Former Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike’s decision to work against the interests of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has paid off after President Bola Tinubu named him the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The FCT is unofficially Nigeria’s 37th state and Wike could now be regarded as the governor of the nation’s capital city.
The former Rivers State governor will become the 17th minister of the FCT when the President inaugurates the new cabinet next week.
Wike is still a card-carrying member of the PDP and only time will tell if he would remain on the books of the main opposition party while occupying a very prominent position in the All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
About 24 hours before Tinubu revealed the portfolios of his ministers, Wike visited new APC national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.
The visit fueled speculations that the ex-Rivers governor would formally defect to the ruling party.
Ganduje also gave filip to the rumour when he said Wike will strengthen the APC ahead of several elections stopping short of saying when the former governor will join the party he once likened to a stage four cancer.
He had said, “We discussed that when he becomes minister fully, he will work very hard in order to move the ministry he is given forward and he is ready to cooperate.
“But we didn’t discuss the issue of his coming to APC or not coming to APC. That issue will arise later,” Ganduje had said when former Plateau State governor and Director General of the dissolved APC Presidential Campaign Council, Simon Lalong, now Minister of Labour and Employment visited him at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday.
Indeed, Wike and the APC have cooperated effectively, and reaped immense benefits from each other, without him being a member of the party.
But while Wike basks in the euphoria of his emergence as one of the most influential ministers of the Tibubu-led APC administration, it is a different story for his comrades in the PDP G5 governors alliance.
A Public Affairs Analyst, Katch Ononuju said Wike is being rewarded for working for Tinubu’s success.
“He (Wike) is being rewarded for undermining Peter Obi and working for Tinubu in Rivers State.
“Tinubu is rewarding those who worked for him irrespective of the party they come from.
“Wike is not the leader of the APC in Rivers State. Wike led the governors who worked against Atiku and this shows that Tinubu appreciates those who caused the implosion in the PDP,” said Ononuju, who’s the Director General, The Heritage Centre, Abuja
He believed that, “Tinubu seems to be telling them ‘thank you’ and Wike is the leader of the G5 governors who contributed to the implosion. I think PDP’s loss is being celebrated with this national recognition.”
Also, Olu Omotayo who’s the President of Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN) said, “I think Wike’s case is different from that of the three other former governors in the G5 because he (Wike) still commands the respect of his people unlike the others.”
He pointed out that, “Ugwuanyi, Ikpeazu and Ortom lost their senatorial bids because they did not perform well in office but Wike has a strong record of performance as governor in Rivers State.”
He argued that, “Politics should not be about compensation, it should be about performance. You don’t compensate people for doing nothing.
“I believe Tinubu has confidence in Wike because of what he achieved in Rivers State and Makinde won reelection in Oyo State because of his performance in the first term.
Other members of the G5 governors led by Wike, include immediate past governors of Benue, Enugu and Abia states, Sam Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, respectively, and governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State.
A shared grievance over the election of Atiku Abubakar as presidential candidate of the PDP ahead of the 2023 general elections was the basis for the emergence of the G5 governors.
Members of the G5 were among governors of Southern states who had collectively, under the aegis of the Southern Governors Forum, demanded power shift from the North to the South in 2023.
Wike had finished as runner up, behind Atiku, in the keenly contested PDP presidential primaries and he was still smarting from the manner of his loss – following former Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal’s decision to step down for Atiku – when ‘insult was robbed into the injury’ after he was overlooked in the selection of the party’s vice presidential candidate.
A PDP committee headed by Ortom had reportedly recommended Wike as the VP candidate but Atiku opted for then Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
Subsequently, Wike, Ortom, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi and Makinde, now referred to as G5 governors, pulled out of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, demanding that Ayu resign his position as national chairman of the party.
They argued that a southerner should become the national chairman since both Atiku and Ayu were northerners.
They vowed to support the rival candidates unless Atiku honoured his alleged pledge that Ayu would step down if he (Atiku) won the PDP ticket.
The PDP lost the election with Wike and Makinde supporting Tinubu. The latter won his re-election bid in Oyo while other members of the G-5 lost their Senatorial bids.
It remains to be seen whether Wike will, somehow, carry his embattled G5 comrades along as he reaps the rewards of working against the PDP in the 2023 presidential election.
Omotayo argued that, “I don’t think Ugwuanyi, Ortom and Ikpeazu deserve any compensation from Tinubu or Wike.”