By Akanimo Sampson and PUO
THESE are certainly the best of times in the politics of Rivers State, one of the biggest oil and gas producing states in Southern Nigeria. The All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s governing party, is bent on ousting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power in the state.
The fiendish moves by the APC does not appear to be going down well with some concern quarters in the state which can easily cycle back into violence, depending on how the authorities are handling the boiling oil state.
Since 2002, the political process in the state has been largely based on gunboat, and the electoral results decided in the Government House, Port Harcourt. Immediate past Governor and Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi, gave credence to this when he declared in October 2007, ”the era of writing election results from Government House, Port Harcourt is over”.
Amaechi who is now a frontline player in APC knows how they have been playing politics in the state since 2002. He has been travelling with Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the incumbent Governor, on their kind of power politics.
But, their political trench is not as cohesive as it used to be since the Peter Odili years (1999-2007). Their political family is polarised today. The polarisation started with the emergence of Amaechi as governor, through the instrumentality of the Supreme Court. The internal bleeding within the hitherto Restoration camp got worse when Amaechi parted ways with Odili, and erected his own power bloc- the I Believe trench. The I Believe political dynasty was not also cohesive as the Odili school before it. With all the factors, known and unknown, that culminated in Amaechi defecting to the APC, the lords of the PDP found in Wike, a political war general, to lead the assault against the APC that was generally considered then to be well-entrenched in the state, with Amaechi commanding the affairs of the state from Government House.
The March and April elections tended to show that the APC had a feet of clay in Rivers. As the Director-General of the Amaechi re-election campaign in 2011, Wike had a firm hold on the state. It is to his credit that all the candidates of the PDP then were returned. He even alluded to this fact when he was being screened in the Senate for ministerial appointment by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. That Wike was able to dust Amaechi as a sitting governor at the polls, tends to show the depth of his grassroots reach.
The APC knew their gameplan. That was one of the reasons they moved the state Election Petition Tribunal to Abuja, on a phantom security reasons. Comparatively, Rivers is more peaceful than Bornu State in Northern Nigeria, where Boko Haram, has been making circus show of our security system. Yet, their Election Petition Tribunal sat in Maiduguri, the state capital.
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In the event of any re-run in Rivers, the partiality or impartiality of the Presidency, and state agencies, will determine the next direction of the oil state. A replay of the Southern Ijaw Local Government scandal, will spell doom for the volatile oil region. The boiling points are all over the region for those who can see danger. There is an uneasy calm in Delta State. The creeks of Bayelsa State are unsettling. To add Rivers, will be to be asking for what they can chew.
In the mean time, Governor Wike has declared that there is an ungodly grand conspiracy to take over the state, insisting that God will disappoint the evil conspirators.
Speaking at the state PDP Secretariat on Thursday in Port Harcourt during the commissioning of the ultra modern multipurpose hall and one day seminar for party officials and government functionaries, Governor Wike told Rivers people to look beyond him to stop the evil wind of enslavement being propagated by the conspirators.
He said that anyone detailed by the conspiring forces to rig election in the State would face dire consequences as Rivers people will never be enslaved by political groups only interested in stealing her resources.
“There is a grand conspiracy to take over Rivers State for reasons that are known to all of us. But God will disappoint them. I pity any INEC Officer who will want to be funny. Such an officer should be prepared for the consequences.
“We will use the National Assembly re-run elections to prove to the world that these unpopular politicians have been lying about Rivers State all this while. If you know anyone planning to rig the Rivers State National Assembly re-run elections tell him to have a rethink.
“You cannot rig in a place where you are not popular. Those planning to rig for pecuniary reasons are not popular in this state. We shall return all our National Assembly members. “.
According to him, ”i call on Mr President to use the National Assembly to institute the change he has talked about with the National Assembly elections. Rivers State is a PDP state and we cannot be shaken in this state because the party is deeply rooted. We cannot be intimidated with the use of soldiers and policemen during any election. “
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The governor urged party leaders to remain resolute in their resolve to challenge the forces of darkness, adding that strong Mobilization of the people across the state should be intensified to resist those being used against the interest of the state.
He called for extended political consultation between party officials and government officials for better service delivery in the state.
While for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state Dr Dakuku Adol Peterside, the end of governor Nyesom Wike is at hand.
Peterside while reacting to the statement credited to Governor Nyesom Wike after the Court of Appeal upheld the Earlier Judgement of the Rivers State Governorship election petition tribunal which nullified the April 11 Governorship election in the state.
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Dakuku asked governor Nyesom Wike to first prepare his Own Will and vacate the Rivers State Government House because according to him, he is an illegal occupant of that place.
Everyone keenly following the events in Rivers State will know that the power play in the state is very interesting.
Just yesterday evening Hon Ikuinyi Owaji Igbanyi Resigned as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly citing personal reasons immediate after receiving and passing the 2016 Budget as presented by governor Nyesom Wike paving way for the only member whose election has been validated by the court of Appeal Rt Hon Daboturidima Adams who represents Okrika State Constituency to take over as the new Speaker of the Assembly.
The battle line is drawn in Rivers State.
Akanimo Sampson and Promise Uzoma Okoro wrote from Porharcourt
