Is Wike so exceptional? By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Governor Nyesom Wike is by no means your everyday politician. He came into national limelight from the grassroots after spending quality time serving in different capacities in his state of birth-Rivers State.

As minister in the federal cabinet of the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, Nyesom Wike a consummate lawyer was the minister of State incharge of Education.  

This Young and upwardly mobile political tactician left a legacy of quality service and imprints in the area of construction of Educational infrastructure for the disadvantaged street boys known as Almajiris. 

My organisation(HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) was so impressed with his sterling quality of effective delivery of democracy dividends as a federal minister  that we officially identified him as a Philosopher-king and invited him to deliver a national human rights lecture.   

Plato (427-347) rightly stated that: "Until philosophers are Kings, cities will never have rest from their evils".  

Mr. Wike has shown that he is indeed a good Philosopher.  

It was during his eventful  tenure as minister of State for Education that concerted effort was made to integrate the hitherto rudderless Almajiri informal education to the well organised and properly organised formalised educational system.

For the first time in recent memories the national government pragmatically invested substantial amounts of the education budget to upgrade the infrastructures for the rapid educational empowerment of the nearly ten million out -of -school children in Northern Nigeria. 

After  his stint as the federal minister of education (state), this Ikwerre born legal practitioner cum political strategist made his intention known that he would vie for the governorship of Rivers State which at that time was firmly in the hands of Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of the All Progressives Congress. 

Amaechi was railroaded into office as governor under the peoples Democratic party platform and after seven years left  the  party to sojourn with the then opposition party- All Progressives Congress  at the national stage led by Major General Mohammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. 

Wike as an aspirant to the office of the Rivers state governor didn't have any fighting chance of displacing the then ruling APC, or so it seems.

But due to his popularity amongst the rural folks Mr. Wike became the cynosure of all eyes and he rode to political victory against the candidate of the incumbent- Mr. Dakuku Peterside who was then a member of the Federal House of Representatives. 

Wike became politically victorious courtesy of the popular votes and because respected Niger Delta activists and leaders  like the Wife of the erstwhile President Mrs. Patience Jonathan endorsed his candidacy. 

My Igbo people use to say "he who has people is better than he who has money". Wike's victory at the polls in 2015 is a testament to the veracity of this profound Igbo adage. 

Wike like the modern day Mustafa Kamal Ataturk (1881-1938) signed a social contract with his good people of Rivers State and two years down the line he has served creditably and is said and attested to have worked day and night to build enduring infrastructures for his people.

He has replicated the wonders he did at the national level as the minister of state for education.

There are bipartisan testimonies about his achievements so far from such persons as the governor of Sokoto State Hon. Waziri Aminu Tambuwal and erstwhile President Jonathan. 

I recently visited Rivers State just as i was a frequent visitor to Port-Harcourt during the tenure of governor Amaechi and i can state that the difference is as clear as the daylight is from the night. 

Mr. Wike can indeed be called one of the few political office holders that are indeed discharging his campaign promises efficiently. 

One of my former colleagues in The Guardian who was the Benue State Correspondent whilst I was the Judicial correspondent in Abuja Mr. Simeon Nwakaudu who incidentally works for governor Wike was not out of place when he was heard telling some newspaper workers that his boss is the best governor in Nigeria. 

 If you doubt this credible testimony please visit my state of origin which is Imo or go to Kaduna, Zamfara or Benue states to see the worst forms of poor governance.

Nwakaudu a very prolific writer and journalist had stated that inspite of sponsorship of negative media propaganda by opposition politicians in Rivers State, Governor Nyesom Wike remains Nigeria’s best performing governor, recognised by leaders of all political divides.

Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Rivers State Newspapers Publishers Forum, RNPF, at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Special Assistant to Rivers State Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, noted that Governor Wike’s excellent performance stems from his prudent management of the state’s scarce resources.

 He said that the people of Rivers State were feeling the impact of good governance provided by Governor Wike, pointing out that such impact was beyond the understanding of opposition politicians, who only think about the next election.

 He said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visited Rivers State and lauded Governor Wike for his outstanding achievements, confirming that the governor is ‘Mr Projects.’

 He said no other All Progressives Congress, APC governor can compete with Wike in terms of project delivery, pointing out that the success of the Wike administration is unprecedented.

 Gov. Wike He said: “We challenge any other APC governor to come forward and place his projects side by side that of Governor Wike.  He is paying salaries, pensions and he is doing projects.  Some of the APC governors owe 10 months, 12months and one APC governor is owing 14 months.

 “Governor Wike is paying salaries regularly, he is paying pensions regularly and he is doing projects everyday. We find it funny that someone who has been defeated and is suffering a psychological disorder because of the level of the defeat is coming forward to lie.” 

Ataturk, the father of modern day Turkey  was determined to establish a modern nation-state amid the ruins of the feudal Ottoman Empire, which had undergone little industrial development. 

He believed that a balanced and equitable society, which could deliver the essential guarantees of freedom and justice for individuals, could only be built upon a state’s unconditional power to govern itself, or “the sovereignty of the people”. This, he insisted, could not be granted or negotiated, but had to be wrestled by force.

"Sovereignty meant, first of all, democratic self-rule, free from any other authority (including the sultan-caliph), from religious interference in government, and from outside powers". 

Wike is a symbol of the People's power. We pray God to sustain him in these good works. 

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com; www .huriwa@blogspot.com.