecting them – Peter Obi.
Since dumping the PDP in May 2022 and pitching his tent with the Labour Party, the former Anambra State Governor whose political fortitude helped change the trajectory of Nigeria’s elections through a string of defining judicial verdicts became a toast for many young Nigerians, including neutrals.
Suddenly,Obi’s almost miraculous mix of unimpeachable integrity and startling vision rekindled the embers of hope that had long gone cold in many within the country that perhaps, Nigeria could get it right with the right man at the helm of affairs.
But it was not to be eventually even if the continuing legal contest to the outcome of the election is poised to rattle Nigeria’s highest court in the coming days.In Rivers State where the people had shown their support for change in the country, the ballot box suffered a particularly heinous heist at the instance of Nyesom Wike who was governor at the time.
Observers and participants alike speak of how result sheets in the state were chillingly mutilated and manipulated to give the All Progressives Congress a result- defining victory in the state.
It was not a first time for Wike though. As the election drew closer, his rambunctious brand of governance in Rivers State had morphed into disruptive animosity. It was directed at his party. The People’s Democratic Party was the target of his ire.
Having promptly lost the primaries of the election to Atiku Abubakar,he had promptly corralled some renegade PDP governors into his corner. Together, they waged a calumnious and calamitous campaign against their party which promptly lost at the polls. Wike, having worked for the APC during the election, has since been appointed FCT Minister. His co-undertakers in the demise of their party suffered starkly different electoral fates though.
Just as Nigerians gnashed their teeth over the elections, and other international bodies pondered their response, the European Union came down hard with a damning report.
The EU denounced the election as a sham. The president and his ministers are still unhappy with the Report.
A couple of days ago, Wike, lashed out at the European Union over its report on the election. According to him, the Union’s report did not capture the true position of the last election.
Wike, registered his dissatisfaction when the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Samuela Isopi,visited him According to him the report created a wrong impression. He was especially dissatisfied with the Report’s portrayal of events in Rivers State.
Few people expected Wike to have anything other than a divergent view from the EU Report. He is like many of those who make up the current administration. To these people, the election was free and fair.
Nigerians saw differently however. Many have described it as the worst elections ever in the country. Yet, people like Wike are convinced that Nigeria had its best elections ever. They also believe that Nigeria is a bastion of democracy.
The new FCT Minister would be better served confronting the serious challenges facing Nigeria’s capital city. Rather than rewrite history as aptly captured by the EU Report, he should commit to fostering Nigeria’s democracy.
This he can do by eschewing the egregious and embarrassing brand of politics he is now known for.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com
