Amaechi and Wike: From friends to foes

BY CHIDI OBINECHE

Before the emer­gence of Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as gov­ernor in 2007, the rela­tionship between him and Governor Ezenwo Nyesom –Wike was at best cursory. While Amaechi held sway as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Wike was the Chairman of Obio- Akpor local Government Council and the National Presi­dent of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, (ALGON). Both were however under the umbrella of their political grandmaster, Dr peter Odili, and held each oth­er mutually with respect. The long bitter struggle to actualize the gov­ernorship ambition of Amaechi was the oyster that brought them close.

While Amaechi was in Ex­ile, Wike , an acclaimed politi­cal tactician co-ordinated the onslaught from within, and when they coasted to victory, via the famous October 25, 2007 supreme court verdict, Amaechi made him his Chief of Staff. And the friendship deepened. Soon after, Amae­chi nominated him for a min­isterial position at the center, and the crack in their relation­ship began to manifest. Wike became the ant hill with which the government of President Goodluck Jonathan deployed to quieten the “noisy and high­ly quarrelsome Amaechi”. It was no longer at ease between the bosom friends. Ahead of the 2015 general elections, both men were at each other’s throats. They accused each other of a legion sundry mis­demeanour. Amaechi accused Wike of being a willing tool in the plot by the presidency to unsettle and humiliate him. He went to great lengths to halt Wike’s governorship ambition. The River’s gov­ernorship election has been adjudged as one of the fiercest and bloodiest in recent mem­ory. Indeed, about 94 deaths were recorded during the campaigns, while several skir­mishes were recorded almost on a daily basis. Abuses and name calling were the order of the day, as tension raised several octaves higher than anywhere. When Amaechi failed to clinch the vice presi­dential slot of his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Wike mocked him profusely, calling him a “permanent mugu”. On the other hand the Amaechi camp had a reverie deriding Wike’s handling of the industrial dispute in the universities, stopping short of calling him an ‘illiterate”. Their relationship became highly acerbic to the extent that their cleric, the Archbish­op of the Niger Delta North, Most Reverend Ignatius Kat­tey had to intervene to call a truce. The truce was hardly adhered to by both men, who are staunch Catholics.

After the governorship elections,Wike and Amaechi resorted to the theater of the absurd. Amaechi cried foul over the outcome of the elec­tions. He refused to set up a transition Committee, and banned all government offi­cials from having anything to do with the transition Com­mittee set up by Wike. He de­scribed the election as a day­light robbery, vowing to stop at nothing to reclaim the state for his godson Dakuku Peter­side. Amaechi stoked more fire by alleging rituals on the part of Wike, an allegation the governor vehemently denied .Wike, also accused Amaechi of wanton stealing and vandal­ization of government proper­ty. Television sets were said to have been removed, kitchen cabinets vandalized.

Two Bmw cars sent for re­pairs by Amaechi were surrep­titiously hijacked by agents of the government and returned to Port Harcourt. Several ve­hicles were recovered from erstwhile top government officials. The governor set up a judicial commission of inquiry to probe Amaechi’s regime. Amaechi spurned the Commission, which eventu­ally returned a verdict of guilt, ordering him to refund N107B to the state coffers. Amaechi’s vow to see to the nullification of Wike’s victory has finally come to pass. There were clearly discernible signs that it will come to pass. Firstly, the tribunal was moved from Port Harcourt , ostensibly to insulate it from odious influ­ences. Again, midway into the tribunal sitting, the chair­man was unceremoniously changed. But the battle for the two wily foes is far from being over. It has only moved higher. If Amaechi eventually wins at the Appeal and supreme courts in the next 120 days, a permanent victory smile will be etched on his face – a sure sign of vanquishing his irritable foe. Wike will in the circumstances lick his wound and wait for another time. But should victory swing the other way, it may be back to the ba­sics: the beginning of yet, an­other battle royale.

Source: Sunnewsonline.com