By Kolawole Ojebisi
Former Governor of Rivers state and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has hinted at what he told his immediate successor and suspended Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, during their recent meeting at the former’s residence in Port Harcourt.
Wike spoke during a media chat on Monday in Abuja.
The minister, who was not forthcoming with details of the meeting, gave snippets of information concerning the intended parley he had with his immediately successor.
Wike said Fubara visited him, accompanied by two governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC but he pointedly told the suspended governor that he has no capacity for making peace.
“I told him I don’t think you really have the capacity to make this peace,” he said.
Giving the reason for his claim, Wike maintained that Fubara cannot be suing for peace while “his lieutenants are busy all over television stations abusing people”.
He, however, hinted at the condition he gave the suspended governor initiate fruitful peace talks, saying, “apart from meeting” him, Fubara “must take steps to meet other stakeholders like the State Assembly, the Party and other stakeholders for peace to reign.”
Recall that Fubara on Sunday warned his loyalists against heating up the already tense political atmosphere in Rivers while suing for peace.
He spoke during a service of songs held in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital, in honour of the late Edwin Clark, elder statesman and the leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF).
Fubara was reacting to how some members of the Elders Forum kept referring to him as “governor” while taking turns to condemn his suspension during their speeches at the occasion.
He dissociated himself from those statements, describing them as personal views not aligned with his approach.
Fubara said such comments were unlikely to support peace in the state.
Wike’s estranged ally expressed concerns that actions taken by some of his backers had, in fact, worsened the crisis.
He charged the audience to focus their reflections on Clark’s life and legacy, rather than turning the event into a political protest.
Fubara and Nyesom Wike, have been locked in a bitter political standoff since late 2023.
At the height of the supremacy battle between the duo, President Bola Tinubu, in December 2024, stepped in and brokered a peace deal between the two politicians.
However, on March 18, the president declared a state of emergency in Rivers and suspended Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, as well as the entire state legislature.
Tinubu named Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired naval chief, as sole administrator of the state.
The development saw the federal government take direct control of Rivers, dissolving the state’s existing structures.
