- Accuses governor of setting assembly on fire
- Says he introduced ethnicity into state politics
- I am full-blooded Ijaw son, gov declares
The face-off between Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his immediate predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, reared its head yesterday as the FCT Minister accused his estranged protégé of masterminding the burning of a section of the state’s House of Assembly.
Crisis had erupted in the state late last month when the House of Assembly impeached its Majority Leader Hon. Edison Ehie believed to be the governor’s loyalist while the governor in turn sacked his chief of Staff believed to be a loyalist of Wike.
The crisis had peaked with the burning of a part of the House of Assembly on October 29; a move believed to have been made to prevent the lawmakers from sitting amid speculations of a move by the assembly to impeach Governor Fubara.
A quick intervention by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had ensured that the crisis was nipped in the bud as both Wike and Fubara announced a ceasefire and the two parties appeared to have buried the hatchet.
The governor thereafter likened the feud to a father-and-son matter.
Receiving a military delegation led by Gen. Christopher Musa to the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital, he said: “For our dear state, I know everybody is wondering what’s going on, what’s not going on. We are okay, there is no problem.
“If we have an internal issue, it will be resolved and everything will go back to normal.
“There is nothing wrong if a father and a son have a problem. If there is any problem, but I don’t think there is anything, whatever it is, we will definitely resolve the issue.”
But in a twist of events yesterday, Wike, speaking during a live broadcast in his office with select journalists, accused Fubara of masterminding the burning of the hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly.
He accused Fubara of taking the step because he learnt about a plan by the lawmakers to impeach him as governor.
Asked whether he endorsed the attempt by the lawmakers to impeach Fubara, Wike said: “If they are impeaching you (Fubara), did you call me?
“Assuming I’m the one who plotted it, did you say, ‘Sir, they want to impeach me’? Is that why you will send people to go and burn the hallowed chambers?”
The FCT Minister also accused Fubara of playing ethnic politics, saying that the development was alien to the oil-rich state.
“Is impeachment done in one day? Is it a one-day affair? Then you raised ethnic politics. We have never had it like this before,” he said.
He added: “Give man power and money, that is when you will know the person. If you have not given man power and money, don’t say you know the person.
“He may be your friend, he may be your son, sister or mother or father. I don’t want to go into that.”
The FCT Minister lamented that Fubara could seek to destroy the structure that produced him as governor just within three months of his emergence.
He said: “In three months, it is sad for someone to scatter a political structure that supported and brought him up.
“You know what is painful. All these allegations, I smile. In all your doings be grateful in your life, no matter the circumstance.
“Nobody who is a gentleman and a politician will support this kind of thing. And I kept quiet.
“You have 31 members in the House of Assembly, 27 are against you.”
Asked whether he felt that his feud with Fubara was a matter of nemesis, given how he fell out with former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, his immediate predecessor as Rivers State governor, Wike said “with due respect, Amaechi did not make me governor. I was the one that worked for Amaechi to be governor in 2007.
“Even when Amachi made me a minister, he went to the National Assembly to disqualify me through SSS. Amaechi fought me even as a minister.
“I am comfortable. Tinubu did not give me an ordinary minister but Minister of FCT. What am I looking for?
“But that does not mean that I will allow anybody to crumble our political structure. It will not happen.
“Let me tell you, I challenge anybody, all the projects and road projects you are seeing now, I laid the foundation. I took him to Win Bidding in Germany, with the director of procurement to go and negotiate with Julius Beger.
“I said look, if you do this Ring Road your second tenure is assured.
“I told him to go and borrow money from Zenith Bank and tell Julius Beger to be deducting money from you every month. Tell them you will do it in three years; that is the year leading to your election. Nobody will challenge you in Rivers State.
“If I had no good intentions, I would not do it. If they are impeaching you, did you call me? Assuming, for example I was the one who caused it, did you call me, saying Sir, they want to impeach me? Is that why you have to send people to go and burn the hallow chamber?
“Is impeachment done one day? Impeachment process a one day affair? Then you raised ethnic politics.
“We have never had it like this before. Will anybody stop me from going to functions? Anything that will make me not respect Mr. President, I won’t do it.
“All these things you are seeing are because Mr. President has said you do this and you do that. When the law speaks, thuggery will run away. When the law speaks, militants will run away. When the law speaks, ethnicity will run.
“Be fair to the structure that brought you to power. You are the governor, but all you must understand is that some people had sleepless nights because of you. It is too early to fight that structure.
“I’ve never seen it happen anywhere. You have told Nigerians the kind of person you are. Some people will even pretend for one year or two years.
“Tinubu made me minister, people don’t understand, I have character. What will happen in 2027? I stood and I said I’m not going to support injustice. I was threatened that they would do this to me. They tried Major Generals.”
On his achievements as governor of Rivers State, Wike said: “I was paying pensioners gratuity every month, which were not paid by my predecessor. I took River State to the level where you cannot discuss politics in Nigeria without Rivers State.
“I was an ordinary minister when I became a governor. I challenged the sitting governor and I defeated his candidate. I worked hard.”
On the new requirements for acquisition of land in the Federal Capital Territory, particularly the introduction of National Identity Number (NIN) and Biometric Verification Number (BVN) to Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), the minister said the new features were for security and revenue generation.
Wike also noted that existing landowners in the capital must get recertification to incorporate these new features.
“There are a lot of discrepancies, a lot of cloning of C-of-Os, so we have come up with an idea that every allottee who seeks and applies for a C-of-O must supply his NIN. This is one of the features we are going to put in the new C-of-O.
“If a corporate body doesn’t have an NIN and they have a property, they must put their BVN. So many people have not registered, and this will make them go and re-register.”
Addressing the issue of existing landlords with C-of-Os, Wike stated that they would only be required to pay a nominal fee for recertification.
“For everyone who has a C-of-O, they will come for a recertification so that we can incorporate the NIN or BVN,” he said.
“Those who have a C-of-O before don’t need to pay money again. The highest they can pay is N50,000, and corporate bodies will pay N100,000. It helps in terms of security; it also helps to improve our revenue generation.”
“There are people who own seven properties, so this will identify them so they can pay taxes.”
Wike further stated that other benefits of this initiative are in identifying property owners accurately for tax purposes.
‘I won’t run against Tinubu’
The FCT minister declared that he would not contest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 Presidential election.
He reiterated his commitment to the success of the Tinubu administration even as he explained that the quest for justice was the key reason he and the G5 group of governors supported the presidential ambition of Tinubu.
According to the minister, good character should never be compromised on the altar of politics.
He pointed out that having worked for the emergence of Tinubu as President and having been made minister of FCT, nothing would make him contest against the President in 2027.
“Tinubu made me the FCT minister and I won’t allow anybody to crumble our political structure. No!
I’m a true Ijaw son, says Fubara
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has declared that his Opobo people from Rivers State belong to the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
Insisting that the Opobo people are integral part of the history of the Ijaw struggle, Fubara asserted that he is a true Ijaw son.
Speaking when he met with the Regent and other representatives of Kalabari Se Kobiri at Government House, Port Harcourt yesterday, Fubara dismissed insinuations labeling him a non-Ijaw.
He said persons doubting his Ijaw origin were bereft of the history of the struggle that made Ijaw a reputable class of people.
He said: “So, whoever is feeding you with that information should go back to their history classes. You cannot talk about the Ijaw struggle without the Opobo, the Bonny, and the Kalabari.
“We had our trade lines at that time, and for you to occupy a trade line, it means you are a true Ijaw man. So, for the records, I am a full blooded, up to my bones, an Ijaw man.”
Fubara said Ijaw people are bold, courageous and forthright, adding that despite being subjected to inhuman treatment, Ijaw refused to succumb to being traded as slaves.
He emphasised that only the will of God would prevail in every circumstance whether good or bad, winning or failing.
Condoling with the Kalabari people over the demise of their monarch, the late King Theophilus J.T. Princewill, Fubara assured that the state government would fully participate in the burial activities.
The governor urged the people to put their differences aside and work together to give the late king a befitting burial.
In his speech, the regent of Kalabari Kingdom, Dr. Charles Numbere Princewill, said they visited to notify the governor that Theophilus J.T. Princewill, Amachree XI, The Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of the Kalabari Kingdom was dead and to formally invite him to attend the funeral.
He thanked the governor for the support already given to them and solicited for more.
On his part, Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG) Dr. Tammy Danagogo said Fubara had shown much love towards the Kalabari people was committed to giving befitting burial to their late Amanyanabo.
[TheNation]