Joi Nunieh, Omo-Agege and 2023 politics
By Bola Gbinije
Ms Joi Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is obviously bitter over the loss of her plum job on February 17. She wears her grudges on her forehead as she goes about spewing all manner of allegations against her perceived enemies. In her desperation to take down her adversaries, she is now a willing tool in the hands of politicians who have their eyes fixed on 2023 politics.
Nunieh’s main backer is Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the Deputy Senate President, who wants to contest Delta State governorship election. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has already assured him of a ticket on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should he fail to win the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries. Senator Omo-Agege wants the interim management of the NDDC disbanded and replaced with Board of Directors whose members he will nominate. The probes and the noises from the National Assembly all amount to working from answer to question.
The immediate goal of the trio is to ensure that the PDP retains Edo State in the September election and Omo-Agege victory under PDP in 2023. The appointment of Governor Wike as the PDP Campaign Council Chairman in Edo was not a fluke. He is expected to mobilise resources and ensure that Governor Godwin Obaseki is returned elected. Wike also has his eyes on the 2023 presidential election and he believes that the South-East and the Niger Delta Region will remain the bastion of the PDP for a long time.
“The PDP is so hungry for a return to power in Abuja that they won’t mind to destabilise the Niger Delta region in the hope of creating such an opportunity,” asserted Chief Joel Obiekwu, a former youth leader in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. This was also corroborated by David Eboh, a well-known politician in the PDP camp in Warri, who said: “Wike has vowed that PDP will sweep the entire Niger Delta region.”
The drama in Port Harcourt Thursday morning in which the official car of Governor Wike, adorning the Nigerian flag drives, into Nunieh’s residence to pick her and shield her from the police reflects the utility value of the former NDDC boss. Her main role is to continue to make damaging statements against some APC chieftains in the weeks and months ahead. She is the new attack dog of the PDP. As 2023 draws near, she is expected to start making negative insinuations about President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership style and the complicity of the late Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari, in some deals. She will also talk condescendingly about the nation’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buahri. Indeed, Joi Nunieh has been unhinged. She will take no prisoners.
Where is Godswill Akpabio in all this and what happens next?
Nunieh has already told us that Senator Godswill Akpabio wants to be the president in 2023, but that he will not win, no matter the millions of votes that would possibly be cast for him. She said so on national television. Incredible! First, Senator Akpabio has no presidential ambition, or at least, he has not even hinted at that in the manner of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Kayode fayemi or Governor Nasir el-Rufai. The reference to Akpabio’s purported presidential ambition by Nunieh and the possibility of an APC failure in 2023 speaks to the unfolding intrigues of which she is a major player.
Wike is running with Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State in 2023, and so Nunieh is essentially predicting their victory. She has been drafted into the PDP campaign as a gadfly of the Delta region. Her mandate is to sting and sting every opponent-Akpabio, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, NDDC, the Police, the APC and President Buhari. She has the major news network under her belt. It is doubtful if the APC or the Presidency is ready for Joi Nunieh and the planned media onslaught. Her sexual harassment accusation against Akpabio is just a tip of the iceberg.
.Gbinije, a blogger, writes from NewWorld News Blog.
Leave a Reply