AN OPEN LETTER TO CHIEF NYESOM WIKE ON OCCASION OF HIS DECLARATION TO SCUTTLE MAKINDE’S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATION!
Your Excellency Greetings!
When you declared in a meeting recently that you are determined to undermine Governor Makinde’s Presidential aspiration as you destroyed Atiku’s campaign for the Presidency in 2023 you revealed once again the obnoxious characteristic traits which have come to define your personality.
Your boast about dislocating Atiku’s campaign is an example of how you arrogate undue importance to yourself, making claims to results that have little or nothing to do with you.
For your information, Atiku’s failure at the polls in 2023 had little to do with you, and more to do with the rise of Obi and the Labor Party which took away PDP’S traditional Ndigbo support base in Lagos State, in the Five Eastern States, and in the Christian Communities of the Northern Geopolitical Zone. Atiku also had to contend with his old nemesis in the person of General Olusegun Obasanjo. Many voters turned away from Atiku when his former boss told them that Atiku couldn’t be trusted.
Then there were issues strictly beyond Atiku’s control which worked against him , one of the most devastating being his ethnicity. The general feeling throughout the Southern part of the country was that Atiku’s major promise to restructure the Nigerian Federation was a ruse because the powers that be in the north would never allow him to do it.
Also working against Atiku was the fact that he was a Fulani man. The argument being that Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani had ruled Nigeria for eight years with disastrous effect, people were reluctant to trust the Presidency to another Fulani man.
In contrast to the heavy burden of proof which Atiku had to overcome, Seyi Makinde has very few negatives. He doesn’t have a formidable foe like former president Obasanjo, nor will he be dealing with a political movement such as the Obedient Movement; a once in a generation movement.
Makinde will be coming into his campaign in the light of a favourable political climate. Today, the general sentiment is that a candidate from the Southwest in the main opposition party, which is the PDP, should succeed Bola Ahmed Tinubu and clean up the shame which Tinubu has brought on Yoruba land.
With his record of performance as the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde fits the bill. In six years he has improved the quality of life in every sector: education, infrastructure, agriculture, power , sports and transportation. He has revolutionized the relationship between the people and the government. He is accessible to his constituents and treats people and issues with compassion. His personality is a combination of competence and compassion for which reason his people fondly call him ” Seyi the Beloved”; a rare breed among politicians.
Since the 2023 elections, Makinde has not only impacted Oyo State, but he has added tremendous value to the PDP family nationwide. In 2024 , he donated a magnificent Secretariat building to the Southwest zonal branch of the party. Later in that year , with an eye to fortifying the PDP as a policy oriented political party, Makinde helped to revitalize the Peoples Democratic Institute ,PDI , in Abuja, strengthening it as the Nation’s foremost political Think- tank power House.
It is difficult to see how you can succeed in your mischievous plan to scuttle the aspiration of a man who has been able to build such a good name for himself.
The truth of the matter is that your ability to influence the political landscape in Nigeria which was limited largely to Rivers state where you were governor prior to 2023 has diminished significantly since you left that office. You no longer have the support of the G5 governors because all of them except you have found their way back into the PDP. You are the only one who has shamelessly decided to embrace the role of an ‘agent provocateur’; a double agent ; working against the interest of the party that gave you political life.
In addition, your recent diabolical plan to dismantle the PDP from within by using Mr Sam Anyanwu a former National Secretary has failed because Anyanwu has been summarily dismissed by the Party, as he has been disowned by the South East zone of the Party which had nominated him to the office in the first place.
Ambassador Damagun, the Acting National Chairman of the party who initially sympathized with you, has realized that your intention in Rivers state political affairs is contrary to the interest of the PDP and abandoned you. He is now with the Governors Forum, the Board of Trustees and all the other organs of the party in opposing your wicked efforts to undermine the government of Governor Fubara of Rivers state.
The truth of the matter is that today you are a toothless bulldog. You can bark but you can’t bite. You have little or no influence in National PDP . You are resented in Rivers state PDP. Members of the APC administration which you work for have made it abundantly clear in several public statements that they don’t even want you to join their Party in Rivers state, your home State. You are therefore rapidly becoming a liability to President Tinubu who appointed you against the wishes of his Party.It will not be out of place to say, you are a homeless politician; a sort of nowhere man.
Under these circumstances, you will be well advised to work on your own redemption rather than trying to destabilize other people. Remember the adage ” Whosoever diggeth a pit shall fall in it.” If you don’t desist from your plan to derail Seyi Makinde’s Presidential aspiration, you will have no one to blame but yourself if in the near future you are visited with more aggravated misfortune.
Yours Truly,
Dr Adetokunbo Pearse, PhD. Public Affairs Analyst, Convener Reset Lagos PDP Member PDP National Presidential Campaign Council (2023)
