A few weeks ago, I had cause in this column to reflect on the G5, the so-called splinter group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. The gist of my reflection was that G5 had metamorphosed into G1. That G1 was Wike himself. I held that his allies in the movement had gone their separate ways.
Barely a week after my encapsulation of what had become of the showy movement, Wike stepped out of his closet to lend credence to my observation, to wit, that G5 had actually petered out. After all the gyrations of Wike, the elections have taken place, and the relevance or otherwise of the movement has now become a subject matter of history. So, on what side of history does Wike stand on this matter? Is he a hero or villain of the struggle? To situate this, we need to know what played out in the final analysis.
Wike had been reminded by keen watchers of developments in our polity of what he said he would do in January 2023. The governor had, in December 2022, announced with accustomed gusto and fanfare that he would pronounce his preferred presidential candidate in January. He did not stop there. He added for effect that, after the announcement, he would go round the country to campaign for the candidate he has chosen.
Knowing Wike and his braggadocio, Nigerians were expectant. They waited with bated breath, believing that something momentous was about to happen. But what they got was an anticlimax. January ended and Wike did not announce anyone as his preferred presidential candidate.
Then, as if the dashed expectation was not bad enough, Wike compounded matters by even denying telling Nigerians that he ever said he would announce his preferred candidate publicly. Those who have been following his grandstanding over his face-off with his party, the PDP, knew that he was not facing facts, that he wanted to lead Nigerians by the nose. However, regardless of Wike’s attempt to put up a bold face over his volte face, Nigerians knew the truth. They knew that he had burnt out. He had reached his dead end in the G5 debacle.
In his further attempt to pull the wool over the people’s eyes, Wike said that he had told the people of Rivers State who his preferred candidate for the presidency was. At that point, people began to ask: where are Wike’s allies? Who is their own preferred candidate or candidates? How did the choice of a presidential candidate by the movement get individualized? How did a movement that involved five governors thin down to a circus show between Wike and the people of Rivers State alone? These questions begged for answers. But whatever the undercurrents that drove Wike underground may have been, the undeniable fact is that the G5 movement died long before the February 25 elections. Wike was merely pretending to be keeping it alive with his showmanship.
Wike may have shied away from facing Nigerians over where his heart lay in the venture, but we knew that whatever may have taken the shine off him in this matter was not pleasant. Perhaps what may have led him to the crossroads was the disposition of his party, the PDP, to the debacle. Whereas Wike was everywhere saying everything, some of them unprintable, the leadership of his party refused to dance naked in the marketplace with him. The party tried to manage his rebellion. But it did not talk tough. It did not expel or threaten to expel the governor for bringing the political party he belongs to to disrepute. That refusal by PDP to go berserk as Wike did may have disarmed him. That probably explained why he was running from pillar to post. Now, he appears left in the cold.
So, where does Wike go from here? Before the presidential election held two days ago, there were snippets of rumours that he was quietly working for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu. The rumour was so embarrassing to be true. It stood against Wike’s preachments. That probably explained why he was not bold enough to pronounce or announce his candidate. Many wondered how a Wike who criticized PDP to no end over matters of justice, equity and fairness could find accommodation in a party that is the antithesis of these cherished principles.
The APC, as we know, is a troubled household. As an aggregation of disparate entities who came together just for the purpose of power-grab, APC has been having a hell of time trying to exist as a harmonious entity. It had been managing its fault lines, one way or the other, until the hawks in the party imposed same-faith candidacy on its presidential ticket. That imposition was a poisoned chalice, which those who had wished the party well refused to drink from. Unable to come to terms with the situation, many of them left the party. The situation was particularly worrisome to Christians in the North who have been made to feel that they are not important in the scheme of things. This has been a great source of distemper within the party. It should be recalled that while the argument over the Muslim-Muslim ticket was raging, Wike was one of those who berated the APC for the indiscretion. So, what changed? How did Wike become the super salesman of Muslim-Muslim ticket? What can be deduced from here is that Wike is not a man of principle. He is just an opportunist. That is why he does not think through issues before he gets garrulous.
The battle can be said to be over now that the elections have taken place without Wike working for PDP. But how will Wike be remembered in this whole drama? How did he fare? The man needs to tell his story before the chapter closes. Nigerians are interested in knowing how he lost his flock. Before now, he was shepherding four governors. But he ended up being alone. His ally, Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, declared support for Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Seyi Makinde, the governor of Oyo State, was at home with his kinsman, Bola Tinubu. It was not quite clear where the governors of Abia and Enugu states stood on the matter. But whatever choice they made did not raise eyebrows because they were careful and studied in their silences. There is always a time when silence can be golden.
For Wike, what started as a principled struggle eventually lost steam. It melted into thin air apparently because principle is a strange bedfellow in his life of contradictions. Wike is, indeed, a villain of the struggle.