Rivers 2021: Wike’s no authomatic ticket bomb for council chairmen, guber aspirants

Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike reiterated his no favoured candidate stance by insisting none will be given preferential treatment at the council and governorship primaries. Godwin Egba writes.

Human Beings are synonymous with ambition for fruitful, paying office positions be it in public or private corporate entity. An ambition could be inordinate or born out of genuine call to serve in any capacity especially in politics. Many in Leadership positions in political offices in the past and present end up as failed leaders either due to their clueless service delivery plans or their share mind-set to only and largely enrich themselves and their cronies.

The recent body language of the sitting governor of the Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, and his final out-burst in the state has indicated that any inordinate politician as a Rivers man and woman nursing an ambition to gun for public office as a governor or council chairman come 2021 should have a re-think as he is not on the side of lending his support to any such a person.

He first threw his shot of shuck in the early February, 2020 when he said that none of the 23 council chairmen in the state would have an automatic return ticket to seek re-election in the up-coming 2021 general elections. The tenure of the incumbent chairmen is expected to elapse in 2021 unless if the ominous happens!

The governor made his position known during a recent solidarity visit by the leaders and people of Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state, saying that there would be no automatic ticket for any council chairman for second term; emphasizing further that emergence of any of the chairmen would be on the strength of his performance and acceptance.

Secondly, Wike also declared to the hearing of Rivers people that all his political associates seeking the post of the governor would have to seek the support of Rivers people, because, “I will not impose any governor on the state”, he emphasized.

He declared further: “Let me say it here, there will be no automatic ticket for any local government chairman. All the aspirants must go to the field. If he wins he goes, if he loses he comes back. I will not guarantee anybody’s return. I will not”.

He also sounded louder: “I am not going to impose anyone on Rivers state as their next governor.  Anybody who wants to be the governor of Rivers state in 2023 should go and try.

All those hoping on me, I want to disappoint you. I am an experienced politician, I have seen it all”.

Wike said, there is nobody that is made a governor that will remain loyal to the electorate, stressing that: “Nobody dashes power. You have to break the hand holding the power to collect it. Everyone is equal in this State. You need other people to be governor. The next governor of Rivers state will not emerge on the basics of ethnic nationality. The next governor will be someone who can carry everyone along,” he said.        

Some public critics who spoke with the Blue print described the governor’s message to the council chairmen, governorship aspirants for 2021 elections as an innocuous remark not intended to offend or upset an individual or group of persons.

Wike’s body language and declaration began in early May 2019 when he ordered Audit of 23 local government area councils followed inauguration of a seven – man committee to carry the audit job From May 2018 to May 2019.

 Other observers were of the view that the investigation by the governor coming one year upon assumption of office would simply serve as peer review mechanism to assess and persuade chairmen who were not able to carry out a single project in their locality to do so.  

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