Wike says ‘heaven will not fall’ after dismissing INC threat over Fubara’s alleged impeachment
Mr. Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), , on Wednesday, scoffed at threats of consequences over purported plans to impeach Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, saying the sky isn’t going to fall if he is impeached.
Wike’s comment followed Ijaw National Congress (INC) position that if Fubara was impeached for any reason, the consequences would be too heavy for the Nigerian state to bear economically.
INC said it was concerned by the prolonged political impasse in the state, urged President Tinubu to prevail on Wike and Fubara to seek an amicable resolution for the sake of peace and stability.
Wike, who spoke on a live television interview, said if Fubara had, indeed, breached the tenets of the constitution and the House of Assembly deemed the infraction an impeachable offence, then the governor should be impeached.
He stated, “If you have committed an offence to be Impeached, what’s wrong? Is it a criminal offence? It’s provided in the constitution. And let me tell you, and I have heard people say, ‘oh, if they impeach him, there’ll be breakdown’ and all that.
“Rubbish. Nonsense. Who is he? Nonsense! Tell me who are the militants? Who is not a militant? Who is born as a militant? No, tell me the person that’s born. The day you were given birth to, they say you’re a militant.
“Who is not a militant? Who cannot blow up the pipeline? Why do you arrogate this power to a certain group of people? The Ijaw people are the only people who can blow a pipeline? What nonsense is that? Who told you Ogoni people cannot break pipeline?
“Who told you Ikwerre people cannot blow up pipeline? Who told you Ekpeye people cannot blow up pipelines? Who is the one doing the contract of the pipeline? Is he not an Ijaw son? Is he not Tompolo. Is it not a Tantita? They gave you that to do surveillance.
“And the same Ijaw people are going to blow a pipeline and somebody will hear that? That’s crap. The moment I hear that, to hell. How dare you threaten a country? How dare you? The threat does not exist. These are political things planted by some people in government.
“Look, all of us know ourselves. You make an appointment of MD of NDDC, they threaten, they will blow pipeline. You make an appointment here, they threaten, they blow pipeline. What kind of country are we in?
“As a sitting president, you’re threatening me that if you follow what the court said, I will blow up everywhere. Let the whole country be blown up. People must learn. Enough is enough! You don’t tell anybody that.”
The minister warned the Ijaw ethnic group against threatening the peace in Rivers State with the threat to blow up pipelines in the event the governor, who is of Ijaw stock, was impeached, saying the Ijaw do not constitute the majority in the Niger Delta.
Wike said, “People must speak the truth. Heaven will not fall. You only die once, not two times. Let me say something and people should have that right: the Ijaw does not constitute the majority of the Niger Delta. Every day you wake up, Ijaw will do this.
“In Akwa Ibom, Ijaw cannot be governor. In Delta, Ijaw is minority of the minority. With all due respect to our late elder statesman, Henry Clark, he’s from Delta. He had never produced an Ijaw man to be governor of Delta. The only place Ijaw can solely be governor is Bayelsa State.
“Not in Edo, not in Rivers. It’s minority of the minorities. Out of our own benevolence, live and let’s live. If it is by strength, it cannot be the Ogonis. It cannot be the Ekpeyes. It cannot be the Ikwerres. It cannot. Every time you hear this, Ijaw said this, Ijaw just didn’t say this.
“What kind of system are we talking about? In fact, when I brought this governor, they said, he is not the real Ijaw, that if they are talking about real Ijaws, it should come to the Kalabaris, that how can you say if they want to give power to Ijaws, it should be the Opobo.
“You see the problem that we’re in. And you close your eyes, you did it. All those who fought me, who said, no, we cannot accept this, are the ones parading themselves, hanging around him, taking his money.”
The relationship between the governor and the legislature, peopled mainly by Wike’s loyalists, soured early in his tenure following political disagreements with his predecessor, now FCT minister.
Things seemed to get quite bad for the governor recently after the Supreme Court reinstated the Amaewhule-led legislators which on Wednesday, denied Fubara access to the Assembly premises for a re-presentation of the 2025 appropriation bill, which was ordered by the Supreme Court.