By Rahman Owokoniran

Your excellency Gov. Nyesom Wike, it is about time to turn the page. If these daily episodes on social media are jokes, they are no longer funny. Devoted Party members and well-meaning voters alike are genuinely worried about your outbursts either concerning our presidential candidate’s delayed outreach to your team or other reservations you might have concerning the presidential candidate H.E Atiku Abubakar and/or the party leadership.

These reservations cannot be discounted. The party can only ignore your concerns and that of other aspirants’ at the National Convention at its peril. Our future processes can only benefit tremendously from most of the adjustments to be made due to many valuable contributions Gov. Wike, and other aspirants that went through the processes have contributed and will continue to contribute.

I understand your frustration. If only our party’s internal mechanism created room to address your frustration, it might have been less hurting. Naturally, stakeholders will give a fair fight which you Nyesom Wike and all other aspirants gave. After such a contest, the burden of sorting out issues arising from it is to be addressed by the party.

Therefore the party should have had in place a mechanism to handle the fallout of the post-primary election. If this had been the case, Gov. Wike and/or other aspirants would have found succor from the party. Without this arrangement in place, the presidential candidate will continue to be overstretched with ‘wheeling and dealing with endless interests. Whereas the party could have lifted part of the weight off the flagbearer, however that is not the case here.

If anyone participated in a free and fair primary election, the concern after the such election can throw up complaints about the processes or procedural adjustments to ensure equity and fairness in future elections. These can only continue to improve the internal mechanism and promote unity amongst party members.

Realistically, he who gives so much does not expect so little in return. So it cannot be wrong for Gov. Nyesom Wike to be looking for answers to his questions. Neither can it be wrong for the presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar to continue to suspect foul play from the man who should know better but whose body language suggests otherwise. Yes, they were both frustrated as a result of the gap in our party’s political processes and procedures.

Moving forward, my appeal first goes to Gov. Nyesom Wike to cool down the temperature. We have elections to win in the first quarter of 2023. We must rescue the teeming masses from the prevailing despondency. You couldn’t have put in so much only to now kick the cans down the road. Unless you put in all the work only for your selfish agenda, like someone we know who has publicly acknowledged that the “Nigerian Presidency has been his lifelong ambition”. Or you bought into the deceit of the conspiracy theory that “it is the turn of the South to produce the presidency”.

Anyway, I expect you to know better now that after the presidential primaries, very few of your colleagues who shared in that vision remained committed to it to the end. You should probably know by now that when you share such a vision, your motives are usually different. The more reason why you must appreciate the firm ground that held you to higher ground over the years. Age is on your side to run 4 years from now otherwise, you can become a kingmaker.

In the case of the party’s presidential candidate H.E Atiku Abubakar, you have to be sensitive to the plight of the aspirants. Gov. Nyesom is not alone in the demand for recognition. They all want to work with you for the success of the party and the populace at large. They all want to reach out to you. They are left alone in the wilderness wondering if they count in the long run. If they are kept at arm’s length, how would you then appreciate their contributions? No one wants to work in vain.

Honorable Owokoniran, the PDP South-West Zonal Secretary, writes from Lagos.