Politics
The Battle Of Kalabaris
…As Wike Picks PDP Vice Presidential Running-Mate-Ticket Who Replaces As Rivers PDP Governorship Candidate?
Dr. Tammy Danagogo Vs Dr. Tonye Cole
The battle for Rivers State 2019 Governorship race gets messier as the incumbent Governor of the State and Peoples Democratic Party-PDP strongman, has declared his intention to re-contest for the 2019 Governorship election.
www.towncrier.ng has uncovered plots by Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike to be picked as a Vice Presidential running-mate to any of the successful aspirant for the Presidential PDP primary nomination.
In the situation where Rivers State Governor Wike emerges as a Vice Presidential candidate he would be leaving a vacuum at his home front which will present “doctrine of necessity” by relinquishing his position to former Minister Of Sports and a Kalabari seasoned Politician Dr. Tammy Danagogo as a Governorship candidate while the Ogoni ethnic nationality will be given the Deputy Governorship ticket for the first time in the 51-years history of the State.
If the above scenario plays out, the last epic electoral battle will be between two Kalabari sons all from Abonnema in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. With this master-stroke, Governor Wike would have used one stone to kill two birds, first, he would have brought life back into PDP by picking a fellow ‘riverine’ candidate that has strong political pedigree to march All Progressive Congress-APC Governorship aspirant such as Tonye Cole who also holds the same academic qualification, geographical local consideration as both have Doctorate degrees in their various field of endeavour.
Tonye Cole holds Doctorate Ph.D in Architecture from a Brazilian University while Tammy Danagogo also holds Doctorate Ph.D degree in Law from the Prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka Enugu Campus, Enugu State.
However, Dr. Tammy Danagogo has political experience having been elected Council Chairman of Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. He was also appointed as Commissioner for Chieftaincy and Community Affairs during ex-Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi before he was appointed as Sports Minister under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Real reasons Governor Wike will accept the Vice President ticket nomination as a running-mate in PDP is based on the fact that he would like to outsmart his kinsman and political foe, the Minister For Transportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who single-handedly chased away a sitting President through the ballot box in 2015 with the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as a Presidential Candidate.
If as a sitting Governor, Nyesom Wike was able to stabilize PDP and contributed immensely in the Supreme Court battle against Borno State former Governor and Multi-Billionaire Senator Ali-Modu Sherrif against Kaduna State former Governor and Senator, Senator Ahmed Markafi, since the Governor Wike’s tenacity of holding his own political war-chest to himself leading to the election of his kinsman Prince Uche Secondus National Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party-PDP is a testament to his strong-will power of exercising control and political power influence throughout the 36 States of the Federation plus Federal Capital Territory-FCT Abuja.
Therefore, it then means, with his nomination as a Vice Presidential running-mate, he would be able to hold the country together while giving adequate support to his Principal, a situation he played very well as a junior Minister of Education and later substantive Minister of Education during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration from 2012 to 2015.
READ ALSO: APC has no business presenting a Governorship Candidate in Rivers State says Governor Wike
Already Governor Wike has appointed Grassroot Governor’s Ward Liaison Officers in the 319 electoral wards in Rivers State and 23 Governor’s Liaison Coordinators in the 23 Local Government Areas with the creation of Neighbourhood Safety Corps Agency headed by Brigadier General Dick Ironabare (retd) as Chairman of the Board with Dr. Uche Mike Chukwuma as Director General. It is a settled matter that the 2019 Governorship contest will be an epic battle of supremacy of political titans of Rivers State.
