Top appointees loyal to Barr. Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have not submitted their resignation letter in preparation for the Rivers State governorship election in 2027.
Wike, who hosted his loyalists in Abuja after the factional People’s Democratic Party (PDP) convention, is keeping the candidate to contest against Governor Siminalayi Fubara close to himself, while making it clear that where the candidate comes from does not matter, but must come from Rivers.
With the expiration of the deadline for resignation of political appointees who want to pursue elective offices without the resignation of Boma Iyaye, the initial preferred choice of Wike, the floor has been thrown open for candidates in the FCT Minister’s Plan B list.
The FCT minister has made it clear that he won’t be backing Fubara’s reelection following the protracted crisis that rocked the state, which led to the interventions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
But Fubara, who continues to enjoy the popular support of Rivers voters and that of other governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), might end up getting the party’s ticket, having shunned the temptation to join another political party.
Wike’s main headache revolves around the emergence of a completely loyal candidate, who must work with the structures he set as a political leader, rather than work against them.
Also, the delay in announcing a candidate even after the end of a party convention that he handled, according to findings, is to read the situation properly and know the party to use in fielding his candidate.
Iyaye, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the current Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is an all-around politician who has been active in Rivers politics in the past two decades.
The choice of Iyaye, who was once a close ally of former minister of transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had unsettled the interest of Felix Obuah, the former chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who had shown interest in 2023.
In response, Iyaye said: “My attention has been drawn to reports circulating on social media suggesting that I have declared an ambition for the office of the governor of Rivers State and have been endorsed as a preferred candidate by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
“I wish to respectfully clarify that these reports are inaccurate and do not reflect the true position.
“At this time, my full attention and commitment remain focused on my responsibilities as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
“I remain fully engaged in the discharge of my duties…”
While Wike’s body language suggests that Obuah is outside his picks for the governorship, he has kept him close in Abuja, and recognises the fact that he remains a serious contender who always has a way of finishing whatever he sets his sights on.
But outside Obuah, who has an enviable working history with Wike, the duo of Dax George Kelly and Ojukaye Flag Amachree, two reputable names in the Kalabari axis, are also in contention for any party that Wike picks for the governorship.
Already, the duo, according to an informed source in Asari Toru Local Government Area are currently engaged in a cold war over whose political weight is heavier and end up as Wike’s candidate if other candidates fail to meet his expectations.
