Intrigues behind Wike’s cabinet dissolution

• Sacked Commissioners Complained Of Lack Of Empowerment
• Sack Was Smart Move To Avert Insurrection
• Wike Lacks Temperament For Teamwork

Growing discontent, perceived disloyalty and need to strategise for 2019 general elections, spurred Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to dissolve his cabinet.Though Wike has said sack of the cabinet was intended to improve his administration’s performance and strengthen governance, it has been reliably gathered that he also needed to eliminate those who may become electoral liabilities to him in 2019.

Prior to the dissolution, Wike had sacked his Commissioner for Works, Mr. Bathuel Harrison, while the then Commissioner for Information and Communications, Dr. Austin Tam-George, resigned his appointment two days before the dissolution.

It would be recalled that on Saturday June 24, 2017, the governor had convened the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Port Harcourt, during which he announced the dissolution of the state cabinet. No reason was given for the decision.

But a few days after, the governor announced at Ogu town, in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area of the state that the dissolution was done to rejig machinery of government to move the state forward in line with his New Rivers Vision.Beyond the veneer of promoting a political climate of responsible government, Wike explained that in government, there are those that hunger for service, while there also those that are itching to leave.

The implicit impression the governor created was that his next cabinet would be populated mainly by core loyalists.He said: “This is when you know those that are loyal and those who are not. There is no crack in government. We are working together. The dissolution was done in consultation with PDP leadership in the state. You have to work with those that are loyal. Those who are not loyal will be shown the way out. Those who are loyal will come back.

When going into another dispensation, you have to put things in order.” Sources close to the administration told The Guardian that some of the sacked commissioners had hardly disguised their discontent that the governor never gave them the latitude to run their respective ministries. The discontentment stems from lack of access to funds to execute programmes in some ministries. The Guardian was reliably informed that a sacked commissioner had collected bribe from contractors, which had infuriated the governor.

Frustration within the cabinet became so deep that some commissioners went about complaining that Wike has failed to empower them financially, when compared to their immediate past predecessors. And considering that political backstabbing is a virtue in Rivers treacherous political space, the governor heard about their whining and resolved that a cabinet shakeup was inevitable.

A top PDP chieftain, who would not want to be named, however, disclosed that the governor, at one of the stakeholders’ meetings held after the sack of the cabinet, said he gave some of the commissioners contracts in a bid to empower them financially. According to him, each of the commissioners was given about N5m as monthly impress; weekly executive council sitting allowances that they earn.

“Wike gave them jobs from which some of them made good money. Some were given road construction projects. You don’t expect the governor to go public to announce what he has done for them. I am aware he gave them road construction jobs, which they in turn gave to contractors and made money. Every week, they get allowances after the State executive council meeting, but they expected him to do more,” he explained.

He stated that probably, some of the commissioners had anticipated they would have made a lot more money in the last two years in office without taking into cognisance the fact that the state revenue from the federation account and internally generated revenue had dropped drastically, when compared to what was accruable to the state during the immediate past administration.

He said: “We know too well that during the last government, commissioners under that administration amassed so much money, landed properties in Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos. Wike has been in the system, and would not allow people leeway to amass wealth at the expense of the state. He prefers to use such money for projects. Now, there isn’t much fund coming into the state compared to Chibuike Amaechi’s era. So, the commissioners ought not to have been expecting so much.”

A source close to the former Commissioner of Information and
Communications, Tam-George, disclosed that a few days to his resignation, he had a serious disagreement with the governor, and that it was about the third time that would happen.

“Wike will always raise his voice and shout down on commissioners. The politicians amongst them actually understand Wike, because they have been with him for along time. But non-politicians like Tam George, don’t understand that. He will always push back that kind of reaction from the governor. At a point, the governor began to see it as disloyalty and he told another commissioner that he would fire him.

“I doubt if the governor would have gone ahead to sack only him, but, it was evident that the cabinet was to go and if that happens, he will definitely not come back. So, he hurriedly resigned. Again, he was interviewed sometime and asked to comment on Chibuike Amaechi’s wife, which he didn’t. He insisted that was unprofessional. But his boss had made a comment on the woman. So, for him to have said he wouldn’t do it was somehow. Even though it was professionally and ethically correct, but politically it wasn’t. That also contributed to the problem,” he said.

He further told The Guardian that there was growing frustration within the cabinet, as a lot of programmes in the various ministries were not being funded. Thus, they were not able to do the work they wanted. In such circumstances, it was gathered that a few more commissioners were actually ready to resign from the cabinet. And to avert all indications of a political insurrection, the governor hurriedly dissolved the cabinet.

“I am sure if the governor had waited another one or two weeks, maybe two or three other commissioners would have resigned. The work environment is frustrating. The governor was not planning to dissolve the cabinet immediately, because if he had such intention, he would not have sacked the commissioner for works. He would have just waited and give him an easy landing,” he explained.

He said though the governor, having been a council chairman, chief of staff (Government House) and a federal minister, has a lot of bureaucratic experience, he lacks the temperament for teamwork.Interestingly, the cabinet dissolution has not generated any verbal attack between the government and opposition. This is more so in the light of the fact that there is also the future to consider, specifically 2019, when the next governorship and legislative elections will hold.

Being a quintessential political strategist, it is anticipated that Wike will want to assemble a cabinet comprising politicians and if need be, a few technocrats that will help him deliver on his new Rivers Vision, so as to sway public opinion on his side.And to achieve all these, he needs to make compromises with his coalition of critical stakeholders in the state’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Political analyst, Daniel Eke, told The Guardian that the last heated legislative election seemed to have exposed how frail PDP’s grip on power may have become. According to him, the resounding routing of the party by the opposition All Progressives Congress, in Rivers South East senatorial district and now another onslaught in Rivers East senatorial district, makes it more imperative that Wike and others re-strategise.

Eke said the governor might resort to playing the politics of patronage and compensation in order to ensure he retains power in 2019.“Wike has exercised his sole constitutional prerogative powers to sack the cabinet, but he must resist the temptation of the outmoded politics of selecting friends and party loyalists to be commissioners. The Nigeria political landscape is fast changing. Economic performance will be a key issue that will determine the outcome of 2019 elections. And such poor decision making may have a huge political repercussion,” he said.

On her part, Ms. Catherine Anayo, a social commentator, said if the governor had streamlined his cabinet team to reflect economic realities, the unnecessary internal strife witnessed in the dissolved cabinet would have been averted.

She advised the governor to ensure that he creates a smaller, more viable and efficient cabinet structure that is capable of solving socio-economic problems in the state. She also suggested that Wike should create a synergy with his team, whereby he could delegate responsibility and still be in position to coordinate administration more efficiently.

She said: “An uninspiring cabinet will not be in the interest of the state. The governor must at all cost avoid the obsession of appointing only political cronies to cabinet posts. We need to see an industrialised Rivers State. That has not been the case. Since 2013, the only preoccupation of government in the state has been politics. When are we going to start creating jobs for our people,” she queried.

By all accounts, the public was becoming increasingly uneasy with failure of the administration to address problem of water supply in Port Harcourt, regardless of the deal struck with the World Bank by the state. Unquestionably, most residents would want the governor to ensure that former cabinet members found to be deadbeats are never retained.

It is expected that Governor Wike, who immediately travelled to the United States, will return this week and unveil the new cabinet that will help him fight 2019 election, to ward off growing encroachment of the APC. 

Sources told The Guardian that the governor’s strategic appointments would be with an eye on the crucial electoral battleground of Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt, Etche, Ikwerre, Tai, Gokana, Eleme and Khana local government areas.

Some political analysts think that Wike, who cannot afford any political misstep at this point, his next cabinet will reveal whether his dissolution of the cabinet reeks of desperation to retain the bastion of power beyond 2019 or not.

Gabriel Ibiama told The Guardian that opposition politicians, who Wike had relegated to the political litterbin, will undeniably be preparing to make their way back to power in what many believe will be a hotly contested general election in 2019. There is no doubt Wike’s new cabinet will reflect his futuristic outlook.

“Wike, from a close observation, does not place political value on non-politicians. He is more inclined to politicians that can be useful to him during elections. I think what he wants to do is to bring more politicians into the cabinet. There was really no need for him to sack the entire cabinet. Those he won’t recall may be driven into the open arms of opposition APC,” he added.As Rivers State anxiously braces up for the new executive council after the huge reboot, Wike’s implicit message is simply: “I am in charge here and controls the political structure of the state.”