
Nyesom Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, is a man of many parts. Lawyer, politician and administrator, his many parts are finely rounded and well-tuned, and that is probably why he has survived for this long swimming in the charged waters of Nigerian politics with crocodiles and sharks, without drowning.
In 2023, Wike pulled off a masterstroke of opposition politics when he turned his pain at losing his party’s presidential ticket into a platform for eventual winner Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has since gone on to become Nigeria’s sixteenth president. While Wike has been severally and severely chastised for his choice in the election, he has largely shown that his calculation was flawless with the current administration rewarding him with the portfolio of the FCT Minister, a position in which he has continued to pull down houses and pull up trees, upsetting many of Nigeria’s hitherto untouchables.
At heart, the former Rivers State governor serves up a lot of courage and compassion even if his inclination for confrontation submerges most of it. But there is no evidence that he courts controversy just for the sake of it. His means to an end may be sheer madness, but his glittering political resume shows an unmatched method to his madness. The downside to this madness which has served Nyesom Wike the lawyer, the person, and the politician so well is that it can be all-consuming – a dangerous conflagration if left unchecked. Events in Rivers State where he was an all-action governor between 2015 and 2023 are threatening to make his political foundations painstakingly built over the years come unhinged.
Since Wike left office, the tidal transience of power in Rivers State has simply worked its treacherous sorcery. With power fully reposed in the bosom of Siminalayi Fubara, the current governor, Wike has become an easy target for the new government as it tries to consolidate its hold on power. He has become the public enemy number one in the state with efforts being made day and night to undermine his political structures in the state. He has been variously described as greedy, grasping and controlling by forces loyal to the current governor.
At a recent Christmas carol in the state, the most audacious attack on Nyesom Wike yet was launched by former governor Peter Odili who in a thinly veiled criticism described Wike as trying to turn the state into his personal estate.
Wike’s personal and impassioned response to the attack showed how deeply it cut, maybe because it came from someone he considered an ally, confidant, and mentor.
Wike’s response was somewhat surprising given that he appeared to be surprised by the staggering number of turncoats and the extremely fluid definition of loyalty entrenched in Nigerian politics.
Given that he is a veteran politician, an old political warhorse and workhorse, one who has successfully navigated many political battles, Wike will be better served choosing his battles carefully. The first step to victory in political battles is successfully choosing which battles to fight.
As things stand, Wike cannot afford to fight everyone in Rivers State. He cannot be fighting the current governor, legislators, elders, clerics in the state, and sympathisers outside the state. He may be right to nurse a sense of betrayal by those he considered political partners in progress, but he cannot continue to lick his wounds or feel sorry for himself by failing to rise above cheap political stunts and even cheaper blackmail.
In politics, cheap political points may be the saints of the shallow waters. But Nyesom Wike, a seasoned fisherman in the charged waters of Nigerian politics, must show a surer touch and an even surer foot.
One thing is clear: someone has to sit one of Nigerians most ‘methodical’ madmen down and talk to him. He needs to change tact and tack. The trajectory of his political future or failure may well depend on that.
*Willie-Nwobu can be reached at ikewilly9@gmail.com