• Accuses SSG of instigating crisis, giving Fubara wrong advice
• Kalabari Ijaw host Wike in style despite protests
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike said yesterday that he would not stop the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly from performing its constitutional functions in the state, as the face-off between the former Rivers State governor and his successor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, intensified.
The minister spoke against the backdrop of fears that his 27 supporters in the state assembly may impeach the governor.
The occasion was a civic reception and thanksgiving held in his honour by his Kalabari/Ijaw associates at Abalama, Rivers State.
It was a mixed grill for Wike who was received by a large and enthusiastic crowd after defying threats and protests against his person and the reception by some women in the locality.
The protesters had blocked some roads to prevent him and his entourage from accessing the venue of the event only to be dispersed with tear gas by law enforcement agents.
He accused Fubara of surrounding himself with people who were interested in getting the position of governor for themselves.
One of such people, according to him, is the incumbent Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Tammy Danagogo.
He also spoke at length on the efforts he made to make Fubara governor.
Wike said he insisted on attending the event because of threats by some people against him.
“I heard some people say I won’t come here. Who are they and how many are they?” he said
He told the event organisers and the audience that their action had shown the world that “all this noise on the radio is not the real thing.”
He added: “If you are of the Kalabari and of the Ijaw nation and you are receiving me today, God will continue to bless you. I will continue to stand by you and to support you.”
He said some people chose to misunderstand and misinterpret his recent statement on the Ijaw and said all he meant was that an Ijaw man becoming governor in Rivers was a result of team work.
He said on the final day of deciding who would succeed him (Wike) as governor, Fubara declared that he was not interested and suggested the then Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu.
He recalled how Chief Alabraba, Chief Sergeant Awuse and OCJ Okocha mounted pressure on him to allow Fubara in the principle of live and let live.
His words: “What I said in my interview, people will want to misinterpret it. However they want to misinterpret it, it is their business.
“I want to repeat what I said. I said we are all working together. If we didn’t work together, it would have been difficult to produce the governor.
“That was what I said.
“Chief Alabraba did not allow me to rest. He nearly fainted when we were deciding who would be governor.
“Himself, OCJ Okocha and Sergeant Awuse and Celestine Omehia. When we met that day was the primary.
“This governor today said he was not going to run; that my Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu, should be the one to run.
“Celestine Omehia said it should be Isaac Kamalu; that this governor cannot carry out effectively the functions of governor.
“OCJ Okocha and Chief Awuse said live and let live. Let us not do something that people will begin to say why must it be only one side? What I meant was that it was not because of the strength or the power of the Ijaw; it was because we worked together.
“Nobody should associate anything evil with the Ijaw. Ijaw people are not evil.
“You cannot every time be saying I will blow pipeline. No. Engage people intellectually and diplomatically and you get what you want.
“In the world we are in today, we have passed the stage of threatening people.”
Wike said the people around the governor encouraged him to seize the salaries and allowances of 27 members of the state assembly for more than one year, telling him that nothing would happen.
“They told you to seize Assembly members’ salaries and allowances for more than one year. They had no income to feed their families and pay their children’s school fees. And you were jubilating and people were encouraging you and telling you that nothing would happen,” he said.
“Now, something has happened. I am not going to stop the assembly from performing their constitutional duties. The Assembly should be allowed to perform their duties. People who love peace don’t threaten people.
“I told you that the House of Assembly will not lose their seats. I told you that the shenanigans of local government election would not stand.
“I don’t need to be a governor. I know what is illegal is illegal. We fought it constitutionally and by following due process. What did we do wrong?
“We said all these chairmen and the assembly members suffered, National Assembly members suffered for you to become governor. Therefore, don’t abandon them.
“But they said I was asking for money. Has the money come? Those you are sharing the money to, how far?
“Remember yesterday. A man is bad, a man is a crook and a man is a criminal. But it was that same man that made you against all odds. If I hate Ijaw, I wouldn’t have done that and nothing would have happened.
“I followed my principle of live and let live.
“Nobody who is not an ingrate will associate himself with what is going on. I told the governor to eat what God had given to him peacefully; that it is not good for him to face this crisis.
“But they told him you are governor, you have money. I agree, but money is not everything.
“All these people have nothing to offer. See where we are. Now, how far?”
Wike said all the projects he initiated and handed over to Fubara to make him popular, including the Port Harcourt Ring Road, were his initiatives.
He faulted the ex parte motion granted by a state high court to the effect that 27 state legislators had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Look at how people can destroy a state.
“That is the genesis of all this crisis; how a judge will sit down under ex parte order saying that people had defected and you can present budget to three people.
You surround yourself with people who wanted to be governor; people that I stopped because they don’t mean well for Rivers State. They are the ones surrounding you, giving you advice. Why do you think you will succeed?
“They will give you bad advice, and see what the bad advice is doing to you. This is 2:0 and more will come.
“I haven’t seen this kind of politics where you surround yourself with those who want your seat. Will it work? They come, they abuse me and you are happy. You don’t know they are destroying you.”
He said President Bola Tinubu invited the two sides for peace but that while he and other leaders got the assembly members to withdraw the impeachment notice they had issued to the governor, those around Fubara stopped him from implementing their side of the deal.
He said he did not care about the insults hauled at him by his opponents.
“You can abuse me as much as you want. I have never bothered myself because abuse doesn’t kill anybody. What is important is the result.
“Who now has high blood pressure? They are the ones. This was what I was avoiding.
“Mr. President invited all of us for peace, and after that day, we the leaders sat and told the assembly go back and withdraw that impeachment notice since the President had intervened.
“Instead of them to do their own part, they instigated many court actions and used them as an excuse.
“When they won in the Court of Appeal, they held a thanksgiving. Today we won and they said we should not do thanksgiving. Are they being fair?
“Judgment day has come. OCJ Okocha said judgment day would come, and judgment day has come.
“When the President intervened, people like Sarah Igbeh went to court challenging Mr. President that he has no power. I was told Sarah Igbeh was in the Villa for the President to intervene.
“You that went to court against the President you are now going back to the President. You must be consistent.”
Wike insisted that his team that worked for Fubara to become governor would refuse to be pushed aside, adding that there must be an end to use-and-dump politics.
He said all those who tried to stop Fubara from becoming the governor were the ones collecting his money and saying they would decide for Rivers.
The Minister said: “Politics comes with good and bad. When the good comes, you take it, when the bad comes, you face it. We cannot be pushed out after all our efforts and sweat. All of you suffered.
“All those who said they would not serve a master and his son are the ones waiting on the road opening doors for the son. People have no conscience at all.
“Those who wrote petitions to EFCC against this governor for him not to be governor are the ones saying they would decide. Decide for who? For us? They are not yet born. I have defeated them before and I have continued to defeat them.”
Wike vowed to support the re-election of President Tinubu, wondering what would have become of his team if the President had not given him the ministerial position.
He said: “I am supporting President Ahmed Tinubu. I don’t say one thing in the afternoon and say another in the night. Anybody who remembers you in the rainy season you also remember him.
“Assuming Mr. President did not give us this position we occupy. We were hoping that we had a governor who would take care of us. What would have happened to us?
“Will someone come and preach to us to tell us to support another person? Politics is interest. People must not use people and dump them. The politics of use-and-dump must stop.”
The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Ferdinand Alabraba, heaped praise on Wike for his political sagacity and his love for the Ijaw people.
Alabraba said Wike had resolved the political crisis in Rivers by following the dispute up to the Supreme Court. He prayed that peace would return to the state through the process.
He told the Minister that the people of Kalabari Kingdom would continue to stand by him and support him.
He said; “May this achievement serve as a foundation for massive peace, and may you continue to lead with wisdom and integrity.
“We extend our deepest gratitude for your unwavering leadership. The Kalabari people will be with you at every time.
“We will continue to support you at all times and uphold collaboration as a veritable force that will drive the interest of all sections of the state.
“We assure you that your footprints in Kalabari land will remain indelible for many generations.”
