Wike, Umahi and politics of ‘injury time’ appointments. #politics #news

Wike, Umahi and politics of ‘injury time’ appointments.

Both Governors Ezenwo Nyesom Wike and David Umahi Nweze are products of the fourth republic political apparentation, especially the garrison method. The two governors showed that they truly honed their political skills in the immediate post-military era.

Right from the time they unfurled their plans to contest the presidential tickets of their parties, the two have continued to deploy the bulldog tactics in their resolve to bequeath their imprint in the respective states. Although their backgrounds expose huge contrasts, the similarity of their leadership schemes remains evident.
     
Wike began his political tutelage as chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Council at the birth of the fourth republic in 1999. He was rewarded with a second term in 2003, up until 2007, when his kinsman, Governor Chibuike Amaechi appointed him as the Chief of Staff in the Government House, Rivers State.
   
While serving as Chief of Staff, fortune smiled on the Rumuepirikom-born restless young man, as he was made Minister of State (Education) by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was from that ministerial appointment that Wike blew politically to attain his current maverick status in Nigeria’s national politics.
   
For Umahi, his own political windfall happened in 2007, when the crisis in Ebonyi State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) paved the way for his emergence as caretaker chairman. Moving from caretaker chairman to substantive state chairman under the administration of Chief Martins Elechi, the Uburu-born civil engineering contractor became Elechi’s deputy in 2011.
  
After four years of understudying the warp and woofs of politics and governance, Umahi brought his skills in political pugilism to bear in the contest for the PDP governorship ticket in 2015 against his principal’s designs.
    
In the processes of his political progressions from party chairman through stewardship as deputy governor, Umahi helped the elder statesman governor to displace opposition politicians in PDP that could have proved a stumbling block to their total control of the party’s structure.
   
As state party chairman, Umahi experienced first hand, how far the combined effects of power of incumbency and cash could go in determining electoral outcomes.
Like Wike, whose two straight tenures as council boss of rich Obio-Akpor helped to strengthen his financial storehouse, Umahi’s time as PDP state chairman enabled him to cobble up a network of political contacts within the party.   
   
The fact that both young men are Port Harcourt boys plays in the background in the rough and ready politics that has seen them make unbroken progresses on the leadership ladder in the country. Currently, they are challenged by their designs to remain relevant after their final terms as governors on May 29, 2023.

But, while one hopes to continue the journey as Senator, the other, having missed out from his ambition to progress to the Presidential villa, is devoting his full time and energy to planting his preferred successor. And, this is where both men are capturing national attention once again in their differing styles.

Recourse To ‘Election Contractors’
WIKE and Umahi are falling back on the tried and tested strategy of deploying election contractors to win elections. Wike was the first to cause a stir with his dying minute appointment of 28,000 Special Assistants for Political Units.
   
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kelvin Ebiri, Governor Wike was said to have authorised the immediate appointment of the 28, 000 officials, just barely one day after a similar engagement of 14,000 Special Advisers for the political units and 319 ward Liaison Officers and 40 Local Government Area Liaison Officers.
   
Speaking during an interdenominational Church Service inside the Government House Chapel in Abakaliki, Governor Umahi had announced his intention to recruit 1,300 Local Government Liaison Officers at the rate of 100 officials per each of the 13 council areas of the state.
   
Although the 1, 300 comes as a far cry from Wike’s 28, 000 army of political recruits, it could be recalled that Umahi had earlier in the life of his second term, particularly after his defection from PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), brought in more than 1, 000 Technical Assistants and equal numbers Senior Technical Assistants, as well as Technical Officers.
    
Of course, while the revenue holding and funding capacities of the two states are incomparable, the purpose and appeal for hiring otherwise political hangers-on come under the same sub-head: League of political enforcers during elections.

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