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The outgoing Minister of State for Education and
Rivers State gubernatorial aspirant, Nyesom Wike has
come out to say that he believes the incumbent
governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi must regret
decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Wike, who is widely tipped to replace Governor
Amaechi in the 2015 polls made the assertion while in
an interview with Olalekan Adetayo of The Punch.
In the course of the interview, Wike talked about a
number of issues, including allegations of that he
betrayed the Governor among others.
Read excerpts of the interview below:
How will you respond to those who hold the view
that by resigning your ministerial position for
your governorship ambition, you are leaving
certainty for uncertainty?
If you say I left certainty for uncertainty, you are
asking whether I am sure of winning the election.
What you should understand in life is that there is
nothing that you partake in that does not involve risk.
Every human endeavour involves taking risk.
However, this type of risk, I can tell you, is the one
that has a success rate of 80 per cent and a failure
rate of 20 per cent. So I will say that I am not leaving
certainty for uncertainty.
The Peoples Democratic Party is the predominant
party as far as Rivers State is concerned. So there is
no fear for anything. The structure is on ground. What
we need to do is to work with everybody to ensure
that the All Progressives Congress does not go back to
the Government House although we know that it was
the mandate of the PDP that the governor took to the
APC.
The current governor is said to be doing well.
What new things are you planning to bring on
board if elected governor of Rivers State in 2015?
We are bringing so many things. We will ensure good
governance. Good governance is not only about
constructing roads. Good governance also includes or
respect for the rule of law. Look at the state House of
Assembly, today, state lawmakers sit in the
Government House. So they are at the beck and call of
the governor. Whenever he wants them to sit and
approve something for him, they sit in the
Government House and do it. Thereafter, they
adjourn.
That is not democracy. We will give the legislature the
required independence.
We will also give the traditional rulers their deserved
respect. We will also give attention to infrastructure.
Take for instance, there are only two roads in Rivers:
Ekwere Road and Aba Road. Port Harcourt roads are
bad, go and check. Look at the schools too. As the
Minister of State, Education, I had to apply to the
Presidency to intervene in some schools. We have
been able to intervene in not less than 20 schools in
the state.
So, as far as education is concerned, the state
government will just build one modern primary
school along the road and showcase it to every Tom,
Dick and Harry that comes into Rivers State.
Meanwhile, these schools are not in the rural areas.
What the governor does is to build some of these
schools on the road to deceive people that more
schools have been given a facelift. Look at the health
sector, all the general hospitals are dead. No one is
functioning.
Look at how the government has wasted millions of
naira talking about the mono rail. Is that what the
people need now? What traffic are they going to
curtail From what point to what point? Where the
mono rail is, there is no single traffic. There is no
population there and it is not more than 2km. As I
speak to you, the mono rail is stalled. Each day, they
advertise that they are on course. As I speak to you
now, when they read this interview, they will tell
workers the next day to move there so that people
will see them working.
Look at the Karibi Whyte Hospital, the governor
demolished the teaching hospital we used to have in
Port Harcourt and said he was going to build a 1000-
bed hospital. As I speak to you, nobody knows where
that hospital is located. We have a lot of things to do,
particularly in building our people’s confidence.
Everybody has lost confidence in Amaechi’s
administration. That is where we are. So, there are so
many things that we are going to do and we are going
to drastically pursue them. I have talked about the
education sector, health sector, judiciary, etc.
We have a stadium within the city, he abandoned that
stadium and said he was going to build a new stadium
where there are no people living yet. That is to just let
it be that he built a stadium, meanwhile there is
Liberation Stadium in the city.
How will you react to reports that the political
calculation in the state does not support an
Ikwerre man becoming the governor after
Amaechi who is also from Ikwerre?
Who does the calculation? Politics is all about
propagating theories. If you say it does not favour one
area, which area does it favour? I do not want to
become governor because I am an Ikwerre man. It
has to be put in perspective that I want to become
governor to redeem my party, to make sure that APC
which has no business to be in Rivers State is gone
forever.
I don’t want to see myself as running because I am an
Ikwerre man. I want to see myself as running because
I have something to offer, to make a change for Rivers
State to become the state that people want it to be.
PDP is not the ruling party as it is today in Rivers
State. As an opposition party, what you are required
to do is to field a candidate that has the capacity to
match the ruling party for it to be able to take over
the machinery of government. Opposition parties do
not talk about whose turn it is. You only talk about
whose turn it is when you are in government. The
circumstance the PDP found itself today is such that it
must go for whoever has the capacity and the
confidence of the electorate to win the election. That
is what the PDP needs.
All these talks are the imagination and propaganda of
the APC government in Rivers State because they
know who to be afraid of. They have said bringing out
Wike is a walk-over for them, so we are helping them
to win. They should not bother themselves.
How will you rate your performance as a
minister?
How will I set examination for myself and mark it?
Those of you who are out there should be able to
know. When we were given the opportunity, did we
make any impact? But as a human being and with the
kind of support I got from my colleagues and the
President, I think we did make a lot of impacts,
particularly at the basic education level.
You can see it everywhere. Take for example, when
we came on board, how many people wanted to go to
Unity Colleges? But now, look at the huge number that
apply to go to the colleges, not less than 200,000 for
only 20,000 capacity. That confidence has been
brought back. There were so many changes brought to
the colleges, employing new teachers, putting basic
infrastructure that were hitherto not there.
It was when we came on board that we pursued the
issue of almajiri education; it was not there before.
The issue of girl education was tackled. We are not
saying we have achieved what we ought to achieve but
we can see the progress that we have made. Look at
the issue of vocational schools not only for skill
acquisition but also for basic education. Fundamental
changes and innovations have been put in place
during our administration.
What were the personal efforts you put in to
resolve the crisis between the Federal
Government and the Academic Staff Union of
Universities?
For me, it is not a personal thing. It was a collective
effort put together by the government. The President
in particular played a lot of role; although it was when
I was there as the Supervising Minister of Education
that the matter was resolved. Prof. Ruqqayatu Rufai
did a lot before she left. I continued from there. We
thank God that we were able to resolve it but I cannot
say it was my personal effort. But as the then
Supervising Minister, obviously, I did make a lot of
impact to see that the strike was called off. But
fundamentally, the President played a very crucial
role in resolving that impasse.
How do you feel when people speak harshly about
the quality of Nigerian graduates, describing
them as half-baked?
Well, because of the quality of education we have had,
you know that education was bad in the past 10 to 20
years. That is why it is not easy for you to see a turn-
around immediately, it takes time. That is why the
Federal Government is injecting fund to revitalise not
just the higher institutions but also the primary
education because if you get it wrong at the primary
education level, it will be difficult at the tertiary level.
Lack of basic infrastructure is a problem. Lack of
qualified teachers is also a problem. The Federal
Government has been able to focus on these issues:
infrastructure and quality of teachers. Training and re-
training of teachers, making sure that teachers are
availed with current happenings and are able to
compete globally with their colleagues. You can see
today that out of 13 centres of excellence by the
World Bank, Nigeria alone has 10. Ten Nigerian
universities are centres of excellence for research
purposes. It has never happened before.
Back to Rivers politics, is it true that Governor
Amaechi was instrumental to your appointment
as a minister?
It depends on what you mean by being instrumental.
He sent more than 10 names to the President for
nomination and my name was one of those names.
The word “instrumental” may be difficult because
people have submitted names and Mr. President
rejected such names.
He may be right after all by accusing you of
stabbing him in the back?
That is a laughable thing. When you say “betrayal” and
“stabbing,” we must have agreed on something.
Maybe he said when you go to that place, do this and
now you are not doing that. Or that there is something
we agreed on that I refused to implement, that is
when you can talk of stabbing or betrayal. Did he tell
me that as I go to the Federal Executive Council, I
should oppose Mr. President’s policies and I am not
doing that? Did he tell me that as I get to that place,
he will leave the PDP and I will have to join him? So
when he says stabbing and betrayal, one should ask
what actually he is talking about. Or is he expecting
that as he is taking on Mr. President and ridiculing the
office of the President, I should have supported that?
Is it that because I did not support him in abusing the
President and his office, I have stabbed Amaechi and
betrayed him?
Look at the person talking about betrayal. Everybody
in this country knows that Governor Amaechi was not
in the state, he was in Ghana. Most of the people who
are running around Amaechi now were nowhere to be
found. I challenge anybody. I know that when I did my
thanksgiving, when God saved me from the hands of
those who wanted to assassinate me, the governor
said one quality I have is that I am a man of
character. He is on tape. He said this because when he
was in Ghana, I championed his fight here. I knew
what was on ground. There was everything for me to
have betrayed him and I did not do that. So is it when
he became a governor that I will start betraying him?
When I had all the opportunity to betray him, I did not
do that. It is laughable. I championed his re-election, I
did not betray him. It was a big hell. You see, in
politics, when you disagree with somebody, the only
way you describe it is that the person has betrayed
you. Where is the betrayal? If you hear the
circumstance of my appointment as a minister, you
will know who really betrayed who. If not by God’s
grace, I won’t have been a minister. You can submit
somebody’s name and go back to say that he is not
the person you want. You can submit somebody’s
name and the State Security Service will disqualify the
person and you will come back to tell the person that
it is no longer your business since it is the SSS that
disqualified him. We know what happened in my case.
So who actually betrayed who? Amaechi stabbed me
in the back after I had passed through what I passed
through for him and with him. When he got the
power, he now saw that I was a threat. People started
telling him that this man that did everything and
made sure you became a governor, what you should
do first is to edge him out.
You worked with the governor as his Chief of Staff
and the Director-General of his campaign
organisation, what is the cause of this current
disagreement?
When he saw that I was to run for Senate, he denied
me that with the hope that he was going to run for
Senate in 2015. Unfortunately or fortunately for him,
he became the chairman of the Governors Forum. He
then saw the forum as an avenue to really launch his
political aspiration in the country, which is now
manifesting. The whole essence of Amaechi was not
really to make me a minister, he believed that if he
sent me out of the state, my influence would be cut
and I would lose the support of the people because I
will not always be there. He does not understand that
God does not work that way. While he pushed me
away so that I would not be relevant in the state, he
did not know that God had a different plan. God said
you are not just pushing him away, you are making
Nigerians to know him more. Before he knew it, it was
too late for him.
So it was like ‘let me push him out’ and God turned it
around. He lobbied that I should be given a Minister
of State. Of course, as a Minister of State, what are
your powers? But God does not work that way. The
whole thing is ‘take him out of the state, I will see how
he wants to do whatever he wants to do. I will be free
to put anybody I want to be the governor. If this man
is in the state, he will likely give me a problem, so let
me push him out.’ But pushing me out even became
more problem for him.
With this glaring difference between you and the
governor, is there any possibility of the two of
you reconciling and becoming best of friends
again?
The issue of best of friends is neither here nor there.
We are both in different political parties. I think one
day, he will realise that he has made a mistake and
come back to the party that produced him. The party
that made him to be speaker for eight years, the party
that made him to be governor for almost eight years
and the party that made him whatever he is today. I
believe knowing him well, at his most quiet moment,
he is regretting. Also knowing him well for his ego, he
will say instead for him to do that, people will now
know that he has lost his conscience, so he will
remain where he is. If not that, if you ask him very
well, he knows that he made a terrible mistake.
Like I said, PDP is a family, we will welcome anybody,
prodigal sons can change. There is nothing wrong in
forgiving him.
The Grassroots Development Initiative is an
association you are sponsoring in the state to add
to the political strength of the PDP. Do you think
the group is achieving this aim?
Absolutely yes. That is what you can see today. Before
now when Amaechi was in the PDP, we knew it, we
saw it coming. We did not have the capacity to use the
PDP to mobilise. So we formed this association to use
it to mobilise, knowing well that he would one day
jump ship. We want to ensure that the PDP does not
die. So when he was moving out, the GDI became the
strength of PDP. That is why we can talk about PDP in
Rivers State. A party that has no governor, a party that
people thought it was over when the governor
jumped ship. GDI has done tremendously well.
How do you react to reports that the group is
responsible for some of the political violence
recorded in some of the local government areas
of the state, especially in Obio/Akpor, Etche and
recently in Port Harcourt and of course in Abuja?
What was the violence in Obio/Akpor? APC wanted to
hold a rally and the police said they did not obtain
permission, which is the normal thing to do. Where is
the violence in Port Harcourt?
In Abuja, we came here for the reintegration
committee. I was there and those who petitioned
were there. A BoT member was there, former
governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili, was there, all
National Assembly members were there, all assembly
members were there. They were there to make
presentations to the committee. Where was the
violence?
You know that in politics, we can be here discussing
while supporters may be quarreling outside. So where
is the violence? Of course, they may be struggling to
come in. Those are natural things in politics. Did it
affect us not to do what we were doing? Did it stop the
panel from taking reports from people? It did not. So I
don’t know the violence they are talking about. GDI is
not a violent group.
What is your response to insinuations that you
are a stooge to the President and his wife?
What is the meaning of a stooge? Stooge to do what?
Do I need to wait for the President to tell me that
somebody wants to cut short my political
participation? Do I have to wait for the wife of the
President to tell me that I should participate actively
in politics? We are not kids here. Does the President
need to tell me to go to court to realise our mandate?
So, if I am the President’s stooge in Rivers State, who
are his stooges in other states? I am very happy with
the kind of President we have: very calm, very
humble. We decided not to even tell the President
when we were fighting this war because he is
somebody who does not believe that there should be
crisis.
But for us, we know Amaechi very well. My father tells
me that when a mad man flogs you, one mistake you
must not make is to start running. When you are
running, the mad man will continue to flog you. But if
a mad man flogs you, take something and hit the mad
man back. He will feel the pain and he will start
running. That is what is happening in Amaechi’s case.
One mistake you must not make is to allow him
intimidate you. So, I am not a stooge to anybody. Mr.
President has never called me one day to go and fight
Amaechi, neither has his wife done that.
As the primaries of the PDP draw nearer, what are
you expecting as an aspirant?
You don’t prepare for examination because it holds
tomorrow. You start preparing for examination from
the day your lecture starts. The problem of most
people is that they only prepare for election when the
timetable is out. For those of us who know politics, we
have been involved in it. We have started participating
from time, to make ourselves available to the party,
to make sure that we build the party to make it strong.
You can see the difference. A student who starts
preparing from the first day of lecture and a student
who starts preparing because there is examination
cannot be the same.
I have never asked anybody to impose me and I don’t
want any imposition. What I want is for people to test
their popularity; that is internal democracy. But a
situation where somebody will come and tell you that
it is his father’s turn, therefore somebody should not
run for election, is that democracy?
Our team is quite sure today that if they do free and
fair election in Rivers State, we will win very well. We
are ready to face anybody in the election. Even at the
general election, we are ready for the APC. They know
we are ready, that is why APC people cannot sleep.
The members can’t sleep and so they planted their
moles in the PDP to cause problems, to say that it is
the turn of A or B, when they know that we are in the
opposition.
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