We would have captioned this piece ‘Meet Wike The divide In Biafra’ but we chose not to because it will appear like we is drawing the tribe card.
But we are not. We just want to share something Nigerians may not have seen in the decisions made days before the voting of on February 25.
Besides, we do not want to bring little fire near the gunpower that Nigeria is sitting on at this time. Many are looking up to the Supreme Court to give Nigerians the encouragement that they could still trust the electoral body and justice system.
Prior to that election, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) visited the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Wike must have had a fruitful meeting, if not to Wike, at least to Tinubu, who managed to snatch a state from Biafra region.
The APC must have seen an aggrieved Wike as the weak-link of the region that had only had a 4 year leadership term. People call the Igbos the minority in the three strands of the cord – Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba – pulling other parts of Nigeria together.
After that Tinubu and Wike’s meeting, Peter Obi, who Wike claimed he “provided logistics for when he was in Rivers for the presidential campaign,” lost in the state.
People dragged Wike, but he was not moved. His decision was based on something else.
Wike’s Desire And Dream
So, when the Ohaneze visited Governor Wike, he was ready to break the silence over what happened in Rivers State.
First thing he mentioned was that there was an agreement that was broken.
According to him, that agreement was reached at the meeting of the Southern governors.
At the forum held in Asaba the governors agreed that power must shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari, Wike said.
Furthermore, Wike explained that the governors later met in Enugu in September 2021 to reaffirm their position for power to shift to the South.
He stated that throughout the meetings, “the issue of the presidency to the South-East was never on the table”.
South East Is Also South
What Governor Wike did not give attention to is that the eastern part of Nigeria is also of the southern region. The area is South East, right?
As a result, it is first South before you add East.
Is it that Wike does not know that when you say South in Nigeria, it comprises of South-east, South-south and South-west?
Basically, everyone will expect that Peter Obi of the Labour party will become Wike’s choice-candidate, being someone from the south.
But his decision to align with Tinubu cracked the power of tribe holding together the area of Nigeria which considers itself, Biafra. It further casts aspersion on the level of unity within the region. In fact people had expected that election will not hold, but the region was almost totally peaceful on election day.
Quite a number of them came out for Ellu P.
It is on this ground that the Ohaneze visited.
The decision to bend towards the APC took away quite a number of votes from Peter Obi in Rivers State, going by the result INEC announced and not on the result portal.
Also, from the result announced by INEC’s collation officers, one will easily see how divided the nation is along ethnic lines.
The inroad by PDP is understandable, being that most of those states now in green have been under the PDP.
It may not have been an issue to ‘Obidients’ if Wike moved to tabernacle with his southern brother rather than tilting to the South-West.
Some Nigerians say Wike’s decision was facilitated by something else. They want government agencies to investigate the Rivers State governor once he lives office.
Whether that will happen depends on a lot of variables.
Peter Obi Factor
Most young Nigerians from the South-east, South-west, North-east, North-west and North-central believed in the ‘Obidient Movement’.
They aligned with Obi, seeking to take power away from the hands of the older generation Nigerians to a little above youth stage. The old have failed them they said.
In fact most youths see Peter Obi as one of them.
Indeed, the situation was like the ‘leaders of tomorrow are now closer to governance’.
But those of older age are not willing to let go.
At your polling unit, you could see how older persons supported the APC, looking away from promises of a better Nigeria to those of continuity, being that the APC is the government in power.
Whether this pull that younger Nigerians are making to bring power to modern age, with understanding of what the common man goes through, will see the light of day, to a large extent, depends on the Judiciary.
The coming days will be full of drama, entertaining Nigerians sitting at the edges of their seats.
One will only pray that the judgement will be “the truth and nothing but the truth”.
It will be quite commendable if the court follow the law of the land strictly, something the INEC cold not do.
We will wait and see.