There is something about the recent defections of Governors Peter Mbah and Douye Diri that should interest us. Each was, in a way, provoked by the enfant terrible of present-day Nigerian politics, Nyesom Wike, into taking the precipitate step.
Let us begin with the Peter Mbah scenario. We are familiar with the Nyesom Wike tactics in his relationship with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since he joined forces with Bola Tinubu in the race for the 2023 presidential struggle. We are also familiar with the fact that Wike fell apart with the PDP when he failed in his manoeuvres to be chosen as the vice presidential candidate of the party in that election. Having been shoved aside by the Atiku Abubakar presidential ticket, Wike had to find accommodation elsewhere. That was how Tinubu, the wheeler dealer moved in . Both struck a deal. Wike joined the Tinubu presidential team without making it public. It took a lot of prodding from the vigilant public for him to own up to his alliance with Tinubu.
But that is not the gist of the matter. The real deal was that Wike was sent on a mission. That mission was to destroy PDP and, by so doing, strengthen the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Everybody knows that Wike has largely succeeded in this devious mission. He has taken PDP to the gallows. He succeeded because Nigeria remains that country where people have no shame. Wike succeeded because the leadership of the PDP has been complicit in the Wike scheme. It could not rein in one of its own who gleefully chose the path of disloyalty. Wike undermined the PDP without consequences. And so, he grew wings.
Not too long ago, he extended his flapping wings to the south east by imposing his candidate as the national secretary of the party against the choice of south east leaders of the party.
Peter Mbah was one of the south east leaders whose choice was undermined by Wike. Whereas the governor wanted Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s national secretary, Wike insisted on Samuel Anyanwu. To demonstrate that he meant business, Mbah issued a threat to the national leadership of the PDP, to wit, that he would reconsider his membership of the party if the choice of the zone for the office of national secretary of the party was not respected. In fact, other stakeholders of the party in the zone , including former governors Achike Udenwa and Sam Egwu, shared the same position. After all the push and shove, Wike had his way. Mbah lost out. He frowned seriously on the outcome of the struggle. But nothing was heard no more until the defection came.
So, how do we package this scenario? Should we say that Wike provoked Mbah into leaving PDP so that he would join the APC, the party that Wike has been working for to the utmost advantage of Tinubu? When the crisis over the national secretaryship of the PDP was brewing, Mbah wanted his party to survive. Defection to the APC was not an option. When he threatened that he would reconsider his relationship with the PDP if Ude-Okoye did not emerge as national secretary, he had no plans of joining forces with Wike. In fact, both were at daggers drawn. It is therefore ironic that the irritant who provoked Peter Mbah into having mixed feelings about PDP has become the ultimate beneficiary of the vexation he provoked.
Did this scenario cross Peter Mbah’s mind when he began to think APC? I believe it did. Mbah did not forget and could not have forgotten what transpired between him and Wike. What must have played the decisive role is the absence of principle. Another is paralyzing self-interest. In Nigerian politics, nothing really matters. Principle is a luxury. It is only reserved for the uninitiated. Those who are neck-deep into politics do not care a hoot about principle. They stand nowhere. They can change their colors as many times as situations dictate. This lack of principle is usually fired up by self interest. In the case of Peter Mbah, some fellows must have moved in to cajole him into joining the APC.
They must have told him that he could lose his re-election bid if he does not align himself properly in the coming elections. He must have been told that his impressive performance so far as governor would not count on Election Day. What would, he must have been made to believe, is belongingness to the Tinubu political camp. They must have sold an impression to him that this Tinubu is a student of power. That he would deploy his presidential might to decide who returns as governor or who does not return. Mbah must have bought into this bunkum. And so, he forgot all and gravitated towards Wike – the irritation that spoilt the broth for him. As things stand, Wike is the happier for what has taken place in Enugu. His irritation has earned Tinubu some mileage in Enugu State.
What about Douye Diri? It should be recognized that there has never been any love lost between Wike and Diri. You could say that they resent each other, even if quietly. But the resentment that used to play out in the confines of the government houses in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa blew open following the Wike-Fubara crisis in Rivers state. While Wike was breathing down on Governor Siminalayi Fubara, prominent Ijaws were ill at ease with it. The feeling among the Ijaw was that Wike was trying to scheme one of their own out of the power equation in Rivers state.
The cold war between Wike and Diri came to the fore a few months ago when a group planned a solidarity rally for Wike on Bayelsa soil. Diri saw this as an affront and rejected the plan. He asked those behind the rally to take it to Rivers state, insisting that the political crisis in Rivers state should not be exported to Bayelsa state. The rally eventually held without Diri’s approval.
But an open hostility had been registered. Wike and Diri are not the best of friends.
Strangely, however, Governor Diri has gravitated towards Wike, politically. The governor has joined the political camp in which Wike is a frontline power broker. What this means is that their paths must cross, willingly or unwillingly. We cannot really say why Diri, a second term governor who does not have any re-election issue to contend with, has to jump ship the way he did. But whatever the undercurrents of his action may be, Wike, as in the case of Mbah, will be the happier for what Diri has done. With Diri on the side of Tinubu, Wike’s job, which is to deliver the president in the south south, has been made a lot easier.
Who says Wike’s irritation is not working?
QUOTE:
“It is ironic that the irritant who provoked Peter Mbah into having mixed feelings about PDP has become the ultimate beneficiary of the vexation he provoked…Wike is the happier for what has taken place in Enugu”.
