AN elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has once again requested President Bola Tinubu to summon the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
The leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) said in an open letter to the President yesterday that Wike is just one of the 48 ministers in the President’s cabinet and that he should be called to face his job as FCT minister rather than insist on controlling the political structure in his home state, Rivers State.
He said, “As a member of your cabinet, you may need to call this minister to order to face the work in the quietness which is demanded of him.
“He should focus on his office and know that he is just one among a cabinet of 48 persons, besides the Vice President and yourself.
“The country has enough problems which your government must sit down to solve. The FCT itself is full of challenges all over and he has more than he can chew and therefore avoid these distractions.”
Clark stated that if all former governors insist on controlling their successors, the country will be in turmoil.
The PANDEF leader was responding to a new political crisis in the oil-rich South-South state, in which 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday.
The 27 members were believed to be loyal to Martins Amaewhule, an ally of Wike, the state’s former governor, until May 29, 2023.
For weeks, Amaewhule and another member, Edison Ehie, have been feuding over the Speakership. Ehie is known to support Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The Assembly, led by Amaewhule, served an impeachment notice on the governor in October and replaced Ehie as House leader. However, several Assembly members loyal to Fubara promptly impeached Amaewhule and appointed Ehie as the new Speaker.
The crisis in the 32-member Assembly began with a schism between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike.
In a bid to resolve the problem, the President met with both Wike and Fubara in October.
Though the two leaders have both attended the same public events in recent weeks and everything appeared to be settled, yesterday’s defection of 27 lawmakers from the PDP to the APC suggests that further drama in the state’s political arena may ensue.
In his letter to the President, the PANDEF leader stated that the situation was far from finished and that things appeared to be deteriorating by the day.
He stated that Rivers State is critical to the stability of the Niger Delta and the wider national economy, and that any breakdown of law and order is not in the best interests of all.
Despite Fubara’s apology, the elder statesman expressed surprise at Wike’s public statements.
Clark said, “On one occasion, he stated that ‘impeachment is not a military coup”, ‘a total outrage when all hands are on deck to consolidate this democracy under your leadership.
“In fact, in his recent interview held on Friday, 24th November, 2023, the Minister charged to one of his group of guests that the Governor is ungrateful, concluding that ‘I cannot stand ingrates’.
“He continued stating how he had helped the Governor to become what he had become today and threatening publicly that he would continue the fight if the Governor ‘changes the structures which I left in the state’.”
The nonagenarian enquired as to why the FCT minister kept structures and for what reason. He recalled Wike criticizing the concept of godfatherism as completely inappropriate, which caused him to clash with his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi.
“So, what purpose are the structures supposed to serve when there is a governor in place? This is a question that he owes you and all Nigerians.
“If all governors who as a matter of right, insist on allowing their favoured candidates as successor, insist on controlling them, insist on controlling the State Assemblies, insist on controlling the structure which they left behind, what manner of confusion will we have in Nigeria?” he queried.
