The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has advised residents of Rivers State to understand the issues before getting involved in any political conflict.
He also accused some elders of the state for wrongfully faulting President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the crisis between him and the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
Wike who spoke on Sunday during the thanksgiving and marriage anniversary of the immediate past Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Dr Des George-Kelly, at the Kings’ Assembly in Port Harcourt, faulted the state elders who said Tinubu did not have constitutional powers to meddle in the political crisis in the state.
He said, “Let me tell the church, you know blackmail is the easiest thing. So many of you may be believing what is going on. So many of you may also follow on the road without knowing where you are heading.
“If I were you, sit down and ask yourself can this be true? But just because we are no longer in power you may want to believe everything they have said. Power and money if you are not careful can destroy you. It can also make, depending on how you handle it.”
According to the minister, who was the immediate past governor of the state, he has never done anything to bring the State backward, saying he fought so many states to bring back Rivers’ oil wells.
“The money accruing from those oil wells today is not in my pocket but for the interest of the state. To show character, when I was here I never went to see the Federal Government. I was the only opposition to the federal government. I challenged them.
“That is how you know people when they say they want to do something and they do it. I’m not a man that you can convince just because of a porridge of yam, no. it is not possible.
“Don’t get involved in any fight between two politicians without knowing the root cause.”
“In any facet of life, there are rules and they must be obeyed. As a pastor, there are rules you must follow. So as politicians, we must follow rules.
“While I was governor I followed those rules, and that’s why I was able to succeed.
“When I was running for governor in 2014/2015, I was invited that some elders wanted to see me. When I got there, I saw only two people. Just two of them constituted themselves as elders over the whole state.
“They said elders of the state have decided that I should not contest the election. I said it must be a joke. Now they’ve come back again as elders.
“Check everyone there, some of them their sons lost the election. Everybody wants to take their pound of flesh. ‘Wike prevented me from this. Wike made me not to be that. Wike made me not to be that.’ Even those that Wike made have joined them.”
He warned those he called propagandists, accusing this same group of elders who were calling on the President to wade into the crisis as being the ones now faulting his intervention.
“You are the ones who said the President should intervene. Now the President has come to bring peace, you said no, you don’t have the constitutional powers.
“All of us must love this state but don’t listen to propaganda. There is nothing I’m looking for in this state now. I have my own budget as FCT Minister. I have my own commissioners.
“All I’m saying is if you are a politician play according to the rules.”
“All of us in this state irrespective of where you come from know this state belongs to all of us. There is nothing like Ijaw, there is nothing like Ikwerre. All I know is Rivers State.”
