Rivers indigenes in Cross River caution Wike over unguarded utterances
Prominent Rivers State indigenes working and residing in Cross River State have issued a word of caution to Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike to refrain from making too many enemies in politics so as not to end up the same way as former governors D.S.P Alamieyeisha of Bayelsa and James Ibori of Delta State.
Elder Nebo Baridam, a native of Ogoni, and management staff in a federal Agency, and Alabo Prince-will Dokubo, a major distributor of a multinational confectionary firm barred their minds in a chat with newsmen in Calabar after an emergency meeting to send delegates to Port Harcourt to warn Governor Wike against his recent utterances said that though Wike has good reason to be aggrieved over the outcome of the Party Presidential primaries as well as being denied the Vice Presidential slot contrary to the wish of party stake-holders, He should, however, be careful of those pushing him to the gallery.
The duo posited that it is also wrong for Wike to claim that no presidential or governorship candidate can get a vote in Rivers State from the 3.2 million registered voters during the 2023 elections as Nigeria is practicing a multi-party democracy where people have to vote for candidates and party of their choice.
Another contributor, a retired Senior Police officer from Andoni who spoke on condition of anonymity said though Governor Wike has used the state funds to develop infrastructures in the state, it is only located in the Port Harcourt City Centre and its environs where Wike comes from and wondered why he has not spread development to the hinterlands like Ogoniland, riverine areas of the State beyond Ikwerreland.
He advised Wike to heed the pleas of prominent elders of his party to make peace with Former- Vice-President Atiku Abubakar who is the Presidential candidate of PDP in the 2023 elections to avoid being pulled down if Atiku emerges as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Elder Baridam referred Wike to history about what happened to governors Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha (DSP) and James Ibori who had running battles with former President Olusegun Obasanjo and how they both ended their claim to being the governors-general of the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria in their days in office.
By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)
