Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Edwin Clark, has urged President Bola Tinubu to call the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, to order.
Gatekeepers News reports that the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) made this plea in an open letter to the President on Monday.
Clark said Wike is just one of the 48 ministers in the President’s cabinet and he should be called to face his job as FCT minister and not insist on controlling the political structure in his home state, Rivers State.
The Ijaw leader said, “As a member of your cabinet, you may need to call this minister to order to face the work in the quietness which is demanded of him.
“He should focus on his office and know that he is just one among a cabinet of 48 persons, besides the Vice President and yourself.
“The country has enough problems which your government must sit down to solve. The FCT itself is full of challenges all over and he has more than he can chew and therefore avoid these distractions.”
The PANDEF leader said if all former governors insist on controlling their successors, there will be chaos in the country.
This was in reaction to a fresh political crisis in Rivers State as 27 members of the State House of Assembly on Monday defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The 27 members were said to be loyal to Martins Amaewhule (a member of the State House of Assembly), an ally of Wike, have been embroiled in a Speakership tussle with another member, Edison Ehie.
Meanwhile, Ehie is known to be in the camp of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The Assembly under Amaewhule had in October served an impeachment notice on the governor and removed Ehie as the House leader. However, some members of the Assembly loyal to Fubara immediately impeached Amaewhule and made Ehie the new Speaker.
The crisis in the 32-member Assembly had begun as a result of a rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike.
In October, the President met with both Wike and Fubara to resolve the crisis.
Clark, in his letter to the President said the situation was not yet over and things seem to be degenerating by the day.
The PANDEF leader said Rivers State is very important to the stability of the Niger Delta and the overall national economy and any breakdown of law and order will not be in the overall interest of all.
He said he is surprised at Wike’s public utterances despite that Fubara had apologised to him.
The elder statesman said, “On one occasion, he stated that ‘impeachment is not a military coup”, ‘a total outrage when all hands are on deck to consolidate this democracy under your leadership.
“In fact, in his recent interview held on Friday, 24th November, 2023, the Minister charged to one of his group of guests that the Governor is ungrateful, concluding that ‘I cannot stand ingrates’.
“He continued stating how he had helped the Governor to become what he had become today and threatening publicly that he would continue the fight if the Governor ‘changes the structures which I left in the state’.”
He wondered why is the FCT minister is keeping structures and for what purpose. He recalled that Wike had attacked the concept of godfatherism as totally unacceptable and this made him to fall out with his predecessor, RotimiAmaechi.
The nonagenarian said, “So, what purpose are the structures supposed to serve when there is a governor in place? This is a question that he owes you and all Nigerians.
“If all governors who as a matter of right, insist on allowing their favoured candidates as successor, insist on controlling them, insist on controlling the State Assemblies, insist on controlling the structure which they left behind, what manner of confusion will we have in Nigeria?”
