THE NATION
Rivers leaders and elders under the aegis of Rivers Elders Forum (REF) said the allegation that Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike was behind the impeachment move against Governor Siminalayi Fubara was false.
The elders said the Governor may have misinterpreted a mere internal crisis in the House of Assembly between the sacked Majority Leader, Edinson Ehie and his other lawmakers.
The elders, in a statement by their Chairman, Chief Ferdinand Alabrabra, observed that the Governor, having misread the internal brawl as an existential threat, gave the situation an ethnic coloration.
Elders who endorsed the statement were Sam Sam Jaja, former Deputy National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chairman, Rivers State Council of Traditional Ruler, Sergeant Awuse; Chief Emmanuel Anyanwu, Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Okey Chinda and Senator Olaka Nwogu.
On what led to the crisis, the elders said: “We are aware that there was a pre-existing problem between Ehie, the then majority leader, and his colleagues that culminated in his removal.
“That to forestall his impeding removal, the hallowed chamber of the Assembly was burnt and that Fubara believed that Ehie’s removal was a precursor to his impeachment, which is not true.
“The misrepresentation of the internal wrangling among the members prompted the governor’s immediate intervention, making a characterised legislative brawl as an existential threat. This caused governor and his newly assembled supporters to give the action of the Assembly members an ethnic coloration and prompted youths of Ijaw extraction to rally behind the governor in the name of Ijaw nationalism.
“The hasty reaction of the governor has now pitched His Excellency, Sim Fubara, and state Assembly members in an all out battle that had led to the activation for the process of impeachment of the governor.
“The Governor neither sought the help, clarification, intervention of Wike and the elders on the development, nor did he discourage damaging lies to be peddled against Wike.
“Nyesom Wike has been viciously attacked by sections of the media and the public as the evil mastermind of the scheme and series of events he was neither involved in nor privy to,” he said.
The elders lamented that the action of Fubara led to the peddling of false allegations that Wike demanded money from the governor, adding that the governor showed ingratitude and bad faith by not immediately debunking the accusations.
Describing the allegations against Wike as false, wicked, unfair and satanic, the elders said they were only designed to discredit the minister before the gullible public.
They added: “The false stories were peddled that Wike demanded money from the governor in order to discredit him before a gullible public, which is very sad. We confirm that the allegations are wicked, unfair, satanic.
“The governor being aware of the lies and not debunking them showed bad faith and ingratitude. Governor Fubara is aware that Nyesom Wike invested heavily in the infrastructural development of Rivers State.
“Wike was selfless and applied the funds of the state judiciously. He did not steal or misappropriate Rivers State funds. To insinuate that today or create the impression that he was asking for money is most unfortunate and regrettable”.
