Appointment of 50,000 special advisers: Wike’s bizarre development at end of tenure

By Alao Abiodun

For weeks now, Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike has positioned himself to be the most-talked about politician. Every day, he gladly graces the front pages and grabs the headlines of major newspapers and it doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.

Digressing from the prolonged feud between him and his party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, the dust raised by Wike over the appointment of 50,000 special assistants for various political units in the state is yet to settle.

This bizarre development comes a few months to the end of Wike’s tenure as Rivers Governor. According to Wike’s media aide, Kelvin Ebiri said the governor had first appointed 28,000 aides, and then he reviewed it to appointment of 50,000 aides in total. There are even indications that the governor is planning to increase it to 100,000.

In Wike’s usual expeditious manner, the advisers, who were not named, are to resume immediately, and are expected to play ‘pivotal’ roles in the administration.

Many observers are indeed bewildered with the many political intrigues happening in the state. It is believed that Wike’s latest antics is to smartly secure his home base where he appears to be very much in control at this time especially for his governorship candidate, Sim Fubara.

Having lost the presidential ticket to Atiku and after the party failed to replace the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, Wike would go on to threaten to work against the party in the 2023 general elections.

Besides bragging about having control over the votes that come from his state during elections, Wike also claims to be influential in many other states outside the south-south region – enough to garner a large number of votes from those states for any candidate he chooses to support.

For many political watchers, the appointment of a retinue of aides at a time the administration is winding down, signals a fresh start of a new round of campaign for the electioneering season. Many of these ‘ghost aides’ are just hangers-on as their assignments are not even clearly spelt out.

While some observers believe these appointments smack of insensitivity, as well as breeds corruption and will clearly overburden the state’s treasury, others, however, think it is a way to create employment.

Wike’s appointments, however, melts to nothing when compared to Cross River’s Ben Ayade, who appointed 38,000 aides last year. Zamfara Gov. Bello Matawalle earlier this year, approved the appointment of additional 169 top government officials and aides.

Defending his decision, Ayade had said it was part of efforts to improve on sustainable development in the state. Ayade has, through his ‘Food on the table’ policy, appointed several aides during his first and second terms in office.

The examples above, captures the unthinkable and near bizarre in government, especially at federal, state levels, where presidents, governors and lawmakers elected into public offices appoint legions of aides.

Most of the aides do not even operate from government houses. Some have other businesses or employment, but they are called governor’s aides for their role as ‘attack dogs’ for governors or maybe they are interested in adding it to their curriculum vitae. Wherever and whenever the work of the state government is being criticised, they attack the critic, no matter how objective such criticism is.

What is more shocking is that some governors do not even know some of their so-called aides as such persons were recruited by other aides and given identification cards. Their names are included in the state payroll. When elections approach, they become foot soldiers singing the praise of the politician.

One may contend that Rivers State is buoyant but the critics have argued that the system of government being practiced in Nigeria is very costly, and indeed reduction in cost of governance is the way to go.

Wike is not done yet, and the question on the lips of many is what Wike’s endgame is? No matter how one keeps up with Wike’s melodrama, one cannot predict what happens in the next event or episode.