Barr. Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike the self-acclaimed political leader of the Niger Delta is doing everything to give ethnic coloration to his unguided, misdirected political onslaught against his successor Gov. Siminalayi Fubara KSC of Rivers State, but such attempts have failed because Nigerians know that his actions are driven by greed and his quest to hold on to power even when he is no-longer governor of the state.
Some years ago, Wike publicly said that “Thunder should fire Ijaw people” even when Ijaw people never offended him in any way.
The rascality of Wike has forced many to ask what has actually given him the impetus and audacity to speak to Ijaw people and other Nigerians in so much shabby and disdainful manner.
There is the adage that when a masquerade become too powerful he forces the people to show him the very ‘wood’ that was used to carve it.
THE ORIGINAL WIKE VERSUS THE NEW WIKE WITH BORROWED ROBE
Wike was never known in Rivers politics until the inception of our contemporary democracy in 1999 when he alongside others were made Local Government Area Chairmen in Rivers State.
Before then, Sir Dr. Peter Otunaya Odili that Wike see as his ‘God’ had earlier served as Deputy Governor to an Ijaw leader Chief Ada George who was handpicked by Chief (Sen) Dr. Melford Obiene Okilo CFR, the First Civilian Governor of Rivers State during the short-lived Chief Ernest Shonekan National Interim Government.
Peter Otunaya Odili was singlehandedly handpicked and super imposed on Rivers people by Chief Marshal Harry and Chief A.K. Dikibo both highly respected Ijaw leaders who were later assassinated and their killers have not been found till date.
Wike was among the young people who were recruited by the Peter Otunaya Odili administration to whittle down powers of Ijaw riverine people.
The mission of the new political order in Rivers State was very clear. It was to cut Ijaw people who are the predominant tribe to size and render them economically, socially and politically less viable and possibly impotent.
Prominent Ijaw political leaders were killed alongside thousands of Ijaw youths who were massacred in their numbers.
From then henceforth, Ijaws were relegated as Second Class citizens in a state where Ijaws have over 10 Local Government Areas out of the 23 LGAs. Ijaws were reduced to producing only Deputy Governors from 1999 till 2023 when Ijaws decided to take their fate in their own hands. I say this because every Rivers man or woman knew that denial of Ijaws the Office of the Governor in 2023 would have been like a joke taken too far. That was why Tickets of all the major political parties were given to Ijaws. This simply means that if Gov. Siminalayi Joseph Fubara KSC of PDP did not win, other Ijaws in APC, ADC, etc would have won. So, head or tail it would have still been Ijaw Governor outside PDP.
Before Wike’s chairmanship of Obio/Akpo LGA, he was working as an ordinary motor park tax collector and we all know how motor park lords behave and operate. It is sad that many years down the line those traits are still very visible and highly noticeable in his public outings and utterances.
After his tenure as Chairman, he was appointed as Chief of Staff of Government House by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi the then Governor of Rivers State that he now insults and abuses every now and then.
Because of Wike’s unbridled over-ambition to govern Rivers State after an Ikwerre man, he tactically created disunity between the then First Lady Dame Mrs. Patience Jonathan and Gov. Amaechi his principal.
Thereafter, he betrayed his Ikwerre brother and ran to President Goodluck Jonathan who then made him Minister of State for Education and later Acting Minister of Education after setting up Mrs. Rukayyat his principal.
