Opinion | 02. 06. 2022
The contest for the much coveted office of the Nigerian President in the major opposition party, PDP, has come and gone with an assurance of the party’s readiness to take over power being loudly pronounced, especially by the runner up to Waziri Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
His Excellency, Governor Nyesom Ezenwa Wike, who rather than being myopic in thoughts and words, showed maturity in his words when he openly declared that the primary election that gave Atiku Abubakar the well deserved victory is a FREE AND FAIR CONTEST THAT CANNOT BE FAULTED.
With that singular statement, Wike has shown Nigerians that he is a simple and dedicated Nigerian. His track record as a man of peace is undeniable.
Many Nigerians have, however, rained encomiums and praises on Nyesom Wike for being an exceptionally good loser and wonderful politician of enviable pedigree and reliable antecedent.
Since, Sunday May 29, 2022 that Gov. Wike made that assertion a lot of posters, showing Atiku Abubakar and Nyesome Wike together as President and Vice President have surfaced with several inscriptions notable among which is THE SOLUTION.
Undoubtedly, a critical look at some of the brilliant postulations by Nigerians on who should be the Vice President to Atiku Abubakar, deserves to be seriously discussed for consideration, especially with the over one million bulk votes from Rivers States in the care of Nyesom Wike which many believe will give PDP the needed victory.
Another angle to the positive political response at the polls in 2023 for PDP is a barrage of all PDP governors who have openly shown the world that they were truly ready to make sure that PDP returns to power in 2023 with their unwavering stance with Wike to the end.
Governor Seyi Makinde and other PDP members have fought a good fight as serious Southerners who truly wanted power to shift to the south through Nomination of one of them and this they did without desperation. It also showed that they have counselled Governor Wike to be matured in defeat with his declaration of support for any eventual winner of the primary.
Wike is a listening leader, anybody who says otherwise simply doesn’t understand him or doesn’t know him at all.
They were quick to let Wike understand that their agitation for a Southerner as Buhari’s successor was never inordinate and Wike also openly declared this in his speech shortly before the commencement of the primary election that he would support whoever that won.
It is also obvious that the friends of Wike in the 237 local governments across the country who cast their votes for him will work tirelessly for Atiku Abubakar to emerge in 2023 as the next President of Nigeria.
It is however, hoped that political jobbers who are milling around the Waziri Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar especially, at the National Working Committee of the party and mostly, the Iyorchia Ayu men, will not selfishly raise objections against the Vice Presidency of Nyesom Wike who holds the baton of strength at the polls to whip APC to their knees in the South-South.
Nyesom Wike and his army of supporters who are strong members of the governors’ forum will not sit down and watch their friend’s Vice Presidency collapse, it is more assuring that they will work for PDP’s victory and make sure that their member, Nyesom Wike, becomes an integral part of Atiku’s victory in the next dispensation.
Nyesom Ezenwa Wike, contrary to the wrong notion of incorrigible personality being weaved around him by his detractors, had clearly shown that he is an amazing personality who will always stand by the truth at all times.
Wike refused to be made an instrument of destabilization by accepting defeat with utmost calmness, humility and sincerity by declaring the PDP primary as a free, fair and faultless one. Not many politicians will succumb to such gallantry in defeat after investing so much into the project except a committed party man like Nyesom Wike.
Some people have been carrying rumours that Wike will not be easily controlled if given the position of Vice President but with his submission and agreement with the results of the primary and by staying with his words, shortly before the commencement of the primary, that he would work with whoever that emerges as winner, Wike has also demonstrated that he is a listening leader who will always dialogue and discuss issues with people.
A word of advice for PDP stakeholders is to look critically at those who are jostling for the office of Vice Presidency and consider the person who can garner votes for the party.
His Excellency, Nyesom Wike remains the most submissive Minister of State for Education in the history of Federal Executive Council in Nigeria who had no single record of infighting between him and his Minister throughout his tenure.
People who are close to Governor Nyesom Ezenwa Wike have palatable story to tell about his humble nature, notwithstanding his rugged and stern looking nature.
His Excellency, Governor Nyesom Wike, is a man of high repute.
The man who will not wait for the Presidential candidate to give him money for the project.
The man whose friends’ donations will be more than enough to prosecute the election.
The man who has been mostly harassed by the ruling party but became victorious and beat them to their games all the times.
The best choice of a reliable Vice President to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is no other person than His Excellency, Governor Nyesom Ezenwa Wike whose title will eventually change to that of Mr. Vice President of Nigeria in a matter of months, God willing.
