By Uche Mbah
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has adduced reasons why the Inspector-General of Police, IG, Mohammed Adamu, ordered him out of Edo state during the Edo governorship election. Wike said it was born out of vendetta.
Speaking on a Channels Television interview programme, Friday Morning, Wike said the IGP was piqued because he protested, and refused to allow deductions from his allocations for the Police Welfare Fund.
Recall that it was widely reported that the IG told the Governor , in the heat of the Edo election tension, that “You must leave Edo state”. This order by the IGP was carried on Wike’s Twitter account.
Praising the actions of the Security Agencies during the election, Wike said the action of the IG was not related to the General activities of the Security agencies.
“The IG called me. I was in my hotel room. I was not outside the room. The IG called me on the phone and told me: ‘You must leave Edo state'”.
Wike said he told IG that he would not leave the state, because he is the Chairman of the Campaign Committee of a party, and has a duty to stay and write his report on the elections for the party. According to him, he found no reason why he should leave while the Governors of Kano, and Imo States, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and Senator Hope Uzodinma, respectively, were walking about unmolested.
Asked why he thought he was singled out by the iG, he said: “It was vendetta.”
According to him, the Federal government had told him it was deducting money from his allocations for “Police funds”, but he objected, saying that they cannot deduct money from his allocation without first discussing with him. According to him, such deductions are illegal since the Police is a Federal institution and not a state one. In any case, he said, State Governments actually pick the bills of Police Commands in their respective States, including buying them operational vehicles.
His refusal to allow the FG tamper with Rivers Funds, according to him, was why the IG was angry with him and wanted him out of Edo state.
On other reasons why the election in Edo was peaceful, he attributed it to the fear of the UK and US ban.
Recall that before the elections, the Embassies of the US announced that the US had placed travel ban on certain Nigerians. According to Wike, some of those involved are Governors and even heads of Security Agencies .
“Nobody wanted their families to be banned from travel to the US, UK, or the EU. So they behaved themselves”, Wike said. “The ban had an influence on the outcome of the elections”.
The PDP candidate, Governor Godwin Obaseki, defeated the APC candidate, Pastor Ize-Iyamu, with a margin of over 80,000 votes.
