Obaseki, Wike’s War of Words

Governors of Edo and Rivers States, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and Mr. Nyesom Wike, have been on each other’s jugular over the unresolved crisis in Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Adibe  Emenyonu writes

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State recently held what it termed “Welcome Rally” in honour of the new National Chairman of the Party, Dr. Iyochia Ayu, preparatory to the 2023 general election.

Governor Godwin Obaseki had wanted to use the rally to make a statement that the PDP is a party to reckon with going by the mammoth crowd mobilised for the event.

He used the opportunity to tell the party National Chairman that PDP in Edo had registered more than 500,000 members from the period he was sworn in as governor in 2020 till date on its e-regisgration platform.

However, the Vice Chairman of the party in charge of South-south, Chief Dan Orbih who incidentally is from Edo, and all the party wards and local government  leaders were conspicuously absent.

The governor used the event to voice out his frustration through his deputy, Mr. Philip Shaibu.

 Addressing Ayu, the deputy governor told him that Edo people are angry.

“Sir, people are saying that the governor will not leave the PDP, but he will only remain if his soldiers remain in the party”, he said.

But in his reaction, the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, fired back at the Edo Deputy Governor, demanding that he be disciplined otherwise he would invoke the relevant sections of the party constitution to ensure he pays for his open transgression.

To Wike that was a mark of insubordination and disrespect to the party hierarchy. He asked the party to punish Shaibu to for threatening to leave PDP after begging the party to be accommodated after their defection from APC.

According to him, PDP was there for both Obaseki and his deputy, when both were denied ticket by the APC  and the party went ahead by not only housing them when they were driven into the rain, it also gave them the party ticket to actualise their second term ambition and help them win the election. He wondered why the same person that was clothed last night could wake up in the morning to challenge his god in a wrestling bout.

 “This is the same deputy Governor that was kneeling down to beg for us to give him umbrella, today you have the effrontery to threaten PDP. What a shame!

“The party was there for Governor Godwin Obaseki and Mr. Philip Shaibu when both were denied the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for 2020 election.

“We went and made sure they won that election. Today that deputy Governor is ranting. A deputy governor would come on national television to tell PDP the alternative.

“I have written to the national chairman of the party. if they don’t constitute a disciplinary committee against the deputy governor, I will invoke the sanctions of the party and will make sure they must discipline the deputy governor.

“Who is his father? The deputy governor comes and threatens the whole party where we are the governors. Now that he has started the trouble, let him wait, we’ll make sure he never have rest.”

But Obaseki did not take kindly, the choice words of Wike in the entire matter. In an advertorial in some national dailies, he described the personal attack on his deputy by the Rivers State governor as most unfortunate.

He asked the party national leaders to call Wike to order because the issues raised by his deputy are all germane and needed to be resolved in the interest of the party, adding that if the Rivers governor is one who shows respect and courtesy to his colleague-governor, he would have ordinarily reached out to him to express his views made by his deputy rather that embarking on unwarranted public onslaught.

Obaseki reminded Wike that his deputy is a former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students. He argued that his comment is representative of the essence of the nation’s youth population who are inclined to openly speak up and interrogate the status quo.

The Edo governor added that his Rivers State counterpart should have taken a cue from the national chairman’s response to his deputy’s remarks as a conscientious leader who is able to show empathy and consideration to adequately reply to the style and character of the Nigerian youth, otherwise, his aspiration to lead them would be in vain.

Obaseki reminded Wike that he had at some moments issued threats to the party.He recalled that on September 16, 2018, Wike had threatened the party that there would be grave consequences if it removed the national convention from Port Harcourt in the run up to the 2019 presidential election. 

He also recalled that on September 12, 2019, he (Wike) threatened to cause trouble for the party over the emergence of Ndudi Elumelu as the Minority Leader of the Green Chamber of the national assembly.

Obaseki accused his Rivers counterpart of fanning the insurgency in Edo PDP, using his long-time ally and associate, the National Vice Chairman of the party in charge of South-south, Chief Dan Orbih to achieve that, noting however, that they will not succeed because “we have history of  dealing with bullies.”

Reacting to Obaseki’s advertorial, Wike described him as serial betrayal, a disposition, he claimed was directly connected to the DNA. Wike argued that with the present disposition of Edo Governor, it is clear that he was the problem in APC, against the picture his painted as the one who was being oppressed.

 Wike added that Adams Oshiomhole has been vindicated by Obaseki’s action. The Rivers governor tendered apology to the former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for ignoring his warnings about the character of the Edo governor.

“If you ask anybody or check the DNA of Obaseki, you will discover that he is a serial betrayal and ungrateful person. I apologise to Oshiomhole who told us about Obaseki. You have been vindicated,” Wike said.

He went on “Obaseki said I am a bully, but he came to beg a bully for ticket, a bully was his campaign Director General and the bully bullied him into Edo State Government House.

“It didn’t end there; he still came back with his wife to thank me the bully after the election. I slept in Edo State for three days just to deliver Obaseki, but today, I am a bully. If you check the DNA of Obaseki, what you will see is betrayal and ungratefulness.”

Wike insisted that he has more stakes in PDP than Obaseki whom he described as a tenant.

Wike insisted that he can threaten the party because he is one of those who have invested in the party and in Rivers. He added that he has the capacity to cause trouble in Edo, and challenged Obaseki to do same in Rivers.

Following the verbal war between the two governors, Ayu has urged members of the party not to attack one another, but unite ahead of the 2023 general election.

Ayu said this in his remarks at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party in Abuja on Wednesday.

Ayu also called on PDP leaders and members to bury their differences and work together for the success of the party in the 2023 general election.

The national chairman advised members not to lose focus of where the party was coming from.

“I call on every member of this party to forget their differences. If there are differences, we must settle them in-house.

“No party member should attack another party member. If there are any issues, we have different organs of the party to resolve different issues.

“We will work tirelessly. We are talking to individual members who have differences among themselves, whether in the ward, local government, state or national level because such distraction must not be allowed to continue.

“Where there are problems, the national working committee and other leaders of national organs of the party will put heads together to resolve the differences,” Ayu explained. However, events of the next few weeks will reveal if Wike and Obaseki will sheathe their swords.