“Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom.” — Plato
Every nation’s politics, once in a while, throw up gladiators of varying and distinct characterisations. Such personalities usually become conspicuous through their peculiar handling of issues. Such peculiarities often separate them from the crowd, even if their standing does not always portray them well. In fact, in most cases, the controversies around them, more than anything else, tell of their regard in the public view.
In this dispensation, two persons merit a discourse over their roles in governance and partisan matters. The two are Governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Nasiru El Rufai of Kaduna.
There are similarities between these two characters, particularly in politics. Besides being governors, they had been ministers of the Federal Government, one under Olusegun Obasanjo and the other under Goodluck Jonathan. Both served the PDP administration. One is a lawyer, the other an architect. One is a Christian, the other a Muslim. One is not-so-tall; the other is of average height and loquacious. One is currently in the opposition PDP, the other in the ruling APC. However, going by today’s political permutations, the duo have found themselves in the APC camp where both men struggle to market Bola Tinubu, the man they once scorned and disparaged. Politicians’ turning around to lick their vomit is not strange in Nigeria. That is why the likes of Festus Kayamo, SAN, and Femi Fani-Kayode are shamelessly battling in vain to discredit what they said in the past about Tinubu, the man who has hired them today for an attack dog job.
Wike and El Rufai also share some other things in common: both dread a fundamental change in our polity. Nobody knows why they hate minor roles. To use the words of Plato, “We understand why children are afraid of darkness … but why are men afraid of the light”?
What makes Governors Wike and El Rufai subjects of discussion this week is the commonality of their ambition ahead of the February 25, 2023, presidential election. The duo shares a long-term scheme to move up to the Aso Rock Villa by this May 29, either as president or vice president. Both have painfully watched all their efforts, spending, energies, intrigues, cunning and underhand plans go down the drain. Not done yet with these falls, they have picked up their pieces and embarked on another guileful showing to reposition themselves for the incoming Federal Government.
Ahead of this month’s presidential election, the Machiavellian moves of Wike and El Rufai have exposed them as inordinately ambitious and desperate for the corridors of power, even at the expense of principles. By their politics, these men are students of Paul Krugman: “Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
Taking them one after the other, Governor Wike, knowing he was vacating his gubernatorial seat by this May 29, began long ago to scheme for the next available position up there in the executive line. Having enjoyed so much power as a government minister and a state governor, he did not like the idea of legislation. After being governor, any other elective position in the executive arm would be either president or vice president. Knowing that he could not achieve this dream without a political party platform, Wike began early enough to appropriate a political party.
Realising that his PDP was in dire need of financial empowerment, Governor Wike took advantage of the party’s poor finances and provided a lifeline. To climax his charity, he masterminded the entry of Prince Uche Secondus to the national chairmanship position in December 2017. In 2018, Wike had been ready to reap what he sowed in the party, pushing for the Sokoto Governor Aminu Tambuwal as the party’s flag bearer for the 2019 presidential election. His eye was on either being Tambuwal’s running mate or preparing for himself when the position went to the South. That project failed to fly because Prince Secondus, a man of integrity, would not bend the rules and not uphold internal democracy.
One must bend the rules for Tambuwal to win. Ahead of the National Convention in 2018 in Wike’s backyard in Port Harcourt, he had abused party leaders for attempting to relocate the convention venue because of his unveiled interest in Tambuwal. As Secondus insisted on internal democracy, his man lost while Atiku Abubakar won. That became the origin of his fight that led to his sponsoring the exit of Secondus from the party. He used his resources to install the Iyorchia Ayu-led National Working Committee to facilitate getting the presidential ticket in 2023. The rest is history; he failed to get any after galvanising the Southern governors for the presidency in 2023 and forming the G-5 governors to continue the fight after losing his bid. In desperation, he has to run to the court to save himself from the party’s hammer while in concealed political romance with the APC presidential candidate, a very unpopular move he is afraid to reveal.
Like Wike, El Rufai is inordinately ambitious and detests any government role that is not an executive one, not after enjoying power as Federal Capital Territory minister and Kaduna governor. His next target is the presidency. When he saw that his party was tilting to the South, he jumped in as the first advocate of the presidency going to the South. Like Wike, he mobilised northern governors for it, believing that one of the serving governors, especially he, must get the VP slot. He eventually got the presidency to the South. He schemed that the VP would naturally come to him for his schemes. He pushed for a Muslim-Muslim ticket and started it in his state when he dropped the subsisting Muslim-Christian tag team to show it works.
Eventually, Tinubu succumbed to the Muslim-Muslim ticket but looked away from serving governors and selected the former governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima. Tinubu was being influenced more by loyalty than the incumbency of the governors. Knowing that El Rufai was not supporting him initially, Tinubu went for the man who was for him from the beginning. El Rufai was romancing more with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former governors Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Amaechi, believing that one of them would get the ticket and he their running mate.
Like Wike, El Rufai is leading the crusade for Tinubu, accusing the Aso Rock Villa of undermining the project to push up the APC flag bearer. What is possibly playing out is that the two men have enjoyed power and confirmed it to be sweeter than wisdom and will never leave it. This characterisation shows in their desperation to retain relevance in the next dispensation instead of resting after eight years. With characters like these two men, there is no way politics will not be heated up. While Wike is heating the South in PDP, El Rufai is doing the same in the North in APC. Two of a kind, twins in ambition. With characters like these two men politics will not cease to scare men with good heart. God, help us.