In Sanwo-Olu’s presence, Wike promises Rivers will love anybody who shows love

Anybody who despises the political capability of Rivers will be treated accordingly.

That declaration by Gov Nyesom Wike on Monday apparently sent a signal to watchers of the PDP crisis that reconciliation is still a long way off.

And it packed more punch because he said it on an occasion he brought his APC counterpart Babajide Sanwo-Olu to commission the Orochiri-Worukwo Flyover, Port Harcourt—an event from which he excluded the PDP stalwarts.

“If you don’t like us, we will not like you. If you like us, we will like you,” he said.

Wike has been blowing up his top since he lost the party’s presidential and V.P. tickets to ex-V.P. Atiku Abubakar and Gov Ifeanyi Okowa respectively.

“Nobody will use our votes for nothing. Our votes will matter and Rivers State must benefit from anybody that we are going to support,” he said.

Wike’s firm grip on the state and the national working committee is not in doubt. He has at least five states and four governors under his thumb.

His party and its presidential candidate, recognizing this, have tried to mollycoddle him since he lost his presidential ambition.

But Wike seems bent on scuttling the PDP chances in Rivers which has always delivered bock votes to the party.

His recent dalliance with the APC whose presidential election victory Sanwo-Olu and other APC governors have been selling to Wike,  has further heightened the anxiety.

Atiku, however, is already approaching other party leaders in the state to undercut Wike, and still get the block vote.

But the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu might just be contented getting his own constitutionally required 25 percent from the PDP state.