Opinion | By Ayodele Bayode | 28. 03. 2023
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has officially thrown his hat in the ring for the office of the President of Nigeria under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Governor Wike, accordingly made his intention known in Makurdi, Benue State on Sunday, March 27, 2022 after wide consultations with PDP key stakeholders.
Responding to questions from journalists on what he was going to be doing differently if elected President, Governor Wike explained that he will pragmatically tackle the issue of insecurity.
He said service chiefs and heads of other security agencies will be provided with the requisite equipment and incentives to discharge their constitutional obligations. According to him, they will also be given timeline to tackle the lingering insecurity as his administration will not be disposed to excuses.
The Governor, who condemned the terrorist attack at the Kaduna International Airport over the weekend, said Nigerians urgently need a leader who can address the growing insecurity in the country.
Wike isn’t a small fry in politics and his notable, genuine, passionate, well nuanced and constructive criticisms of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led government have given him cutting edge in wining the sympathy and support of Nigerians irrespective of their religious, ethnic or political affiliations.
Currently at his immediate constituency, Nyesom Wike is leaving Rivers State better than he met it in eight years. His legacy is beyond the infrastructural development in the state and in fair proportion to the various segments and stakeholders of the state. Legacy is not what is left for people but what is left in people. Not being the first lawyer to be a Governor, Wike has started a cause that will outlive him in numerous positive ways.
One wonders why no one has taken the lead to fight for justice in distributing the value-added tax in Nigeria until the Governor of Justice started the novel revolution. Wike had stirred the polity in favour of state capitalism and rewarded the goose that lays the golden eggs more than those that wait for the eggs to be distributed.
Wike has not put anybody in doubt that he is ready to give his all to win his party primary and eventually win the next presidential election in 2023 in a most civilized and democratic manner.
His recent feats in politics have truly positioned him as one of the most experienced politicians in Nigeria today with vast experience, hands-on tactics, resilience, doggedness etc, to handle every issues as they come whilst also providing the right and legitimate intervention they deserve.
As a political colossus, who laid a solid economic and political foundation for Rivers State, the maverick politician (Wike) is still calling the shots and has consistently remain a pain in the neck for the ruling APC as he is unrepentant in exposing their administrative indiscretion, faux pas and failed promises.
In retrospect, Wike was elected as a two-term Executive Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area from 1999 to 2007. He was appointed Minister of State for Education on 14 July 2011 and was subsequently appointed the Acting Minister of Education, but resigned before finishing his term to campaign for Governor of Rivers State. In 2014, he won the Rivers State People’s Democratic Party primary.
Wike defeated Dakuku Peterside of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tonye Princewill of the Labour Party in the April 11 gubernatorial elections to emerge as Governor, he repeated similar feat in 2019 to secure his re-election for another term of four years.
Wike’s credentials aren’t only appealing, they are proof of the qualities Nigeria needs at a time like this to redeem its vast potentials and possibilities.
As 2023 approaches, Nigeria can’t take chances. Wike has an edge and beyond having an edge, he is someone that combines the competence, preparedness, qualification and the capacity to win the presidential election to offer the best Nigeria deserves, politically and socio-economically.
Wike’s focus, endurance and commitment to a prosperous Nigeria and indeed Africa will definitely mark him out for greater glory and in driving that process of paradigm shift in the country. With well exposed and thorough bred leader like this in the power equation and in the quest for power in Nigeria, one is convinced that there is a future for Nigeria.
