Political positioning & somersaults, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, by Femi Oke 

Prior to the 2023 General Elections, I defined then Governor Wike as the Niger Delta Militant, Warlord Lawyer Governor to castigations from LPDPians who hailed him then as their champion for his most vociferous stance against PMB’s APC Government.

Wike was also hailed in the South for being the vanguard of the PDP hierarchy who opposed the Forever Candidate Atiku & supported the rotation of power to the South.

Wike like most politicians has a personal ambition to be President, he positioned his people in place in the leadership of PDP to make himself a credible alternative to Atiku.

Peter Obi, Atiku’s VP Candidate in 2019  didn’t have much clout in the party but also wanted to take advantage of rotation to the South but had little control over the leadership of the party.

He felt he was best placed to Emerge as PDP’s next Presidential candidate with rotation to the South. The calculation is that SE has shown near 100% support for PDP since 1999 and PDP has already had a President from SW OBJ & SS GEJ. So it’s the turn of the PDP if Zoned to the South to give their ticket to SE and Obi would be the strongest SE PDP Candidate. Ala Igbo lokan

Wike & Atiku combined to ensure PDP leadership kept the matter of rotation to the South off the PDP agenda for their own selfish reasons. Atiku wanted power to retain in the North to validate his own inevitable candidacy, while Wike wanted rotation to an open south candidacy for the best southern candidate to emerge being himself as he had influence over much of PDP’s party structure in the South.

Obi seeing he lacked influence and was unlikely to emerge as PDP’s Presidential candidate then jumped ship to LP and the rest is history. As for Wike, he ganged up to form the G5 group of Governors to thwart the retention of power to the North and ensure a southern President emerged in PBAT. 

Their calculation is that Obi will not be able to garner enough spread and support in the North to emerge and the outcome of the 2023 General election shows they were proved right.

During this political scheming, Wike like most Executive  Governors ensured his man, Fubara emerged as the PDP Governorship candidate, and won the Rivers State Governorship race. APC Rivers disunited & in disarray conceded defeat as a reward for the state’s support for Asiwaju.

This same Siminalayi Fubara then the state Accountant General  & 58 others were declared wanted by EFCC in 2022 for N435bn Fraud_ but still won the Elections. 

The same Niger Delta Militant Warlord Lawyer Governor Wike thwarted EFCC from arresting Fubara just like Olodo Governor Ododo whisked Yahaya Bello from the clutches of EFCC arrest.

At the time Nigerians condemned Wike for obstructing the course of justice in protecting Fubara, by ensuring his victory he also ensured Fubara gained an extra 4 years of Immunity from prosecution.

Today Wike is in all but name of the All Progressive Congress Camp, whilst remaining strong in PDP. Fubara, who secured PDP candidacy with his party structure, victory at the Governorship Polls and protected from EFCC prosecution, appears to be Wike’s sworn Enemy.

Once in office, Fubara’s allies advised him that he needed to take charge of the Party structures built by Wike that put him there. He tried to dismantle them. If that was not enough he sought to remove all the local Government Chairmen & impose his own lackeys as is normal in our dysfunctional democracy. Fubara then sought to renege on the political arrangement with his boss with regards to appointments etc. Fubara then was walking on shaky ground. Don’t bite the hand that fed you.

As a result of Fubara’s ingratitude, members of the state House of Assembly loyal to Wike knowing of the outstanding EFCC warrants of arrest for Fubara started to look into the possibility of impeaching Fubara. Seeing the risk this will pose overnight Fubara is alleged to have orchestrated the burning, demolition and destruction of the Rivers House of Assembly so that the Legislature cannot do its work thereby blocking impeachment proceedings.

Twenty-four (24) out of 27 House of Assembly members are with Wike, all the local government chairmen, and all leaders of the state party apparatus in both APC & PDP are with Wike. Yet Fubara has instigated an investigation into corruption of the past state administration headed by Wike of which he was a key member as the state’s Accountant General and involved in an EFCC investigation with allegations of fraud to the massive tune of N435bn.

Is this not comical? So where do you stand? At one point Wike was your hero as he was anti-Buhari and anti-APC. He supported PBAT’s Emilokan Candidacy, you opposed him. Wike imposed Fubara, a wanted EFCC fugitive, you opposed him. 

Now Fubara is enjoying Immunity and is opposing his Political Godfather, Wike, you support a sitting Governor Siminalayi Fubara, a Wanted EFCC fugitive enjoying immunity, alleged to have burnt down & demolished the state legislature with impunity,  clearly an Undemocratic and anti-Constitutional Act. 

See your life, _The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend is not good Politics_, Naija we dey, where anything goes lol .

What is your view please share, thanks *Femi Oke Betta9ja*