Elder-Statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has given the major reason why Mr Nyesom Wike fell out with President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife, Dame Patience despite their significant roles in making him governor of Rivers State in 2015.
Clark spoke as he called on President Bola Tinubu to rein in the former governor and incumbent minister of the FCT from his alleged moves to distabilise the Simi Fubara administration in Rivers State.
Noting that the former governor has been overbearing on his successor, Clark said that it was for that reason that he and others opposed the move by President Jonathan to make Wike governor of Rivers State in 2015.
He said:
“Today he has not even respect for those who put him in that office. When he was minister of state for education former President Jonathan and his wife stood by him, we said no, Wike cannot be governor, he hasn’t got the temperament of being governor, more so, upland has got enough, they refused. But today, he does not respect them, he believes he is a small god. I am not suprisied, he was a local government chairman and today he is now minister of the FCT.”
“I understand the sad episode is being orchestrated by the immediate past Governor of Rivers State and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Nyesom Wike. And that the intention is to remove the Governor, force his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu to resign, and install the Speaker of the House of Assembly, another Ikwerre person as the governor of the state.
“Let me warn strongly, we won’t allow that to happen. President Bola Tinubu must call Nyesom Wike and the security agencies in Rivers State to order, to avert any untold crisis in Rivers State.
“The consequences would be dire for the stability of the region and the national economy. What has Governor Fubara done wrong? Refusing to be further ‘remote controlled?’ Mr. Nyesom Wike was governor for 8 years, nobody hassled him. He governed Rivers State like an emperor, he did not show any iota of respect and regard to anyone, not even those who imposed him on Rivers people in 2015.”
