By Newsmata
For apparently gaining the upper hand in the power tussle with his deeply embattled successor, Siminalayi Fubara, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and immediate past governor of Rivers State, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, on Saturday taunted the governor that more defeats awaited him.
The former governor spoke at a Thanksgiving and Civic Reception organised by a political movement, NEW Associates in Abalama Town, Kalabari Kingdom, Rivers State. NEW is an acronym derived from his name – Nyesom Ezenwo Wike.
Mocking Governor Fubara who has been boxed to a corner by the Supreme Court judgement which reversed his previous political advantages, Wike chastised his estranged godson for surrounding himself with those he claimed wanted to be governor of the state, who do not mean well for him, and are now giving him the wrong advice to unseat him.
He particularly fingered the secretary to the state government, SSG, Tammy Danagogo, who he pointedly accused of being one of the people who started the fight between him and Governor Fubara, leading the state into crisis.
Amid threat of Fubara’s likely impeachment, Wike said he would not stop the House of Assembly from performing its constitutional duties.
Tracing the origin of the political conundrum in Rivers, the FCT minister said, “The problem started when Danagogo, the Secretary to the government, used his elder brother, who is a justice, to use an ex parte order to justify that 27 members of the Rivers Assembly have defected. Unnoticed. He also used the same order to say that the state governor can present the budget to three or four lawmakers.
“Look at Danagogo, who wanted to be governor. He was so pained that he was not given the ticket; he was the one following the governor, and he (Fubara) did not know. He will lead you (Fubara) to hellfire.
“You (Fubara) surrounded yourself with people who wanted to be governor, whom I said ‘no’, these people don’t mean well for Rivers State.’ They are the ones surrounding you, giving you advice. Do you think you will succeed? They will give bad advice and look at what bad advice is doing to you. You are already down 2-0, and there’s more to come. They come there and abuse me, and you are happy; you don’t know it is you they want to destroy.
“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 to go back and withdraw that impeachment notice since the president had intervened for peace. Instead of them to do their own part, they instigated many court actions and used them as an excuse”.
Chiding his opponents for attempting to abort his reception, Wike said, “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? The judgement day has come. OCJ Okocha said Judgement Day would come, and it has come.
“When the president intervened, people like Sarah Igbeh went to court challenging Mr. President that he had no power in such matters. 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. 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 sweats. 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 the Economic and Financial Crimes commission, EFCC, against this governor for him not to be governor are the ones saying they would decide. Decide for whom? Us? They are not yet born. I have defeated them before, and I have continued to defeat them.”
Mocking those who said he would be unable to make it to the event, Wike thanked the community for receiving him.
Prior to the event, Kalabari women protested and barricaded the road leading into the community over a comment that they were a minority in the state. The protesting women, adorned in black attires and white lace strapped round their heads, thronged the area as early as 7 am. The King of Abalama Kingdom, His Royal Highness, King Big Tom-Tom, had also pleaded with Wike’s associates to shelve the ceremony.
The minister, in high spirit, said, “I heard some people argue that I won’t be here today. Who are they and how many are they? What you have done today is to tell the world that all this noise over the radio is not the real thing. If you are of the Kalabari and Ijaw nations and you are receiving me today, God will continue to bless you. I will continue to support you”.
Clarifying his alleged disparaging comment about the Ijaw nation, Wike said, “What I said during my interview is being misinterpreted, but that is their business. I want to repeat what I said, which is that 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. At the time we were deciding who would be the governor; Chief Alabraba did not allow me to rest. He nearly fainted.
“When we met that day (prior to choosing a candidate), he, OCJ Okocha and Sergeant Awuse and this boy, Celestine Omehia, were the primary reason this governor said he was not going to run (vie for the governorship) that my Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu should. Celestine Omehia said it should be Isaac Kamalu because this governor cannot effectively carry out the functions of a governor.
“Chief Awuse said live and let live, let us not do something that people would accuse us of one-sidedness. What I mean is that it was not because of the strength or the power of Ijaw, it was because we worked together. Nobody should associate anything evil to Ijaw. Ijaw people are not evil people. However, you cannot keep threatening to blow pipeline over little things. No. Engage people intellectually and diplomatically and you will get what you want. In the world we are in today, we have passed the stage of threatening people”.
On the plight of his 27 loyal members of the Assembly, the former governor said, “They told you (Fubara) 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, yet you were jubilating and people encouraged you to continue that nothing would happen. 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 would not stand. I don’t need to be a governor. I know that what is illegal is illegal. We fought it constitutionally by following due process. What did we do wrong?
“We said all these chairmen and 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, how far? I want you to 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 hated the Ijaw, I wouldn’t have done that and nothing would have happened. I followed my principle of live and let us live”.