This is a response to Dele Sobowale’s 4th of September Sunday Vanguard newspaper, Frankly Speaking column titled: “Time to call Wike’s bluff”:

In this, he accords Governor Wike great praise, extolling him as a leader, which amongst other things, includes his efforts at wanting the presidency come to the South, believing that since the North now has the Presidency, it is only fair the South occupy this seat come 2023. He also acknowledges Governor Wike’s role in single-handedly reviving and sustaining a weak and almost moribund PDP; plus other notable traits and actions.

This is where the accolades stop and in a classic straw man fallacy, he embarks on a vituperation of some cherry-picked laundry list of divergent and even contradictory allegations without the backdrop of shifting political realities, to besmirch Governor Wike. For even daring to meet with Wike in London, he also went on to berate other governors, PDP stakeholders, Obi, OBJ and without knowing it, had indicted Atiku and Tinubu who were also there. 

While he touched on many contentious issues and spoke with an undertone of certainty, one would rather first discuss the current state of Nigeria as a country to bring us into focus and from here we can then contextualize Wike’s role.

These are not good times in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country at a tumultuous crossroad: an almost bankrupt economy, high level of insecurity (kidnappings, insurgency, terrorists, Jihadists, rampaging criminal gangs, unknown gunmen), hyperinflationary living costs (over 20%), 80m of 210m Nigerians living below the poverty line, so much hunger, unemployment at over 30%, ballooning fuel costs, epileptic and very low electric power supply (grid meltdowns with supplies hovering around a meagre 3000MW), porous national boundaries, corruption galore (ranks 150/180 in Transparency International Corruption Index), secessionist drumbeats, oil bunkering, illegal mining, unprecedented borrowing resulting in spiraling Debt-to-GDP ratio, a rapidly devaluing Naira, religious strifes, heightened ethnic sentiments, incessant and extended labour strikes, embezzlement, unremitted government monies, bloated government costs, government wastes; the list is endless. This is an almost anarchic state that provides the backdrop to this rebuttal.

The situation here has in turn engendered a counterweight pushback from a new emergent demographic group – the much younger and vibrant generation – who think the country needs to be rescued from the older generation whose overarching meddling and cluelessness has taken us to this failing state. It is in this context that one can see the role Governor Wike is playing. Sobowale can perhaps see that the emergence of Wike in the national political stage is no fluke but a phenomenon ripe for a time like this in Nigeria. A phenomenon is not a bluff and Wike is definitely not bluffing. It is no longer the same politics as usual but an era requiring a new political calculus for the survival of Nigeria.

History is replete with many epochs of human ideas, movements and generational changes. Many of these are epochs that mark thinking outside the box. We recall the ideas and movements of the Reformation, Renaissance and the eras of Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Surrealist, Existentialist and others that had their various influences on mankind.

We now also have recent generational demographic delinealations with their characteristic traits impacting the world: the Baby Boomers, born 1946-1964 after World War II, focused and a with strong work ethic; Generation X (Gen X), born 1965-80, the children of the Baby Boomers, are entrepreneurial and independent; Generation Y or Millennials, born 1981-1996 in the internet age and are very tech-savvy; Generation Z, born 1997-2015, are independent and entrepreneurial. It is the Gen X that have begun to take the mantle of leadership in many countries of the world. Of particular interest to us here are the Gen X and mostly the Millennials as they play out in Nigeria.

Gen X are now aged 42-57 years old and seek leadership positions at various levels. Right on their heels are the Millennials, the people born into the internet age that are now roughly 26-41 year olds. The internet has created a bridge into the world and a global village of internet-savvy social media (SM) participants that influence, organize, disseminate, use it as a tool for technology transfer as well as consume so much information at warp speeds that compete effectively against controlled mainstream media (MSM) houses. It is this generation in Nigeria that includes the very tech-savvy Yahoo Boys (excluding the minority of scammers).

The internet has provided outlets for the geniuses of this generation to express themselves. It is also this generation, via internet technology, who were able to organize the EndSars protest. It is this generation that has experienced the ups and downs (mostly downwards) of this 4th Republic with its very disappointing stewardship so far.

They have seen: corruption at play, weathered extended tertiary school years due to strikes (ASUU), parents who can barely make ends meet talkless of taking care of them, foregone meals due to hardships, many unable to pay school fees, very high unemployment rate (youth joblessness), engagements in political thuggery, cultism, crime to survive and so on. Their bad experiences are many, including the impact of the current economic downturn. It is as if they have been denied their proper childhood since they had to hit the ground running as they inherited nothing from the older generations. In Nigeria, the Millenials are the wronged generation and are the core “Youth” we talk about and need to be redressed.

We see these Millennials in the arts and music scenes for instance, expressing their world by creating and serving up great music locally and internationally (WizKid, P Square, Burna Boy, Davido,Timaya, etc.). It is these Millennials we now see forming the support base for Peter Obi’s bid for the Presidency. Peter Obi at 61 years falls just a little above the Gen X age group, the proper age now ascending leadership positions to handle the tedium of this now more complex world; witness Liz Truss and William Ruto. Peter Obi fulfills their notion of modern leadership and not the much older Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu who they not only consider too old – they are even older than the Baby Boomers – but associate them with the current failing Nigerian state. For them, Peter Obi is a youth movement that will salvage Nigeria for them,

Add to these, the political imbroglio playing out in the major political parties: so much confusion and internal strifes. APC stokes the religious embers by proffering a Muslim-Muslim ticket at this time of hightened religious conflicts. PDP with three major northern party leaders: the Presidential flag bearer, the national chairman and the BoT chairman (Walid Jibrin), as if the South has no share in it. The PDP case completely disregards the fact that the current President is a Northerner, raising the specter of a consecutive North-North Presidency. There is a strong clamoring for the South, particularly the Southeast (Ibos) to produce the next Nigerian President, having never produced one since as far back as the 2nd Republic.

Governor Wike has now transited from a presidential bid to becoming a champion fighting for equity for the South. Governor Wike, as admitted by all, has kept PDP alive after the exit of President Jonathan. Why is he not considered the national PDP Leader and treated as such? Having lost (or robbed of) his Presidential bid, why is he not center-stage directing the affairs of PDP? Why was he not accorded the right of first refusal for the vice presidential slot?

Is there a master-slave relationship here? Where is the sensitivity, fairness and equity in all this, one would ask. As great men do, Governor Wike was left with no choice but to fight back. As it stands now, he is not a lone voice in PDP seeking equitable share for the South. He is supported by some major party stakeholders that include at least four PDP state governors and counting; there are definitely silent supporters.

 With at least 5 (of 16) known PDP states on one side, PDP stands the risk of losing the Presidential slot if these discordant tones are not resolved. The disarray in APC, the Muslim-Muslim ticket and Bola Tinubu’s age (a pre-Baby-Boomer generation) has seen many of her members defecting to PDP in the South-East and South-South. So, we also see APC threatened in the presidential race.

It is no surprise then that we see the emergence of two men at this very critical time in the Nigeria political scene: one representing the hopes and aspirations of aggrieved Millennials (and other Nigerians) and the other, an aggrieved and wronged governor. The continuing parley between Peter Obi and Governor Wike threatens the otherwise established orders in PDP and APC.

There is also the continuing parley with some APC leadership – including  Bola Tinubu – and Governor Wike. PDP’s Atiku Abubukar eventually got off his high horse to also come calling, however, belatedly. There is a steady stream of national leaders visiting the Garden-City Port Harcourt these days. The reason for all this attention is that they all know that Governor Wike and his group are capable of influencing the outcome of the 2023 elections.

Governor Wike at age 54 falls squarely within the Gen X group and one can also say, very akin to an emperor three millennia ago in the medieval era when there was so much commotion and mayhem in the world, due to the absence of a central policing and declining Roman Empire, just like Nigeria of today. One can also caution that beneath Governor Wike’s public facade of imperial brashness is an intelligent and astute politician that has earned him attention and followership within and outside PDP.

Finally, Sobowale claims that people are afraid of Governor Wike and so he should be ditched. On the contrary,  perhaps the Machiavellian prescription of Imperial Fear is an asset to this very chaotic state in Nigeria. This is time for emperors or great leaders to step into the ring to salvage Nigeria. PDP has to resolve her internal strife or risk losing the national throne. Atiku, Tinubu, Obi know Wike is not bluffing. Quite the contrary.

Dr. Acho Nwokogba, Port Harcourt.