By Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, something phenomenal happened last night. By popular demand on my social media platforms, I was asked by my amazing viewers to get the irrepressible Governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike and interview him in my unique style. My viewers are my bosses. They dictate who they want, supply questions to ask and they waste no time in telling me their minds on topical issues. I sometimes believe they see me as being omnipresent and omnipotent and I’m often forced to explain that I’m no King Kong and can’t possibly accede to all their complicated requests.
So, it was last week, after my trending session with the IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, as my viewers once again took to the airwaves, made personal calls and sent DMs. My viewers challenged me to seek Governor Wike out and ask him to explain the killings in Oyingbo (they call it Obingbo) parts of Rivers State. Many of my instructors were angry that Wike was responsible for the “genocide.” I was endlessly bombarded, and they rested so much faith in my ability to interview any soul on planet earth. While this may be an exaggeration, I felt sufficiently fired up to make an attempt. It was to me a challenge that was too exciting to pass over. I also have a thing for the enfant terrible of Rivers State and Nigerian politics. A serial political enigma who never fails to astonish and astound with his remarks and actions. So, I sent a WhatsApp message to the brave and sometimes controversial Governor. To be honest I wasn’t sure about what his reaction to my request would be. I half expected that he would roundly snub me and feel that he was too busy to come on my show, particularly because not many know the power of social media yet. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when he accepted my request without any ado. We fixed the evening of November 6, 2020. Unfortunately, because of certain exigencies, we had to postpone by 24 hours, which gave me more time to research and explore his superlative and colourful personal and political life.
There were many questions requiring urgent answers. It started from the mundane to the sublime. The major questions were as follows. Does the Governor see himself as belonging to the Igbo race? If so, why is he attacking his own people? Is it true that he called IPOB members terrorists and even offered a bounty, a bountiful amount of N50 million, on the head of a wanted IPOB member from Rivers State, and that in retaliation, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had also counter-offered by placing a whopping N100 million reward for anyone able to bring him the head of Governor Wike. The story was getting bigger and bigger by the day as salient and pertinent questions rained in on me, and I was excitedly looking forward to another wonderful interview.
My special thanks to all those who made the session possible. The Chief of Staff, Engineer Chukwuemeka Woke; Commissioner of Information, Mr Paulinus Ndirim, the Special Adviser on Social Media, Michael and Special Assistant, Mr Marshal Obuzor. We were able to set up a flawless communications system which led to getting an uninterrupted frank and fruitful conversation with the Governor, who is really any reporter’s delight in terms of the content he naturally provides seemingly effortlessly. You’re always guaranteed several headline news whenever he speaks or does something. In essence, he is always in the reckoning.
As usual, during the interview, Wike spoke from the heart and did not pull his punches, which he laced with lethal blows whilst simultaneously interjecting with deep humour. One could see that he and Kanu are not the best of acquaintances, not to talk of being friends of any sort. He said he felt insulted by Kanu hoisting a flag on the soil of Rivers State. He stated matter-of-factly that he believed in the indivisibility of Nigeria and he would never indulge the activities of a “proscribed” entity. As far as Wike is concerned, Nigeria is an inviolable entity and anybody who decides to instigate others and inveigh the Nigerian nation is an enemy of the State and will not be tolerated by the Rivers State Governor and Government.
His voice was practically going up as he was visibly agitated and angry to be called an Igbo Man. He vehemently denied any such notion or association. “I’m not Igbo!”, he thundered. He said he wouldn’t deny affiliations between Igbo people and some parts of Rivers. He made allusions and references to those from Edo State who bear Yoruba names and yet are not Yoruba in any sense, and said it was unfair to force anyone to subscribe to Biafra when the idea has been vehemently opposed by Igbo Governors.
He insisted that he could never order the military to kill his own people and that he lacked the power to instruct the security forces who were never on good terms with him anyway. He kept theorising that he is a victim of vicious and vengeful propaganda because some people think he has Presidential or Vice-Presidential ambitions. He stylishly and systematically denied my suggestion that he nursed such ambitions, but was not absolutely convincing. He advised on a book every Nigerian must find and read: “Conscience & History: My Story” by Dr Peter Odili, the former Governor of Rivers State. He spoke so glowingly about a man he called his mentor. I could feel the deep bond between them.
He knocked some Nigerian journalists as the major reason Nigerian leaders sometimes misbehave because there is no one to hold them in check. He vowed never to negotiate with “terrorists” and those who may seek to blackmail him. He spoke of his admiration for the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Like many Trump supporters in Nigeria, he based his love on Christianity and the Trump and Republican opposition to gay rights.
He was very proud to talk about his achievements in power. He said he was not boasting but stating the facts. He challenged me and an Ovation team to spend two weeks in Rivers and return to report what we saw. Hate him or love him, Governor Wike is a super confident Leader. He said he’s experienced the vicissitudes of life, undergone several trials and suffered too many tribulations but God has brought him this far.
I asked if the disagreements between him and his old friend and immediate predecessor, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, was irreconcilable. He said he is very happy to reunite with the man who once made him his Chief of Staff. He said it would be unGodly for him to continue to bear grudges after God has vindicated him twice as a two term Governor which was the main reason he and his friend quarreled.
I pray many of our Leaders will take advantage of technology to reach out to a mass audience. It is always good to talk. The lack of dialogue between the leaders and the citizenry has led to a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions. This was my main takeaway from this scintillating interview with a firebrand, the unrepentant and indefatigable Governor Wike.
Momodu is the publisher of Ovation International magazine
