Rivers Crisis: Cause Of Wike And Fubara Political Feud Revealed
The true cause of the ongoing political conflict between Governor Siminalaye Fubara of Rivers State and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, has been revealed in an interview with Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe on Channels TV.
The crisis in Rivers has intensified, resulting in resignations and defections among Wike’s supporters in the executive cabinet and the House of Assembly.
Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, who serves as the National Coordinator of the South-South Leadership Forum, disclosed on Saturday that Governor Siminalayi Fubara had even offered to resign before the state’s crisis reached its current level.
As per Sara-Igbe, the discord between the governor and his predecessor stems from the mismanagement of Rivers State’s internally generated revenue (IGR).
He stated, “What is the problem? Wike has come to tell the world that he was fighting Sim because Sim wanted to take his structure. What is the structure six months after elections; we are not close to elections, so what has structure got to do?
“Let me tell you about the structure; before Wike left government, the state was making over N10bn internally generated revenue (monthly). When he left, the IGR came down to N6bn. And the governor, a former Accountant General of the state, asked questions and in the process he engaged somebody to look at the books, and the commissioner of finance reported to Wike and the former governor got angry. That is the structure.
“Secondly, the money coming from the federation account, Wike tied the money to one project or the other. So, when the money comes, it goes to the banks and they collect theirs from it and pay the contractors. Of course, we didn’t even know the cost of the contracts, so when this governor felt, ‘how will I run a government when I don’t have the resources’, the minister became hostile to the governor and the governor said ‘okay, let me resign if that is the case’. The PDP elders prevailed on him not to resign, thinking it would be messy.
“As soon as that ended, I came on air and advised Nyesom Wike to leave this man alone to govern, allow him, even if he’s your son’. I even went as far as giving him references like the Sarakis. Dr Olusola Saraki brought the son, Bukola, to that seat but when their ideologies did not agree, the son told him to go and rest.”
Sara-Igbe mentioned that making a governor subservient in Nigeria is challenging due to the substantial influence and power wielded by those holding the office.
He added, “You cannot make somebody a governor; a very important seat in Nigeria – that was the seat Odili sat and he almost became the president; that was the seat (former governor Rotimi) Amaechi sat and he connived with others to remove a sitting president; that is the seat Wike himself sat and became a superman – and you are asking somebody who is on that seat to be subservient.
The political turmoil in Rivers State has intensified, resulting in the emergence of two factional speakers in the state Assembly, the defection of 27 PDP lawmakers to the APC, the demolition of the state assembly complex, and a wave of resignations from the governor’s cabinet in recent weeks.
