Dr. Leloonu Nwibubasa, Fmr. River State Commissioner for Employment Generation and Economic Empowerment, has said that FCT Minister, Wike Nyesom has been a promoter and beneficiary of political crisis in Rivers state.
Dr Nwibubasa said this in an exclusive with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday.
“First of all, look at the history of crisis in Rivers State. When there’s crisis, we need to know who is benefiting from this crisis. In 2014 and 2015, the present FCT Minister was Junior Minister for Education, and of course, we’re aware of the role he played between Fmr. Gov. Rotimi Amaechi and the Fmr. First Lady, Patience Goodluck Jonathan. He introduced a crisis that rocked the government of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and that cost Jonathan his second tenure. But Wike was the beneficiary, because he became governor of Rivers State after that crisis.
“You’re also aware that some times in 2018/2019, that this crisis promoter also promoted crisis within the APC that led APC not to have candidate in the 2019 election. Again in 2023, Gov. Wike also promoted crisis in the PDP that led to the loss of the PDP in the 2023 elections, and that earned Gov. Wike the FCT Minister. So someone has been a crisis promoter in Rivers State and has always been benefiting from crisis, so it is not strange that Fmr. Gov. Wike is at it again. This time, against his political godson, who he placed in Rivers State”, he said.
The Fmr. Commissioner further stated: “Let me quickly state that it is completely immoral for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to sit in an APC led government and dictate who becomes a leader of PDP in Rivers State. That to me is laughable. How could a party like APC lose their moral compass to the point that they want to sit in their own party and dictate who becomes a leader in another party?”
He went further to say that Gov. Fubara of Rivers State has lost the trust of the people of Rivers State, and that they are now searching for a better leader.
“For Gov. Fubara, yes, Wike brought him, the Rivers people stood by him. He has torpedoed so many times, surrendered so many times. And so, I think he has lost the trust of Rivers people, and what Rivers people who are looking at right now is to see a leader that will defend their rights, put food on their table, clean their streets and provide employment for the people. Rivers people must begin to look at a new direction of midwifing a new leader for the state”, he added.
Speaking on the President’s reoccurring intervention in Rivers State’s political crisis, Dr. Nwibubasa said: “Clearly, we ought to be practicing a federal system of government, where the states are federation units. I don’t even see where the president has a business to intervene in issues in any state if we practice democracy and the rule of law is obeyed. The president seems to, at this point, with all sense of responsibility, become a busybody in what happens in states, which ought not to be so.”
He added, “there are so many burdens at the national level where the president should be focusing on how to reduce insecurity, reduce the burden on Nigeria, and look at governance as a whole. Corruption is now at every doorstep of governance. How should Rivers State become a model space to experiment what this present government will want to do in other states? So as to ensure that the governors in those states are kept in a position of fear, to surrender? I do not even think the President should have business if the law is running the way it ought to be and governance followed the rule of law.”
Addressing President Tinubu’s endorsement of Wike as the political leader of Rivers State, the Fmr. Commissioner slammed the President’s move, insisting that it is a ‘bad example’.
“It is unfortunate that the APC led government, especially the one led by our present President, Tinubu, has continued to set very bad examples. Because President Tinubu feels Rivers State is a conquered territory, he has added salt to injury by saying that a sitting governor must always defer to his Minister, who as of today, we don’t even know whether Min. Nyesom Wike is a member of the APC or PDP. You’re aware of several protests taking place in the FCT because of the reliction of duty from a man that was said to be Minister.
“Instead of the President to look towards service delivery and caution this minister, his greatest interest is who becomes the leader in Rivers State. That tells us that there is more to the President’s position in Rivers State, than just ensuring that there is governance. And we are afraid that the Rivers State treasury is bleeding. We are very afraid. The signs are clear, the symptoms are obvious. Port Harcourt that used to be the Garden City, every street in Port Harcourt today is filled with garbage. Our primary schools are not working. The President’s interest seem to go beyond politics and administration into the very treasury of Rivers State, and we need to know what our monies are being used for. The fight for Rivers State is the fight for the treasury of Rivers State”, he concluded.
Favour Odima
Follow us on:
