A Toast For Governor Wike On Valentine

For a new generation of leaders to manage all the developmental challenges confronting us as a people, we as a people must reinvent the will and consciously enthrone courageous leadership that can speak to the issues.

After president Buhari’s colourless and spineless leadership driven by nepotism and selective amnesia, we truly need a pan-Nigerian mind that can stimulate dialogue and national conversation to rally round all the centripetal and centrifugal forces at a time of national polarisation and inertia across the country.

We need leaders who take the country as their Constituency and not one that is detained by nepotism, parochialism, myopism and ethnic consideration. Nigeria has come to a point that it can no longer pretend that all is well, when all the walls that bind us together are falling apart thus creating fractures and frictions in our collective aspirations of nurturing and growing a nation of opportunities. 

Only recently, I read Dakuku Peterside’s umbrage about the demolition of shanties in the Riverside of a state that has been contending with all forms of crimes and criminalities.

Dakuku’s attack was premised on the claim that quite a number of people will be rendered homeless by the exercise executed by the indomitable Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, easily called Mr. Project for his achievements so far in carrying out infrastructural renewal.

Election year is here, we are likely going to be seeing several far-flung political merchants rushing back home to create a “voice for the voiceless”, their usual refrain. Those who had opportunity to serve outside the state and are unable to bring back development to Rivers State, like Dakuku Peterside, would assume the role of being spokesmen for the voiceless just to make the point that they are still very much around.

When elections are by the corner, you are likely going to hear empty promises and rhetoric that are targeted at massaging the egos of the masses, to attract their attention and possibly, their votes. 

Nyesom Wike, is not a man given to such frivolities. He’s not just blunt with his positions on issues, he deploys uncommon courage in driving his leadership targets for the good of all.  The issue of demolition did not just start with a Wike-led state Government.

His predecessor, who Dakuku Peterside is in bed with did demolish several of such shanties in Abonema and its environs to give the state some respite from criminals. Why Dakuku has suddenly become the antagonist in this latest action by the state government is what confounds my sensibilities.

Fact is, Rivers state was becoming notorious for crimes and criminalities as a result of ripple effect of the general state of insecurity in the country. The Riverside shanties have become notorious hideouts for the perpetuation of such crimes to the chagrin of the average Rivers mind.

As a government that was elected to safeguard the lives and property of the people, rather than be soaked in lamentation, it became imperative to take precipitate action to arrest the drift in the state. 

Wike’s profile in infrastructural development is not in doubt. He is not called Mr. Project for the fun of it. He has transformed the entire state in a manner never witnessed by his predecessors in office. We have seen the roads, schools, hospitals and housing projects.

We have seen his effort in curtailing the perennial problems of insecurity. We have seen his job creation initiatives. We have seen his intervention in trying to solve the bunkering cartel by some well placed individuals and security officers who have found Rivers State as a financial haven. We saw how the Governor took the bull by the horn to rattle those economic buccaneers who have occupied Rivers state for quite some time now in the name of bunkering and illegal refining of petroleum products.

Only a Governor with a heart for the people would take the risk of entering the forest to dismantle a well sustained business of economic predatory, which has security personnel involved. That was a risk taken too far. But that is the way of leaders who are truly worth the name. 

It is understandable that political opponents would raise dust on a sensitive issue such as housing, without taking into account the flip side of the situation, it only requires a leadership with focus to call a spade by its very name without playing politics with the greater number of the people.

Once the bunkering business is shattered, the shanties are demolished, the handy sentiment to cultivate would be that of rendering people homeless, but what did the people do, when their shanties were notoriously used for crimes and criminalities? Did they raise alarm? Did they alert government or they became conspirators of the larger business of bunkering?

No government policy has 100% value addition, but the greater impact a government policy has for the greater number of people, the better for the society. Insecurity has become a daunting task for all governments in the country; local, state and federal governments. Resolving this problem has assumed a more complex dimension, reason why any serious state government must as a matter of urgency think outside the box to generate ideas that could help mitigate this negative vice. 

Wike comes across as a Governor that is not carried away with the trappings of politics. He calls a spade by its very name and deploys a style that easily exposes his capacity to make things happen. Only recently, he started the process of healing the wounds of his party, the PDP. Rather than pursue an ambition of trying to contest for president of the nation, he started from the strategic interest of ensuring that the party is seen to be united and cohesive.

He visited about 9 states during the yuletide period to share in the aspirations of his colleague Governors and also recently visited Plateau state to resolve the lingering differences in the PDP that tend to polarise the party in that part of the country. He didn’t stop there, he also visited Ahmed Makarfi in Kaduna state to share in the former Governor’s health challenges.

To Wike, having a united party will simplify the process of pursuing any ambition no matter who the individual is. That is the way of selfless leaders who are driven by patriotism and priceless intervention to promote unity and harmony within their conclave. Wike’s approach is not only altruistic but one that should be commended for being able to stand tall in ensuring that the PDP, his party presents itself as a veritable platform to nurture and sustain future ambition. 

He should be encouraged to continue on the path of impacting positively on his people instead of being distracted by sheer politics of hate which Dakuku Peterside is wont to promote. I am aware that 2023 is by the corner, reason why every action of government would be viewed from the self-serving prism of political players, but a Governor like Nyesom Wike who plays less of.politics and more of development, ought to be motivated by commendation from those who are the direct and indirect beneficiaries of his interventions. As the clamour for 2023 presidential contest gathers steam, the like of Nyesom Wike should join the fray to give bite and grit to the electoral process. The country needs strong-willed leaders like Wike to relaunch the country to enviable heights in the comity of nations. 

A resident of Port Harcourt can be reached at suleimanabubakar@yahoo.com

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