Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike declared last night that he had no apologies to offer any one for threatening to put fire in any Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled state undermining his position in the party.
The Nation quoted Wike, speaking on Channels Television, as also vowing that nothing would ever make him support his estranged political godson and successor as Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara,again.
Wike in the television interview said the communiqué issued by the PDP Governors Forum and read by Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed in which they pledged their support for Fubara to assume the party’s structure in Rivers State undermined him (Wike), and he only responded accordingly.
He said it did not even matter to the governors whether their position on the Rivers PDP was legal or not.
“I said to the Governors Forum, and I repeat without any apology to anybody anywhere, heaven will never fall,” he said.
“In fact, when heaven falls, everybody will be at peace. As I sit as Minister of the FCT from Rivers State, I was a governor.
“Yes, the only person I can say I have no relationship with is the governor of Zamfara. I don’t know him, all other governors I know them, they know me, we have a relationship; and you mean that you want to violate the processes, the constitution of our party; you came out on national television after your meeting where the governor of Bauchi State, the chairman of PDP Governors Forum, who came out to read a communiqué with his colleagues that they were going to make sure their brother, their friend in River State take over the structure, and it doesn’t matter whether it is illegal or legal.
“And I’m sitting as the Minister of the FCT from that state? You look at it that I am nobody in that state and you make that statement? And you think I should fold my hands because you say you’re a governor, which I was never before? You look at me and tell me that and expect me to fold my hands? And you think everything is well?”
Asked if he regretted his reaction especially because it connoted violence, Wike shot back: “How can I regret it? I did not make any bad statement…. What is fire, it is figurative…. I said you want to cause crisis in my state, you too, you’ll have crisis in your state.
“I never said that Bauchi State would be on fire, or that Oyo State will be on fire. What’s my business? All I’m saying is if you don’t want my state to be politically stable, if you want to illegally, unconstitutionally interfere in a legitimate process, in a legal process that is going on, and you want me to fold my hands and say because you are a governor, because you are chairman of the governors’ forum, you will use your position to say people who have been elected and sworn in, NWC, NEC cancel it. Who told you that I don’t have the capacity to say you too in your state, that crisis will be there?”
On Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark who had asked for Wike’s arrest in response to the threat to put fire in PDP states undermining his position, the minister wondered whether Clark is a member of the party and whether he pays his dues accordingly.
Responding to a question on how some power brokers in the PDP now see him as a mole in the party,the minister said: “Nobody, no governor today in the PDP, nobody born of a woman can say I’m an outsider. Seun (the interviewer) before I took this appointment, I wrote to PDP, I wrote to PDP national, I wrote to PDP zonal and I wrote to PDP in my state. My governor also signed a letter that I should take the appointment, yes, it’s true.
“The zonal wrote that I should accept. Who in PDP did not write or nominate names to President Tinubu for appointment? They did, yes. Let them come to say they did not do it. You see, the problem we are having in this country is that some people think they’re too smart. They want to use people and I’m not that kind of person. I dare anybody to come out and say I’m a mole.
“In 2023, did I not say I would not support PDP for president? Did I not say I won’t support them because it was not fair, that it’s against equity, that it’s against justice. Did PDP not win governorship, did PDP not win national assembly and state assembly elections?”
Asked if he was not worried that supporting an Oyigbo or Ogoni candidate as governor for 2007, could cause crisis in Rivers , Wike replied: “I have not told you I am supporting (anyone). I’ve not said so; what I am saying is that because of what they’re doing, it’s like we made a mistake. Ogoni have a right and the Oyigbo have a right to make the statement they have made – whether it will materialise or not is a totally different thing. The question should be, is it workable?”
Will he support Governor Fubara if push comes to shove? He said: “I will never support Fubara in my political life again.”
Asked exactly what the governor’s offence was, Wike said, “No, it’s not about me. People laboured to put up structures, people laboured to put you where you wouldn’t even have taken the 50th position.
“I sacrificed to talk to the Ogoni, I sacrificed to talk to so many people, let us go this way. You turned it that I am asking for 20billion, hundred billion… you turned it to lies against me. I brought you up, put you there, push you here, today, I turned a villain, Wike is demanding. What’s Wike demanding? In politics, you benefit from other people and people benefit from you. You rose through somewhere…”
