Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on Friday declared that supporters of the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara should be worshipping President Bola Tinubu for saving him from outright removal with the imposition of a state of emergency in the state.
The immediate past governor of the state who had been at Fubara’s throat over some political disagreements, said he wanted his complete ouster.
Fielding questions at his periodic media chat in Abuja, Wike admitted that he had pushed for the outright removal of the governor, but it was President Tinubu’s intervention that ultimately spared him.
Newsmata.com.ng reports that a state of emergency had been declared in Rivers on March 18, 2025, and the governor, his deputy and the 30 lawmakers suspended, while a sole administrator, retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, was appointed to pilot the affairs of the state for an initial period of six months.
Wike said “As a politician, I am not happy with the declaration of Emergency Rule in Rivers state. I wanted the outright removal of the governor. But for the interest of the state, the president did the right thing to prevent anarchy in the state. The president, by declaring a state of emergency, saved Fubara.
“The matter is in court, but people must say the truth. The governor was gone, yes, he was gone. So, when people say the president did this, I say they should be praising him. Every morning, they should go to the president and ask, ‘Can we wash your feet for saving us? It is not in my place to make it good for the governor. As a politician, my business is not to make him comfortable and that is why there is power play.”
Wike said he was ready for peace talks, alleging however that Fubara’s advisers keep telling him not to embrace peace.
Faulting former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s move to form a political coalition to unseat President Tinubu in 2027, Wike said Atiku and his co-travellers should be working to make the PDP a formidable opposition rather than spearheading another opposition party.
Castigating the former vice president for being the arrowhead of the coalition, Wike predicted that he would be repeating the same mistake that snowballed into an unresolved crisis that led to the party’s defeat in the 2023 election.
According to the FCT minister who dumped Atiku along with four other aggrieved governors following his emergence as the PDP presidential flagbearer ahead of the poll, “On the side of those seeking coalition is selfish interest; the likes of Atiku and other people. Which coalition with who? Why not come to your party? Everybody wants to be president of the country; nobody wants to say let me build our party so that at the end of the day, our party will be in a formidable position as an opposition party to take over power. You don’t do that; only what you want is let me find a way how I will be the one. If that does not happen, to your tents, O Israel.”