Obono Obla says Governor Wike is a local potentate

Barrister Okoi Obono-Obla, former Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Bihari has described Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State as a local potentate attempting to put Cross River State under his thumb.

Obono-Obla in a statement said both states Rivers and Cross River were created the same day on May 27, 1967, from the defunct Eastern Region of Nigeria.

His outburst is not unconnected with the recent hosting and donation of 25 buses to a delegation of the People Democratic Party entourage from the state who solicited assistance from the Rivers governor to run the 2023 general elections in Cross River State.

Obla said it is sacrilegious for politicians from Cross River State to troop to Rivers State after 69 years of statehood undermining as it were the interest of the good people of Cross River State ‘Back-To-South’ political agenda in line with the rotation arrangement which favour the southern senatorial district to produce the next governor. He castigated them for engaging an outsider to disrupt the existing political equation resulting in chaos and overheating the polity.

But a chieftain of the PDP in the State, Mr. Gabe Odu Oji in a statement described Obono-Obla’s reaction as mere sophistry and presumption of a political neophyte with nothing farther from the truth in politics as moral and material support could be obtained from anybody or anywhere in Nigeria because in political brinkmanship masterstroke assistance can even come from an opposition party to win an election.

It would be recalled that Governor Wike played host to a delegation of PDP State and National Assembly candidates from Cross River State led by the Governorship candidate Senator Sandy Onor, where he donated 25 new buses and logistics for their campaigns in the State.

By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)