The 2023 elections may have come and gone but the ripples of the polls are still reverberating in Rivers State as Governor Nyesom Wike has allegedly targetted properties belonging to some politicians who worked against his pre-election plan including the chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Raymond Dokpesi.
Dokpesi is a known strong ally of the PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and supported the former vice president strongly while the fight between him and Wike lasted over the polls.
Wike and four other governors in the party did not support Atiku, demanding that power must come back to the south or the chairman of the party Iyorcha Ayu steps down.
The outcome of the elections may have favoured Wike as all the candidates he supported including President-elect Bola Tinubu, succeeded but the Governor is believed to be hell-bent on punishing those who worked against him during the election.
The move to demolish houses in the Ezuoba area of Port Harcourt where the office of AIT/Ray Power which is owned by Dokpesi is located is being seen as an attempt to settle a score with the media mogul.
In a demolition notice titled ‘Proposed GRA Phase 5, Ezuoba, Port Harcourt and dated March 20, 2023, signed by Mrs Ebere Dennis Emenike, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, the Rivers State government gave the occupants to vacate the premises within 48 hours for the demolition process.
A staff of Daar Commicationtion, the parent company of AIT/Ray Power said Dokpesi played a significant role in the emergence of Wike as Governor and he shouldn’t have repaid the media mogul back in this manner.
He said, “The very first time I met Wike, it was at AIT’s Asokoro Headquarters! We met at the dinner table of my bosom elder friend, Dr Ray Dokpesi! Wike had come to ask for a couple of favors from Dr Dokpesi. Dr Dokpesi was central to much of South-South politics at that time. It will be recalled that Dokpesi was the driving force behind SSPA.
“Of course, I and Wike met several more times either at Abuja or in PH. It was always in the company of Ray Dokpesi or Ogbuagu, the grand mentor of Rivers politics.
“I may at this time add that Dokpesi played very active and prominent roles in the emergence of Wike as PDP candidate. I will not say everything I know about that period but suffice it to say that Dokpesi is one of the fingers that fed Wike.
“It is therefore sad for me to read of the antics of Wike against AIT and the person of Dr Raymond Dokpesi, our own Ezomo of Africa. We know that power is heady, but this one has passed “don’t be silly!”
