Prince Ned Nwoko and Governor Nyseom Wike
In saner climes, the issues of who is better politically or in societal standing between Governor Wike and Hon. Prince Ned Nwoko would be a forgone issue due to the fact that one of them is a clear contrast to the other and Nigerians have experienced them in governance and society.
One could have easily buried the idea of comparison of Ned and Wike, being that the former is known globally to have achieved so much and impacted lives outside politics, while the latter has never been anything outside politics.
After all the social media frenzy, we have decided to dig into their respective profiles with first-hand observation of their strengths and weaknesses, and importantly what both have achieved.It is important to analyze the public records that we can all call common knowledge.
According to Professor Woke Soyinka “History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future”.
That is to say to begin with the comparison of the two, we need to start with their birth, education, careers, politics, business and extra ordinary achievements.
FAMILY
While Ned was born into the royal family of Idumuje-Ugboko, it’s ok for us to say Wike is a commoner.
Ned is a devoted Muslim who doesn’t drink nor smoke, a vegetarian, he is calm, gentle, modest, exposed and refined while Wike a Christian is loud, aggressive, abusive and known for his excessive alcohol consumption which many believe is the catalyst for his random outburst.
EDUCATION
Prince Ned studied and worked in the UK as a solicitor of the Supreme Court before returning to Nigeria in 1999 and went straight to the National Assembly to represent Aniocha North-South and Oshimili North-South, while Wike attended the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. Needless for us to say who became a lawyer first or who has gone further to acquire more degrees.
CAREER
They’re both lawyers, Ned is an international lawyer that his expertise and services has benefited all the 774 LGAs, States and Federal government of Nigeria, Ned through his Law firm, Ned Nwoko Solicitors and his Company Linas International, investigated the multinational creditors and discovered discrepancies in loan repayments, and this resulted in the refund of a combined Twenty-Three Billion Dollars, all the monies were paid in line with the court judgment of 2013.
Ned’s works exited Nigeria from the recession, whereas the other is oblivion of his own career. In other words, Wike himself has also benefited from Ned’s achievement. Ned has several known business portfolios, with huge investment in property in which his Abuja property portfolio alone is worth over Fifty Billion Naira, making him is one of the largest property owners in Abuja.
Ned was a comfortable man outside politics before he decided to come and contribute his quota to his fatherland. What is Wike outside politics, we can’t find any record of him.
POLITICS
Hon Ned Nwoko was already a sitting House of Reps member, where he represented Anioca/ Oshimili federal constituency, making a long lasting and national impression till this day. While in the House of Reps, Ned Nwoko championed the London and Paris Club Loans into Nigeria. He authored the reports that led to Nigerian government’s discontinuation of monthly deductions from states’ allocations and commencement of refunds to States. Since 1999 till date, Ned has remained loyal to PDP and has been in good standing with the party leaders in his state, despite his self-made wealth. Wike began his political career as the Executive Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers in 1999, a position he held until 2007, after being re-elected in 2003. In 2007, he was appointed as the chief of staff to the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi., In July 2011, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Education by President Goodluck Jonathan before he stepped down to contest in the 2015 gubernatorial elections in Rivers State.
As at when Wike and Ned came into the Nigerian political sphere in 1999, Wike was running helter skelter to become a Local Government Chairman of Obio-Akpor LGA in Rivers State, which he almost lost but for the timely intervention of Justice Mary Odili (rtd) and his husband, Dr. Peter Odili, he was fortunate to become the Chairman, during the reign of Wike as Chairman was when Obio- Akpor witnessed the free to all havoc by touts in the name of task force in the LGA, they had a popularly fee, vernacular known as “marching ground” then.
When Wike became a Governor in 2015, through betrayal and thuggery, which led to the fall out with him and his boss and benefactor Rotimi Chubuike Amaechi, he has also fallen out with the Jonathans that helped him in ascending the Rivers State mantle, where he has indebted the state and insulted people at every opportunity he gets.
WORK DONE FOR PUBLIC GOOD
Ned has done so much for the society that cannot be written in just one epistle, The Sports University that he’s built which is the first of its kind in Nigeria, the Paris Club Refund that stabilized the Nigerian economy, Ned is a strong advocate of Malaria eradication in Africa. He is the initiator of the Ned Nwoko Malaria Eradication Project.
He flagged off the Ned Nwoko Malaria Eradication campaign via a symbolic expedition to the Antarctica in January 2020. The Foundation is supporting the existing efforts of vaccine development by funding a research for the anti-malaria vaccine through a partnership with leading universities in Africa. Ned through his foundation, Prince Ned Nwoko Foundation, has contributed to the empowerment and education of youths of his constituency, senatorial district and state. In 2019, he donated $273,000 (N100M) for the rehabilitation of failed portions of the road linking the South Eastern Nigeria to the nation’s capital, Abuja.
He has been honoured by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria for his valour in the promotion of human rights in the country, he was recently recognized and awarded by the Leadership Group as the Social Impact Person of the Year 2021 for committing his time, energy and financial resources towards the eradication of malaria in Nigeria and Africa.
He was also recently invited by Bingham University to the forthcoming African Economic Merit Awards which is aimed at boosting economic growth in African communities by uniting the government, successful business to give hope to Africans.
All these are just to mention a few which goes further to buttress the point that there’s no parameters to compare Ned and Wike. Ned as a Muslim who is entitled to marry up to four wives married Regina Daniels, a full-grown adult within the confines of the law, while Wike is known for chasing after people’s wives and girlfriends. In all of these, its clear that Wike is envious of Ned’s marriage to Regina who is not a minor, by the way and everything Ned has achieved.
