Rivers indigenes in Calabar accuse Wike of political impasse in Rivers, overheating politics in South South
As seeming calm return to Rivers State after the aborted attempt to impeach the state governor by a faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly alleged to be loyal to former Governor Nyesom Wike, some indigenes of the state resident in Calabar have condemned the role played by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the saga.
A prominent indigene of Rivers resident in Calabar, Alabo Adoye Peterside while fielding questions from news Reporters on Sunday November 5, 2023 said that Wike is suffering from the same seed he sowed in the state by betraying his godfather and former governor of the state, Rotimi Amachi, the immediate past Minister of Transportation in the Buhari administration and wondering why he should not expect the same from his godson, Governor Simi Fubara.
Speaking on a similar trajectory, a hotelier who operates a popular eatery in Calabar, Lady Joyce Ariolu, a Rivers indigene kicked against what she called the over-bearing attitude of ex-Governor Nyesom Wike who is behaving according to her, like a bull in the China-shop who meddle in the political affairs of some PDP controlled states in the South-South geo-political zone. Edo and Cross River States comes to fore where Wike is alleged to be meddling in selection of governors.
It would be recalled that Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers State narrowly escaped being removed by a faction of the members of the state legislature alleged to have been infuriated by his sacking of a former Governor Nyesom Wike’s loyalists in the state cabinet.
A truce by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum held in Akwa Ibom State Governor’s lodge in Abuja after a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu has reconciled the warring parties in the state with a caveat from the High Court barring a repeat of the unwholesome occurrence in the state. Governor Simi Fubara has come out to declare that he is a man of peace and still loyal to former Governor Nyesom Wike.
However, Chief Deke Ikuru JP, another Rivers indigene was less enthusiastic in the PDP governors’ Forum and President Bola Tinubu truce reasoning that Governor Simi Fubara may suffer the same fate the former governor of Lagos state, Akinwumi Ambode encountered in the hands of his mentor Bola Tinubu who stopped his second-term bid. He charged Governor Simi Fubara to do the needful to change the political narratives in the state before 2027 general elections. He concluded by calling on opposition parties in the state to sheath sword as well as charging peoples of Andoni, Ogoni, Opobo nations and Okrika to fortify Fubara’s political structure for a seamless return in his second-term in 2027.
Another prominent indigene, a retired Navy Commodore who spoke on condition of anonymity said ex-Governor Nyesom Wike should face the northern intrigue in the FCT and also concentrate on repairing the damage he inflicted on the PDP in the 2023 presidential election saying Wike would be going on a suicide voyage in 2027 if his ambition is to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate adding that he would reap what he has sown except he resigns from the Peoples’ Democratic Party. He referenced the Biblical text in Hosea 8:7 “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”.
Recall the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, last Tuesday, told visiting leaders of ethnic nationalities from Niger Delta, in Abuja, that he will not allow anybody hijack his political structure he had spent years to build.
The FCT minister stated, “Everyone wants to be politically relevant. All of us want to maintain our political structures, so before you (Kuku) left this country, you had your political structure. Would you allow anybody to just come and take over?”
He added, “Everybody has a base. If you take my base, am I not politically irrelevant? You can say anything you want to say, at the appropriate time, we will know who is right and who is wrong.”
By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)
