Before the emergence of
Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as governor in 2007, the relationship between him
and Governor Ezenwo Nyesom –Wike was at best cursory.
While Amaechi held sway
as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Wike was the Chairman of Obio-
Akpor local Government Council and the National President of Association of
Local Governments of Nigeria, (ALGON). Both were however under the umbrella of
their political grandmaster, Dr peter Odili, and held each other mutually with
respect. The long bitter struggle to actualize the governorship ambition of
Amaechi was the oyster that brought them close.
While Amaechi was in Exile,
Wike , an acclaimed political tactician co-ordinated the onslaught from
within, and when they coasted to victory, via the famous October 25, 2007
supreme court verdict, Amaechi made him his Chief of Staff. And the friendship
deepened. Soon after, Amaechi nominated him for a ministerial position at the
center, and the crack in their relationship began to manifest. Wike became the
ant hill with which the government of President Goodluck Jonathan deployed to
quieten the “noisy and highly quarrelsome Amaechi”. It was no longer at ease
between the bosom friends. Ahead of the 2015 general elections, both men were
at each other’s throats.
They accused each other of a legion sundry misdemeanour.
Amaechi accused Wike of being a willing tool in the plot by the presidency to
unsettle and humiliate him. He went to great lengths to halt Wike’s
governorship ambition. The River’s governorship election has been adjudged as
one of the fiercest and bloodiest in recent memory. Indeed, about 94 deaths
were recorded during the campaigns, while several skirmishes were recorded
almost on a daily basis. Abuses and name calling were the order of the day, as
tension raised several octaves higher than anywhere. When Amaechi failed to
clinch the vice presidential slot of his party, the All Progressives Congress,
APC, Wike mocked him profusely, calling him a “permanent mugu”. On the other
hand the Amaechi camp had a reverie deriding Wike’s handling of the industrial
dispute in the universities, stopping short of calling him an ‘illiterate”.
Their relationship became highly acerbic to the extent that their cleric, the
Archbishop of the Niger Delta North, Most Reverend Ignatius Kattey had to
intervene to call a truce. The truce was hardly adhered to by both men, who are
staunch Catholics.
After the governorship
elections,Wike and Amaechi resorted to the theater of the absurd. Amaechi cried
foul over the outcome of the elections. He refused to set up a transition
Committee, and banned all government officials from having anything to do with
the transition Committee set up by Wike. He described the election as a daylight
robbery, vowing to stop at nothing to reclaim the state for his godson Dakuku
Peterside. Amaechi stoked more fire by alleging rituals on the part of Wike,
an allegation the governor vehemently denied .Wike, also accused Amaechi of
wanton stealing and vandalization of government property. Television sets
were said to have been removed, kitchen cabinets vandalized.
Two Bmw cars sent for repairs
by Amaechi were surreptitiously hijacked by agents of the government and
returned to Port Harcourt. Several vehicles were recovered from erstwhile top
government officials. The governor set up a judicial commission of inquiry to
probe Amaechi’s regime. Amaechi spurned the Commission, which eventually
returned a verdict of guilt, ordering him to refund N107B to the state coffers.
Amaechi’s vow to see to the nullification of Wike’s victory has finally come to
pass. There were clearly discernible signs that it will come to pass. Firstly,
the tribunal was moved from Port Harcourt , ostensibly to insulate it from
odious influences. Again, midway into the tribunal sitting, the chairman was
unceremoniously changed. But the battle for the two wily foes is far from being
over. It has only moved higher. If Amaechi eventually wins at the Appeal and
supreme courts in the next 120 days, a permanent victory smile will be etched
on his face – a sure sign of vanquishing his irritable foe. Wike will in the
circumstances lick his wound and wait for another time. But should victory
swing the other way, it may be back to the basics: the beginning of yet, another
battle royale.
-Sun News
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