More  than one year in office, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would have discovered that it is much more easier to win elections in the country than to govern. This is despite the fact that the party won the most coveted prize, the presidency and a sizeable majority in the National Assembly, and controls most of the states.
Sadly, APC remains a sore loser in the states it lost the governorship seats. The reality of democracy is that losers should accept defeat and move on. That is where leadership starts. But it doesn’t end there. Knowing that there’s life after politic should make a loser in any electoral contest to join hands with the winner and build a stronger and prosperous nation. Immediate past President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan taught us that you can be a loser, yet a ‘winner’.
But APC in Rivers state would not take that. Since losing the governorship election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), APC has not given governor Nyesome Wike any respite. APC has stopped at nothing in making governing difficult for Wike. Despite the final verdict by the Supreme Court affirming Wike’s victory in last year’s election, APC in that state seems to be driven more by winning at all costs than by lofty principles. Plot after plot, APC is desperately searching for smoking guns to nail Wike. It’s part of a hatred literature to incite the people and make Rivers ungovernable.
The anti-Wike canon is always growing. It is also predictable. It is a conspiratorial jumble that has lost its appeal among the electorates in Rivers state. The attackers are still doing everything they can to redefine who they think the governor is. But they have not succeeded. Wike is still holding his ground.
Last weekend, defeated governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside threw a familiar broadside at the governor. Addressing party faithful at Okehi community, headquarters of Etche Local Government Area, Peterside, currently the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), accused Wike of running a fraudulent government. “I challenge this government”, Peterside said in anger, “to show us one project it has conceived and completed in the last one year”. Peterside also alleges that “Wike is only interested in borrowing money to host irrelevant events while many civil servants in the state are suffering”.
What’s Peterside’s evidence? His evidence of Wike “hosting irrelevant events” is the fact that in the last two weeks, Port Harcourt hosted two big events, the annual conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). Can anybody, even with half brain say that these two epochal events are “irrelevant”? Also, two days ago, Peterside issued a statement from Abuja threatening to pull down Wike’s government.
There should be a limit to lies in politics. The governorship contest is over in Rivers. And the APC’s campaigns of snarl and sneer ought to be over as well, even though the rerun elections are yet to be completed. Nevertheless, lack of self- restraint and a barrage of ill-informed comments as Peterside and other leaders of APC in Rivers state continue to spin out against the government of Rivers state is a reflection of the flat-out lies of how the APC Federal Government has misgoverned the country in the last 15 months. It is the height of deception for Peterside, to accuse a high-flying PDP state of Rivers of state running a “419” administration.
Over 300 Nigerian newspaper editors and members of the NBA, who converged on Port Harcourt recently confirmed that indeed Wike has done very well, in spite of the avalanche of opposition and distractions by the APC.  There was a consensus among these people, the editors and the lawyers that the immediate past administration of Chibuike Amaechi has questions to answer. They are questions about management of the state finances and security of the people.
The truth of our teetering democracy is that APC is ‘missing in action’, more than one year after winning the presidency. Only recently, the Federal Government tried to tar former President Jonathan and governor Wike with the noxious brush of allegedly sponsoring the Niger Delta militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA). Again, this label has lost its appeal. The way forward is for APC to focus on the huge task of governance and governing. Time is fast running out, and the patience of Nigerians are growing thin. Two eminent economists and Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo and his successor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (current Emir of Kano) said that much last week.
Emir Sanusi, speaking at the meeting of the National Council on Development Planning Board in Kano, told President Buhari that his policies are not working, and he could risk ending up like his predecessor in office. Sanusi also criticized government’s Foreign Exchange policy, which he argued had enabled some people to make huge profits without any investment. But, we hear that government is considering probing the tenures of the two ex-CBN Governors, for criticizing it. Too bad.
A day after Sanusi’s timely warning on the economy, Soludo came with even a more urgent advice. Speaking at the 4th Progressive governance lecture series of the APC in Kaduna, Soludo lamented that the economy since APC came to power is in deep trouble. The evidence is there for everybody to see: Inflation has reached a new height of almost 17 percent, while poverty and unemployment have reached frightening level. So, where is the ‘change’ that APC promised Nigerians?
The change promised by APC hasn’t come, and may not come because the party has taken its eyes off the ball, off the agenda that brought it into office. The party is pursuing issues that are irrelevant to the concerns of the vast majority of Nigerians. The party must check the excesses of some of its members in states like Rivers.
It troubles the mind that Dakuku Peterside will threaten to pull down an elected government in Rivers state. There is enough challenge in the country that the ruling party should engage its mind in, rather than pursuing selfish interests. Nigeria needs good governance. APC, as the ruling government is yet to give us that.
People should be allowed to choose who will govern them in an atmosphere free of fear and violence. That’s what democracy entails.

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