Wike and Political Shenanigans in Rivers State: Again When a People Opt for Docility by Freewill
By: Ifeanyi Izeze
Nobody that knew Rivers state before now that would not be baffled by the present-day docility by choice of a people once feared and respected in the entire Niger Delta as a no-nonsense people second only to the people of Delta state. Where are the real Rivers people? Is it not tragic that while men slept, the enemy slunk in to paint the state on a canvass of obvious aberrations and absurdities all because of one man’s greed and personal interest?
The reason for the declaration of a state of emergency, as I have said all along, never existed. The President was deceived; he was lied to. And as long as he continues to act on what he is being told without hearing the people of Rivers State, he’s unconsciously saying the people are victims not just of Nyesom Wike but also of the Presidency.
How can the FCT Minister say “peace has returned to Rivers state”? Despite the widely reported reconciliation between him and Sim Fubara, why has the suspended governor not been reinstated? Instead the federal government through its imposed sole administrator with inspiration from the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio is going ahead against all existing laws and protocol to conduct local government elections before even bringing up the issue of reinstating the duly elected governor? Is that genuine peace?
Now, let’s look at it closely: In the fight between Nyesom Wike and Siminilayi Fubara some people are saying the FCT Minister has won. The question is: win what, how? Whether he wants to accept it or not, in the bigger picture, Wike is the terrible loser and I hope it’s dawning on him by now.
The President declared a state of emergency and appointed sole administrator Ibok Ibas who is not answerable to Rivers people but only to Abuja. Wike cannot touch him, Fubara cannot question him and Rivers State Assembly impotent, disabled and, of course suspended. In these past months, governance has not been in the hands of politicians from Rivers State. It has been on federal control- by the Presidency and the Senate.
Rivers people should accept the conscious truth that what is happening or has happened between Wike and Sim Fubara is nothing compared to what the federal government is doing and still planning to do more to the state.
Now let’s look at real issues – the Rivers State(people’s) Money!
From March – August 2025, the state would have received over N46 billion monthly FAAC Allocation. That’s over N279 billion for the six months. Then add the projected internally generated revenue of over N130 billion. That’s over N400 billion. This money is single-handedly spent without an elected governor or a legislature. No oversight, no questioning of any sort.
N400 billion handled by complete outsider, a man who wasn’t voted nor elected through any means; who has not been consulting Rivers people before spending their money and; who answers only to the Presidency and the Senate President.
And what did Wike get from that? Nothing! Not control, not structure! The Federal Government side-lined both Wike and Fubara and took over River State by the back door. Wike’s political power has always been tied to control, structure, resources and, loyalty. With the sole administrator in charge, who is he controlling? He cannot influence spending; he cannot install loyalists. This is not just a loss of face, it is a loss of access and access you know is everything. Access to funds, access to appointments, access to decisions.
So now Wike is smiling everywhere like a deaf and dumb person that received healing miracle at a church crusade. Is the smile real? No! It’s fake, all fake! He can’t even believe that he is almost schemed out of relevance by the people he ran to for help in destabilizing Rivers state.
Now the truth many are avoiding to tell is that the former governor did not call for reconciliation with his so called godson out of generosity. He called for it out of survival because he now knows that if the Sole Administrator stays more months his entire political relevance would disappear.
Just think about it, if President Tinubu can afford to run Rivers State without Wike, if he can receive and spend N400 billion of Rivers State money without consulting Wike, then ask yourself: what use is Wike to the centre? No use! Once you stop adding influence, you get kicked off the table. So the so -called reconciliation is not a trophy, it’s a lifeline for him.
Wike did not return victorious, he returned just in time before Tinubu and the Presidency find out they don’t have need for him anymore. And take it or leave it, even if it comes to the 2027 presidential election, the Sole Administrator with all the emergency rule structures being put in place can deliver Rivers state to Tinubu far better than what Wike is thinking he can do. So where is his relevance in the scheme of things now? An African proverb has it that when brothers fight to death, strangers inherit their father’s land/compound.
There’s already a covert initiative, as alleged, by the Senate President to have his hand on the control or rather to increase his influence in the power game in Rivers state. This is another complication for the FCT minister but let’s just leave it there for now.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared a state of emergency on Rivers on March 18, 2025, for an initial six month- period. He suspended Governor Siminilayi Joseph Fubara, his deputy, Prof Ngozi Odu and the 32-member legislature.
He, reportedly influenced by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Chief Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, appointed Vice Admiral Ibok Ete Ekwe Ibas as the sole administrator of the state.
Ibas, a retired Chief of Naval Staff from Cross River State, also appointed and recommended Dr. Michael Ekpali Odey, another Cross River indigene, confirmed by the National Assembly (NASS) as Chairman of RSIEC, along with seven new commissioners. Another aberration!
So how else can anybody describe the upcoming local government election scheduled to be conducted in Rivers state under a declared state of emergency if not as a complete aberration and a rape of the Constitution? What’s the justification for organising council polls under conditions that, by constitutional definition, suspend democratic operations?
You suspended a duly- elected governor illegally, strip him of his powers and then planning to reinstall him as a lame duck. Is it not clear there’s an agenda here?
The man who was brought in, Ibas, is not a Rivers man and he was not elected by Rivers people. Now, he came in and he unconstitutionally removed people that the elected governor placed in constitutionally recognised positions. He removed them. He then went further to create sole administrators for local governments. What is his business? Why is the government insisting that this sole administrator must conduct the local government election before he leaves?
Let us assume that the scheduled August 30th election is going to take place, and people are going to be elected, and the governor is going to be reinstated. When the governor comes back, is he going to work with people he doesn’t know or both sides will tolerate each other till 2027 at the expense of the overall interests of Rivers state?
The people are being ignored and even rubbished just for the selfishness and greed of one man that is now being used by the Presidency to also achieve his own selfish agenda in the state.
Why is Tinubu, not listening to the people of Rivers state? Is it not obvious that the President has never made this peace deal or rather conflict resolution about the people of the state?
Rivers people should actually rise up and ask why these illegalities are going on, and being allowed to go on by the Courts, the Presidency and, the Senate President.
We all know how the President Tinubu as the then governor of Lagos State fought the then-president Olusegun Obasanjo when the latter attempted to do something similar in Lagos State. Now, we have a non-indigene who is not an elected official, overseeing the fate of Rivers state including her resources (money). God is not sleeping!
(IFEANYI IZEZE lives in Abuja: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009)
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