A lot of interesting things are happening on Nigeria’s political turf at the same time. The defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Wednesday by Peter Obi may have opened a new chapter in the march towards 2027. It is a move that may have more implications than one. Many equations may be altered henceforth, as a result.
Former governor of Rivers State and current minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, seems agitated. His body language gives him away as someone that is under pressure. Political pundits point to his activities as the cause of his restlessness. So, it may be safe to ask, “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”
It seems that President Donald Trump of America is seeing what we, Nigerians, are not seeing, hence his apparent large celebration more than we are doing in-country over the Christmas eve strike on the “ISIS Terrorist Scums.” Let the strikes continue!
Peter Obi’s new moves
With the formal joining of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Wednesday, the permutation over which party Peter Obi would join may have been laid to rest.
Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, had remained evasive since the issue of whether or not he would dump the LP became a talking point on various platforms- online and offline- following the endless travails of the LP.
Obi had joined the ADC months ago as an observer-member, a stance that had attracted verbal attacks both within the party and outside it. It had become a political point when his opponents insisted that the former Anambra State governor must have become confused and not knowing where exactly to anchor.
One important issue about Obi joining the ADC was about what would be his stake in the party where the likes of Atiku Abubakar and Nasir El-Rufai, both of whom had trumpeted presidential ambition in 2027, had already taken comfortable seats. Both El-Rufai and Atiku formally joined the ADC last November.
But Obi has told whoever that cares to listen that his name would be on the ballot in 2027. The other day, while reacting to rumours of him running for vice president in 2027, Obi said: “I am not travelling round the world to learn governance to be vice president.”
The thinking in some quarters is that the development in the ADC could alter the political calculations ahead of 2027.
Some political watchers have also said that before Obi could accept to join the ADC, there must have been an agreement by the arrowheads in the new alliance that he should be allowed to fly the party’s flag in 2027 on the strength of his earlier promise to do just one term.
The agreement may have also included to field Atiku Abubakar in 2031 when power is expected to return to the northern part of the country.
The question on the lips of many Nigerians right now is if Obi’s defection would inject life into ADC as his entrance into LP did in 2023.
Some political pundits believe that strong and purposeful alliance of the three musketeers- Atiku, Obi and El-Rufai- could prove rewarding for the ADC and disastrous for the APC.
“If El-Rufai can convince the Moslem North or if he can galvanise the opinion moulders of the Moslem North to rally round Peter Obi, Tinubu’s government will end,” Mojeed Dahiru, public affairs analyst, said.
Fire on Wike’s bosom
Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), appears to be under pressure and on defensive. He seems rattled like a man carrying a hot charcoal under his bosom.
Before the events of the recent past, he used to be on the offensive. Table seems to have turned with the defection of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State.
Wike, who seems to be losing out in the All Progressives Congress (APC) government with the growing list of political foes within the political organisation, appears to be clawing at anything that gives him the faintest hope of remaining relevant.
The decision of Fubara to defect to the APC without the express endorsement of his estranged god-father who has been playing a “hermaphroditish” politics for over two years (a dual member of two opposing parties), may have been a master stroke that is seen to whittle down the minister’s over-bloated ego in Abuja.
A video making the rounds on the social media explained how the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, allegedly “plotted the coup” that may have left Wike castrated.
The news is that Uzodinma decided to bring in Fubara into APC to cut Wike to size. Wike who has continued to ensure that the PDP does not appear on the ballot in 2027, has been surreptitiously working to sponsor Sam Anyanwu, the very element he is using to destroy the PDP, to contest for governorship under the APC in Imo State.
When the lid blew open, the state governor who may have also perfected an arrangement to install a successor (in line with the brand of politics being played in Nigeria) was enraged and moved ahead of him.
With Fubara completely weaned off the overbearing control of Wike, the fiendish hold on the state’s coffers which may have been the reason why the FCT minister raises shoulders, may no longer be under his fingers.
Fubara wants to beat Wike in his own game. He may have said to himself, if this is the way politics is played, let play it his own way.
Wike says that Fubara should not see himself as number one member of APC in Rivers. He is now going about the Rivers’ local government areas, soliciting solidarities and saying all manner of things against the governor. He has looked into the future and concluded that there would be an automatic ticket for Fubara in 2027.
As a sign of a man fighting like a wounded lion, Wike addressed the press last Monday in Port Harcourt, where he bad-mouthed highly-placed individuals in the APC government, accusing them of being attracted to Rivers because of the state’s wealth.
The minister, who hinted that he would formally defect to the APC in January with many PDP supporters and bigwigs in a number of states in the south, also gave a hint that real politicking would begin from January, whatever that means!
Observers are saying that Wike may be losing his worth in the Tinubu administration as his constant battles, many of which, needless, may have become intolerable to the powers that be in Abuja.
With Fubara now Number One APC member in Rivers by virtue of his position, Wike will only queue behind him whenever he joins in January.
Who says that he cannot be dispensed with at a point next year and left in the cold after he must have been “used” to score some political goals? Every mischief has an expiry date. Politics, as a dangerous game, is known to bite like an adder.
Trump’s trumpet on Nigeria
President Donald Trump is blowing his own trumpet. He did not wait for anyone to blow the trumpet for him after he directed the strike on ISIS dens in Sokoto.
He did not wait for any joint release with the Nigerian government before he went public with what happened on the Christmas eve.
Much later, a statement came from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, affirming the truism in Trump’s message, acknowledging that, indeed, there was a bombardment and that the operation was in agreement with the Nigerian government.
After the bombardment, Trump, in a chest-beating bravado, declared:
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander-in-Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”
An elated Trump had also in that message promised more hell for the terrorists.
One down point of the operation, however, is that up till now, the scope of the bombardment and tally of casualties have remained a guess work.
This has sadly prompted all manners of scenes flooding the social media, claiming they were the wreckages of the strike.
What has happened is that desperate content creators are deceiving the public by reeling out fake and unconfirmed numbers.
The expectation of many Nigerians was that the President of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, would have jumped on that successful operation to issue a strong warning that the number of the blood-sucking vampires in the country were numbered.
There should have been a reaction from the Presidency on the casualty figures and what next?
The thinking in some quarters is that even if the President decides to include it in his New Year message this morning, it is already late.
What the operation has done was to rekindle the faith of Nigerians who had fallen into the nadir of hopelessness following the murderous activities of terrorists across the country.
Communication is very important to always carry the citizenry along and also to reassure them that evil will never win the day, no matter how hard it tries.