FCT Minister and the immediate-past governor of Rivers state, Barr Nyesom Wike has spoken about his rift with his successor, Governor Sim Fubara.
He stated that he put him in power yet Fubara betrayed him by refusing to comply with their agreement.
Wike also denied influencing the State House of Assembly to threaten to impeach Fubara, adding that he and the governor are now in different political camps even though they both still belong to the People’s Democratic Party.
Speaking during a media chat in Abuja on Tuesday, the former Rivers governor asked his successor to solve his issues with the state Assembly and to stop treating them as his boys.
Wike also asked Fubara to honour the agreement they entered into before he emerged as the governor and the one he signed when President Bola Tinubu intervened in the Rivers crisis.
The minister added that while he was the Rivers governor, he allowed Fubara to attend the State Executive Council meetings and also handed over projects to him to inaugurate.
According to Wike, he would not intervene in the crisis since Fubara did not come to him to request his assistance.
He said, “I put him (Fubara) there too. Let him just comply with the agreement, and I don’t have a problem.”
Speaking further, the minister wondered why Fubara refused to re-present the 2024 budget after the court had invalidated an earlier budget he presented.
He asked rhetorically: “What is it in the budget that you don’t want to present?”
When challenged on why he can not concentrate on his job as FCT minister, he responded by saying, “Leave Rivers State? Am I from where? Am I from Abuja? I should not oil my political machinery. Control where?”
Wike referenced what was happening in Akwa Ibom State, saying, “Akwa Ibom governor, did he not take every member of Udom’s (Emmanuel) cabinet?
“People are terrible! The whole cabinet supported you. The best is to take 50%, 50%. What’s wrong with that?
“Is that control? Solve your problem. I, as a minister, have a good relationship with the National Assembly because I need them.”
