ONYEDI GABRIEL, Port Harcourt
Ijaw communities under the auspices of Movement for Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationalities have warned the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, against toeing the path of his friend and former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha in 2023.
MOSIEND said Wike must resist the temptation of imposing his successor on the people in 2023 the way the former Imo State Governor tried to make his son-in-law the governor of his state.
MOSIEND said the governor should allow Rivers People choose their governor in 2023 through the ballot.
The group asked Wike not to be afraid of a likely political persecution after his tenure in 2023, saying he had nothing to worry about if he remained upright, prudent, transparent and unbiased in his administrative style.
Speaking in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, National Secretary of MOSIEND, Amain Winston Cottrell, said Wike’s courage in speaking truth to power on crucial national issues should not be a reason for his critics and detractors to hatch an evil plot against him.
Cottrell encouraged the governor to remain resolute, praying that no ill intentions against him would prevail.
He said: “Honestly, it is not possible for anyone to occupy that exalted office for eight years without having a score or two to settle with one person or a group of persons. These things are normal in leadership, particularly in our peculiar political environment. It’s even more prevalent in an heterogeneous state such as Rivers, with diverse ethno political and economic interest”.
Cottrell, however, drew the attention of Wike to some of the concerns of the people of the State after his remarks on the travails of Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha.
He said: “Wike surprised us by that singular statement. I mean we were all witnesses to Okorocha’s desperate bid to impose his son-in-law against the popular wishes of the people, which pitched him against the people of Imo State ahead of the 2019 Imo elections.
“This habit of anointing a successor at all cost, was one of the undermining factors that worked against Okorocha, who still remains bitter that his intention to make governance in Imo State a family affair did not come to fruition. So, we are not surprised about his current travails which we believe are self-induced.
“Wike still has two years ahead to do what is right , apart from infrastructural development, with particular reference to the road constructions which is commendable and a major selling point of his administration, other areas have suffered a huge setback and needs his prompt and timely intervention.
“For instance, the governor needs to also give priority attention to critical areas of development such as empowerment, unemployment , insecurity, healthcare delivery and social security”.
He reminded the governor of the transient nature of political power, noting that one’s administration would be remembered and appraised performance.
Cottrell also lamented what he called the subtle strangulation of hitherto functional agencies and programmes in Rivers State such as RSSDA, TIMARIV, land and waterway security surveillance and amnesty programme for repentant cultists.
He said scrapping such agencies and programmes, which provided job opportunities for Rivers’ sons and daughters without creating alternatives, had created hardship and socioeconomic setback in the state.
He said the greatest mistake Wike would make as governor was to go the way of Rochas Okorocha by attempting to impose a candidate on Rivers People in the next governorship election.
He advised Wike to factor in the principles of fairness and equity in the politics of 2023, saying the top political job in Rivers should not elude the riverine or Ogoni areas of the state.
He commended plans by the governor to move from the government house and operate from his personal residence, noting that the development had the potential of reducing the cost of governance.
He said: “We commend the decision of the governor for not getting used to the government House, by planning his exit strategy of gradually relocating to his beautiful and magnificent abode, at least, it will cut cost of running the Government House when he is there and such monies will be applied to other economic yielding ventures for the state.
“Above all, the governor should evaluate his relationship with the youths as they are unhappy about the way he abandoned them immediately after winning the 2019 reelections bid.
“Unlike Okorocha, Wike has the opportunity to go back to his normal self of empathising and caring for the downtrodden Rivers people who stood by him and supported him all through 2019 elections”.