HOW WIKE RUINED POLITICAL CAREER OF G-5 GOVERNORS
Because of the vaulting political ambition of one man, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, Governor of Rivers State, the political career of the five opposing governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), popularly called G-5 Governors, has come to an abrupt end.
Nyesom Wike was elected governor of Rivers State in 2015. Because of the stupendous resources at his disposal, Wike who was bankrolling the PDP which was in serious financial stress arising from its loss of power at the centre, has been dictating the affairs of the PDP.
As such, Wike would bring whoever he wanted and imposed him on the PDP to be its chairman and the party would accept it. He would later withdraw his support on the man, when the fellow failed to do his bidding, and the PDP would equally agree with him and remove the party chairman.
It was Nyesom Wike who brought in Ali Modu Sherriff and installed him as National Chairman of the PDP. Later, when Sherriff refused to take orders from him, Wike worked for his removal. Nyesom Wike equally brought in Uche Secondus as PDP chairman, and he also later worked for his removal. When Nyesom Wike was doing all these, he had one thing in mind – to become the President of Nigeria, and he would never tolerate anything to stand on his way for him to achieve that goal.
Thus, when the whistle was blown for the 2023 election, Nyesom Wike quickly jumped out to contest for the Presidency. He campaigned vigorously, intimidated people, threw money around, and did all he could to win the PDP Presidential ticket, but he did not succeed. He came second at the primary election. Wike then went for the PDP Vice Presidential ticket. Again, he also lost.
Wike became paranoid, almost got màd. In desperation, he moved out from the mainstream PDP and ganged up with four of his governor colleagues to oppose Atiku Abubakar as the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate. The four governors were Samuel Ortom, Benue State; Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State; Seyi Makinde, Oyo State; and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State. They called themselves G-5 Governors, or the Integrity Group.
They sew themselves different uniforms and began to juncket from one state capital to the other and to fly out to different European cities, claiming that they were strategizing on how to make whoever they would anoint, President of Nigeria. They refused to listen to all entreaties or pleas for reconciliation with their political party so they would all work with one accord.
Ironically, apart from Wike who already lost both the presidential and vice presidential bids, each of these G-5 Governors had stakes in the 2023 election. Specifically, while Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, is seeking a second term governorship return, Governors Samuel Ortom, Okezie Ikpeazu, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, each wanted to retire to the Senate at the end of their governorship tenure, and they were all carrying the ticket of the of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In other words, while the G-5 governors had foolishly followed Nyesom Wike who was not contesting anything to oppose Atiku Abubakar as PDP presidential candidate, they forgot that they themselves were contestants on the same political party platform. They therefore went into the battlefield with conflicting interests. The resultant outcome was the devastating defeat of the four governors in the election.
In Benue State, Samuel Ortom lost his bid to go to Senate to the APC candidate; in Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was crushingly defeated by the Labour Party candidate; in Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu was humbled by Enyinnaya Abaribe of APGA, while in Oyo State, Seyi Makinde lost all the three senatorial seats and ten House of Representatives seats to the APC.
It is the law of karma that was at work against the G-5 Governors. Those four governors who stupidly followed Nyesom Wike who had nothing at stake in the election to fight Atiku Abubakar, have now met their Waterloo. As someone had mocked them: “Nyesom Wike deceived the G-5 Governors. They chopped Wike’s money, and Wike chopped their political career.”
