Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate-past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says there would be no breakdown of peace if the Rivers State House of Assembly impeached embattled Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
He also described Fubara as uncharitable for abusing the generosity of other ethnic stocks in Rivers State who allowed the minority Ijaw to govern the state through the Governor locked in a stiff battle with the 27 majority members of the House of Assembly.
Speaking with the media in Abuja on Wednesday, Wike dismissed fears that impeaching Fubara would lead to chaos.
For him, impeachment was a process duly recognised by the Constitution and it could be invoked against the Governor.
Wike said: “If you have committed an offence needing you to be impeached, what’s wrong? Is it a criminal offence? It’s provided in the Constitution. Am I a member of the Assembly?”
The former Governor accused Fubara of withholding lawmakers’ salaries for months, which for him constituted an impeachable offence.
He criticized those predicting unrest if the governor is removed, calling such claims “rubbish.”
“I have heard people say: ‘Oh, if they impeach him, there will be a breakdown of law and order’. Rubbish! Nothing will happen,” Wike stated.
He further argued that if the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly was not interested in peace, it would have gone on a six-month recess following the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Rivers political crisis.
Wike also dismissed a letter written to the Assembly by Fubara, insisting that the governor could have handled the situation better.
Wike insisted that for peace to return in the state, the Governor must toe the right path.
According to him, Fubara must represent the 2025 budget to the State Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule, and also resubmit the names of his commissioners for clearance.
Wike said: “What is peace? What is important is, let the right thing be done. When the right things are done, there will be peace.
“But if the right thing is not done, how would you say you want peace? Peace is predicated on doing the right thing.
“Go and re-present the budget, go and submit the list of the commissioners. You cannot do illegality.”
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Wike narrated how he picked Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the position despite some politicians of Ijaw extraction kicking against the decision.
He also said that Ijaws were a minority in Rivers State and the Niger Delta, and stood no chance of becoming governors in any other state in the region apart from Bayelsa.
He submitted: “Let me tell you something and people should have that right. Ijaw does not constitute the majority of the Nigerian Delta. People must speak out the truth, heaven will not fall, we only die once not two times. Ijaw does not constitute the majority of the Nigerian Delta, what nonsense everyday you wake up, Ijaw will do this.
“In Akwa Ibom, Ijaw cannot be Governor, in Delta, Ijaw is the minority of the minority, with all due respect to our late Elder Statesman, Pa Edwin Clark, he has never produced Ijaw man to be Governor, he has never.
“The only place an Ijaw man can solely be Governor is in Bayelsa State. Not in Edo, not in Rivers where they are a minority of the minority. it is out of our benevolence, live and let live, we picked an Ijaw man to be Governor.”
