By Uche Amunike
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has stated that he regrets giving his support to incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara to succeed him as the number one man in the state, even though many of his allies indicated interest in succeeding him at the time.
Recall that during that time, Nyesom Wike threw his weight behind Fubara, who was his Accountant-General then, which made him defeat 16 other contenders during the primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he garnered 721 votes, for which he eventually thanked Nyesom Wike for his unalloyed support.
He won the March governorship election, but surprisingly less than six months after he came into power, Fubara fell out with Wike and till date, all efforts to reconcile the two have proved abortive.
The crisis got to a point where the Rivers State High Court restrained lawmakers that are loyal to Wike from parading themselves as members of the State Assembly.
During his speech at a function in Ogu/Bolo Loal Government Area of Rivers State, over the weekend, Nyesom Wike stated that lawmakers should not entertain any fear over what he called ‘Odd Hour Injunction’. Hear him: ‘If they like, they can go to anybody by 2am or 4am to get injunction. The law will take its course. We must follow due process,’ he said.
‘Don’t be afraid. Nobody will remove you as lawmakers. Most of you don’t understand. This is our work. Our business is to make them to fear. That is what I am doing. We will make them to be angry every day and they will continue to make mistakes. So don’t worry yourselves. We won’t give money to anybody to go and buy arms to kill anybody. I have maintained peace and I want to beg all of you to continue to maintain peace.’
‘Nobody will tell me that I can’t live in my house or not go to my house. But all of you should maintain the peace. Follow law and due process. We will get to the end.’
He further stated: ‘As you see me, I stand straight. I think well. I came with Senator Magnus Abe. I work with people that have brains.’
‘In politics, when people with brains agree they disagree. Those, who don’t know what to do said they would bring me down. Who born them? They are nowhere. When you are in charge, you are in charge.’
‘Everything will calm down. All these people running around, they would come down. Boma worked for his appointment, he showed loyalty and commitment, and that is why God placed him there. Don’t worry. Let me also advise you: forget about how they abuse us. You must be alive for people to abuse you. If you are dead, will they abuse you? At the appropriate time when the results will be announced, we will know who is who. We have defeated them severally.’
Wike thanked the people of Ogu for their continuous loyalty, even as he tendered his apologies to them for making the mistake of supporting Fubara to succeed him and vowed that he would correct that mistake at the appropriate time.
His words: ‘I want to say this clearly: in life, we make mistakes. I have made a mistake. I own it up and I say God forgive me. I have said all of you forgive me. But we will correct it at the appropriate time.’
‘I am human. I am bound to make mistakes. So forgive me for making a wrong judgment. So nobody should kill.’
