BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
Nyesom Wike has been sworn in as for second term at a ceremony at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He was sworn in along with his deputy Ipalibo Banigo. The governor who had inspected the venue of the inauguration on the eve of the vent was also assured by the police command in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that the force was ready to provide the needed security for the swearing in ceremony. That assurance was necessary in view of the development in the state in recent times, particularly since the electioneering campaigns in the state.
For Nyesom Wike it was a tedious battle. One that was not for a faint heart. Lives were lost and properties destroyed, even as the security of the state remains seriously impaired. Wike was up in battle with a familiar foe. Rotimi Amaechi, his predecessor and immediate past minister of transportation led the All Progressives Congress, APC to do battle for the soul of Rivers State. But aside from the performance of Wike as governor, his popularity and doggedness, Amaechi it was who also aided Wike triumph.
The former governor’s handling of the affairs of his party in the state drove the wedge down the APC, creating factions that engaged in internecine warfare and so disunited in its confrontation of the strong force that the PDP presents. Wike, a former friend and aid of Amaechi got a second term after a fierce battle that involved women in the state taking on military men who they suspected of having the intention to subvert the electoral system. The governor too never seized pointing accusing fingers to security forces who he alleged allowed themselves to be used as anti-democratic agents. Some of his allegations had to be investigated by the authorities.
Felix Obuah, state chairman of the PDP, in a press release on the eve of the inauguration echoed Wike when he said the victory of the governor was divine and one for which every resident of Rivers state deserves credit. He wanted everyone to be part of the inauguration and subsequently give support to the administration.
Present at the inauguration were dignitaries who include Peter Odili, former governor of the state; Navy Captain Princewill, a former military governor of Cross River State, who is an indigene of the state; traditional rulers, Raymond Dokpesi, chairman Daar Communications, senators and senators-elect as well as the speaker of the state legislature.
