– Will Amaechi or Wike triumph in the Rivers state House of
Assembly re-run?
– The former governor
Rotimi Amaechi received the first major political blow of his political career
when the Supreme Court upheld the governorship election victory of Governor Nyesom
Wike a few weeks ago
– Governor Wike was a political neophyte in Rivers about 10
years ago
– The battle lines have been drawn between the two political
titans of Rivers State politics.
Several lives have been reported lost in political clashes ahead
of the Saturday, March 19 House of Assembly re-run election in Rivers state.
Rivers State leads all the other States of the federation in terms of
political-related assassinations, political thuggery, electoral malpractice and
other election-related offences.
Although there have been accusations and counter-accusations
between the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and the All Progressives Congress
(APC), the heartless, inhumane and gruesome murder and beheading of the
28-year-old APC chairman of Ward 4, Frankline Obi, as reported on Thursday,
March 17 in the dailies in Rivers state, is too bitter a pill to be swallowed.
The blood-thirsty assailants also murdered Obi’s pregnant wife
and his son. Politics of this nature should be condemned by all and sundry.
Obi’s pathetic murder is one among the many incidents of assassinations that
have occurred, and may still happen in the State, if drastic and urgent
security measures are not taken by the various security agencies.
The two political gladiators drank from the same political gourd, before personal aspirations and vendetta, separated them.
Rotimi Amaechi, the current minister of transport, has been
hovering on the political stage in Rivers since his early twenties. He worked
with various politicians before he rose through the ranks. He was to referred
to as Right Honourable (Rt Hon), because he held the speakership position of
the Rivers state House of Assembly between 1999 and 2007.
He fought his first real political war when the former president
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo prevented him from securing the governorship ticket of
his then party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). When his case went to the
Supreme Court he received a favourable judgement, after which he was made
governor without campaigning or voting.
Amaechi jumped off the PDP’s ship, when he felt he was unfairly
treated. He joined the APC, after failed reconciliation moves between the
new-PDP and the mainstream PDP. The rest they say is history.
According to Amanze Obi, while comparing both Amaechi and Wike,
in his Thursday, March 17 Article in Daily Sun, titled, Judgement day in Rivers
State, he said: “He (Rotimi Amaechi), and Wike, had played the turf game
together in the past. One is as rugged as the other. Thus, while Amaechi was
luxuriating over the point he scored, Wike was busy perfecting a counterpoise. “Amaechi’s celebration was short-lived. He
threw a faint-heart jab at Wike. But the governor replied with an uppercut.
That saw Amaechi groveling. The Supreme Court upheld Wike as the
validly elected governor of Rivers state. But Wike’s triumph was incomplete.
His lieutenants did not have the advantage of a Supreme Court intervention (to
secure a favourable judgement regarding the House of Assembly election).
The Appeal Court, the last point of call for state elections
matters, had ordered re-run elections for the cancelled seats. It is yet
another occasion, for the combatants, to test their political strengths.
“Amaechi and Wike, are at each other’s throat.
They are fighting the political battle of their lives.” READ
ALSO: 10 great mistakes that caused PDP the presidency Going a bit into Wike’s
meteoric political rise, the lawyer-turned politician is a dogged political
fighting machine. Amaechi himself gave life to Wike’s political career after he
served the state judiciously.
Amaechi was said to have recommended Wike to the former
president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, for ministerial a appointment. Fortunately for
Wike, he was made the minister of state for education. As Wike moved on as
minister, he went into the good books of Patience Jonathan, who adopted him as
her political son.
It was during this period
that Amaechi and Patience had a fractured relationship, which in turn favoured
Wike’s political career the more. As the governorship election season drew
nearer, Wike got Patience’s anointing. He secured the PDP’s governorship
ticket, despite hues and cries from his fellow contestants.
Regardless of allegations of massive electoral fraud and
rigging, Wike defeated Dakuku Peterside of the APC at the polls in 2015, and
got his victory finally upheld by the Apex Court in Nigeria.
Governor Wike has been speaking tough ahead of tomorrow’s
election. He is warning all those who care to listen, in spite of criticism by
a good number of Nigerians that he is beating the drums of war.
The governor said he will not be cowed by any politician who is
coming to Rivers to rig the polls. In his words, he said: “If you are coming to
conduct election freely, come and conduct election. But if you’re coming to say
you want to rig election, you must have prepared your will. So, when people
say, I threatened, I never threatened violence. No! All I said, if you’re
coming to rig, you’re like armed robber. Anything that happens to armed robber,
will happen to you.”
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