It is no longer news that former Governor of Rivers State, and now FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and his successor, the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara are at daggers drawn. They both fell out with each other barely two months into Governor Fubara’s assumption of office and today, the two erstwhile allies no longer see eye-to-eye.
Everyday, they attack each other via the media. Supporters of both Wike and Fubara are threatening fire and brimstone as each claims dominance over the other in the state. The situation has degenerated between these two camps, the degree of violence that erupts each time they meet is alarming. …CONTINUE READING
While addressing the recent spike in violence that led to the burning of two local government secretariats, Governor Fubara revealed that individuals close to him have been targeted for arrest in connection to the unrest.
When asked why the relationship between him and his former boss went sour, Fubara said, “Honestly I won’t want to discuss this here; but for those who know the issue it’s very simple; it’s about power, it’s about control. It’s about somebody wanting to forcefully take charge. But like I said, I don’t want to discuss all of that here. I even said it in that case that if elections have held in Rivers State and council chairmen have been inaugurated in the whole situation do we need anybody to go obstruct them from entering the secretariats?
“May be there is somebody somewhere who still believes he is above and higher than the authority in the state.”
“It’s just the issue of power. I don’t want to discuss it and I don’t want to join issues with that. I want to focus on governance and manage the situation as much as I can. That is what is important to me.”
When asked whether he breached an agreement he signed with Wike, Fubara added he kept all the agreements he reached with his predecessor.
He said, “I don’t think there is any understanding that I have not kept. There is no understanding we have that I have not kept. That is the truth.
“As I said I don’t want to discuss those issues. What I feel is that everyone should sheath their sword, even the minister, my oga. There is no need to destroy Rivers. He once ruled the state. Another person is there now. What you need is to give him support. After four or eight years, I will also leave. Another person will take the government.”
“That should be the spirit. When it comes to election period, you can fight but now it’s time for governance. We need all the support.”
Meanwhile, the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, also revealed the reason why he is angry with his anointed successor, Fubara. For Wike, it is all about structure and why he wants the structure he left behind to remain intact. He revealed this not long ago after a meeting with some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in Abuja, and then accused Fubara of hobnobbing with his political adversaries.
“You cannot work, and people will begin to bring enemies; those who fought you when you were struggling for the person to be in office. Nobody does that,” Wike was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The former governor, who denied that he was seeking financial gratification from his successor, suggested that Fubara was trying to take control of the PDP structure in Rivers.
“I am not a political ingrate but don’t touch the political structure of the state. I will not shut my eyes,” Wike said.
The crisis between Wike and Fubara worsened the last few weeks when the Rivers State House of Assembly attempted to commence impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
Most of the state lawmakers are loyal to Wike who helped install Fubara before both men went their ways.
The state lawmakers, as part of their moves against Fubara, had suspended the House Leader Edison Ehie and other three lawmakers – Victor Okoh (Bonny Constituency), Goodboy Sokari (Ahoada West Constituency) and Adulphus Timothy (Opobo/Nkoro Constituency) – said to be the governor’s loyalist.
A part of the Rivers House of Assembly Complex was destroyed by an explosion a day before the impeachment attempt.
The following day, some police operatives fired teargas and water cannons at Fubara as the governor, accompanied by security aides and some youths, apparently his political supporters, was walking towards the assembly complex to assess the extent of damage from the explosion.
The police had alleged that Governor Fubara was in the midst of “aggressive” people who were marching towards the Rivers House of Assembly Complex and that the operatives deployed “non-lethal crowd control equipment including tear gas and water cannon to disperse the riotous and uncontrollable protesters”.
“The presence of the governor at the scene was of great surprise and shock as there was no prior communication to the Police on the visit of the governor to the scene of the crime which ordinarily is the usual protocol and complimentary that we accompany his guard for proper safety considering the intelligence of security threat at hand then,” the police spokesperson in Rivers, Grace Iringe-Koko, said in a statement on behalf of the Commissioner of Police in the state, Polycarp Emeka.
But, hours after, both Fubara, Wike tried to play down on the crisis. In his earlier comment, Wike had said that the Rivers crisis was a PDP affair and that the party was looking into it.
Governor Fubara, on his part, also attempted to play down the crisis and the rift between him and his predecessor, when he said the crisis was merely a problem between “father and son”.
“There is nothing wrong if a father and a son have a problem if there is any problem, but I don’t think there is anything; whatever it is, we will definitely resolve the issue,” Fubara told a visiting military delegation led by the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
Before now, President Bola Tinubu, had mediated the crisis during the meeting of the National Police Council at the presidential villa which was attended by both Fubara and Wike.
The police council headed by the president includes all the state governors and the FCT Minister, many of whom were present at the meeting. The report then was that the conflict had been amicably settled, but recent developments have revealed that it is far from being over.
