Teddy Pendergrass, it was, who had the hit song: The Whole Town’s Laughing at Me, the lyrics of which went thus:
Yeah, I had your love right here
In the palm of my hands
And I lost it and I lost it
Had a love so real, when a man can truly feel
And I lost it and I lost it
And maybe if I had spent more time with you
Maybe then, maybe then you’d still be mine
Oh and only if I had been just a little more kind to you
There’d be no need, for the man to be crying
The whole town’s laughing at me, yes they are
Silly fool, how’d you lose such a good thing?
This is the song that comes to mind each time I remember how Governor Nyesom Wike and his gang of five governors and a sprinkling of some political heavyweights in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, called Integrity Group, have boxed themselves into a quagmire they are finding it difficult to extricate themselves from. And they are beginning to behave like the fake Nigerian prophets who wait for a convenient time and favourable situations to roll out their self–induced prophesies. Faced with an unpalatable reality, disunited with uncommon interests, they are about either choking on, or swallowing their vomits. They are currently in a very uncomfortable place where shame and disgrace are welcoming giants before them. And I laugh in Ikwerre dialect!
The painful thing is that the man they ganged up against has damned them, dared them to do their worst. And the entire nation has been waiting for their garrulous and pompous leader, Nyesom Wike, to draw the carpet from off the feet of the Waziri Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, their party’s presidential candidate in next month’s presidential elections. They had predicted a tsunami so devastating to the dream of Atiku Abubakar going into the elections, one of the clear favourites, will be a bad dream sadly remembered. But not so have events turned out.
Governor Wike and the Integrity Group which has as members the Governors of Abia, Enugu, Oyo and Benue; and that of Bauchi who is still doing hide-and-seek with his party, having promoted themselves as the beautiful bride of the 2023 Presidential Elections, have been holding court, indulging in intra and inter-party rascalities and tottering on the verge of pledging their support either to the Emilokan of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the one and only Bola Ahmed Tinubu; or to the trail blazing leader of the Obidient Gang, Peter Obi. Consultations upon consultations, after the many ego trips to London, Paris, Ibadan, Lagos, Benue and Port Harcourt, they are suddenly finding their dream of being the brokers of who emerges the President on February 25th, 2023, becoming a candle flickering in the wind, its wick sucking in the last wax, before its oxygen is snuffed out, asphyxiated.
Today, they are a disunited front. Self interest and the quest for their individual political interests have driven a wedge into the supposed unity of the Integrity Group. Three of the Governors, Abia’s Ikpeazu, Enugu’s Ugwuanyi, Benue’s Ortom are pursuing senatorial dreams under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, while Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi want to return as governors of Oyo and Bauchi states, respectively. The only one who is not entangled and double crossed by any election blues is Governor Wike and now the WB Yeats’ fabled falcon cannot hear the falconer; and the centre of their unity cannot hold anymore, for they have become a house divided against itself. Disparate self interests have revealed the fowl’s yansh! Their claim of fighting for the interest of the people of the South against the oppressive moves of the northern cabal in the PDP, it is now clear, is their self interest they have hitherto masqueraded as interest of the people of the South and the Middlebelt.
Even at that, the truth remains that for most of them, their ambitions, even without their pitching their tents with Wike in the G5 and later Integrity Group, is in serious jeopardy at home. It will be a miracle for example for Governor Ikpeazu to emerge victorious in his senatorial quest in the Ngwa area of Abia State. Three things stand against him. His poor performance as a two term governor of Abia, the sweeping take over of his state by the Obidient Group, and the fact that he is contesting against a political war veteran, former deputy governor, former senator Enyinnaya Abaribe! As it is, he needs the PDP more than the PDP needs him.
Same is true of the one they call Gburugburu in Enugu state. For a man who has had a very quiet reign as Governor of Enugu; a man who remained incognito and seemingly inconsequential to national issues and debate, his foray into the G5 and Integrity Group was a major surprise. Like Abia, Enugu has tipped over, falling headlong into the strong grasp of the Obidient Group. For Governor Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the road to a senatorial seat is very rough indeed. Whether he foolishly joins to support Bola Tinubu of APC, a no-starter in Enugu; or selfishly throws his hat into supporting Peter Obi, it will be a hard sell for him to throw his party under the trailer and hope to win the seat.
Seyi Makinde seems to be realising late that he is between the devil and the deep blue sea. He will either eat the humble pie and go back into the mainstream of the PDP in the state, which means supporting an Atiku Abubakar presidency and hope for the best or he can continue to seek Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s support while hoping the Jagaban will abandon his own party candidate. He should, by now,know that the political re-engineering in the state means the main stream faction of the party are likely to throw their support for the Accord Party candidate should he follow through his current seemingly foolhardy position. Truth, with position as they currently are in the state, Governor Makinde is with his own hands donating the governorship seat to the All Progressives Congress.
Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, might just be luckier than his other colleagues. First, his senatorial zone is likely still going to vote for him despite the Peter Obi movement taking strategic strongholds in the state. His perceived fight against Fulani herdsmen and his smart alignment with the Obidient Gang might just see him as the only member of the group who might make it to the Senate of the National Assembly.
The most foolish move Governor Nyesom Wike will make is to declare support for the APC presidential candidate. If he does, it will mean he truly thinks too highly of himself and that he is oblivious to the current position of the people of his state. If he declares his support for Tinubu, he will be roundly disgraced. The APC as a party is decimated in the state. The two strongest parties dominating the politics of the state now are Peter Obi’s Labour Party and the PDP. With the days of writing fictitious elections result gladly in the past, Nyesom Wike has only one option, as a face saving measure, to throw his weight behind Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi.
These are the reasons the whole world is laughing at Governor Wike and his gang who have dribbled themselves into a cul de sac. With January ending a few days away, and his end of tenure as a governor, four short months away, Governor Wike must desperately now look for a way to save face.