Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has said that he is proud to have made an Ijaw man the governor of Rivers State.
Speaking at an event organised in his honour by Rivers Ijaw Peoples Congress in Port Harcourt, on Saturday, Wike said God used him to make Siminalayi Fubara the governor of the oil rich state.
“Let me thank this team for this strategic meeting here today. First of all, when I was approached by Senator Johnson Nsakebor. He was sent by the Rivers Ijaw Congress that they want to honour me. I asked what the essence of such was. Why do you want to waste such money? I need the money, give it to me. But he said so many people go on television and speak as if they were speaking on behalf of the Ijaw people. I said okay, I will come and let Nigerians know.
“This gathering here today is a message to those of them in Abuja who don’t understand. So, if anybody tell you one day that the Ijaw people are fighting me, it is not correct. We have some ungrateful people everywhere. A father can have 12 children, and one can be an armed robber. Does that mean that the whole family are armed robbers?
“So, all these people going to television to say Ijaw people are fighting me. Ask them; all the Ijaw people in the House of Assembly were positioned,” he said.
The former Rivers State governor asserted that nobody has monopoly of violence, adding that he and his camp have chosen to play according to the rule of law for the betterment of the state.
“Who has Fubara made? All the things you see are people who are envious of our growth. They couldn’t do what we are doing today. These are people who we have defeated politically several times. If the opportunity comes again, we will defeat them again.
“I have made an Ijaw man governor of Rivers State. God used us. All of us here had sleepless nights. So who loves Ijaw more? Is it people who come out on television who can not even make their Ijaw brother governor? If they had been that powerful since the old Rivers State, would Ijaw man have never become governor? Where are they?
“I have told people that nobody has a monopoly on causing violence. The mere fact that we choose to play according to the rule of law; to be calm and not turn ourselves into where investors would run away, and that is what we will continue to do,” Wike added.
The minister and Fubara have been at loggerheads for over a year over the control of the political structure in the state.
