“My Quarrel With Wike, Blessing In Disguise, Gave Me Freedom” – Fubara … Reveals Anglican Primate’s Role

By Adesina Soyooye

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has described his quarrel with Nyesom Wike, as a blessing in disguise. It gave him the wings to fly.

Wike, Fubara’s predecessor and estranged political godfather, is the Minister for the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The two have been entangled in a bitter political quarrel over who really would exercise power as the State Governor. The office is a position Wike left after eight years, and was majorly instrumental to installing Fubara as Governor, but it is alleged that even after leaving office, he refused to give Fubara a breathing space. His influence in the day to day affairs of the Government was suffocating, it is alleged.

An effort by Fubara,  allegedly, to exercise a little power by appointing one Commissioner out of the lot, without referring to Wike, lit the fire that is still burning in the State.

All efforts by a number of highly placed individuals (and groups), including President Bola Tinubu to settle the rift  failed.

But Fubara, who had always said he wanted peace between him and Wike, and disclosed once that he had had to kneel down before Wike to secure peace, is now thanking God that their quarrel was not settled. He says the quarrel is a blessing from God; that it has offered him freedom; freedom to work for Rivers people; that but for the quarrel, he would not have had that freedom.

The Governor spoke in Port Hacourt when he received in audience the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Henry Ndukauba and other Archbishops and Bishops of the Church in audience. He, also, used the opportunity to reveal that the Primate made a number of attempts to settle the quarrel between him and Wike but to no avail.  He said the Primate made several phone calls, booked appointments to meet with the two of them, but such appointments were not honoured. He, however, did not reveal who between the two of them disrespected the Primate by ignoring the appointments.

Both Wike and Fubara are of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.

Addressing the Primate while receiving the top hierarchy of the Church at the Government House, Port Harcourt, Fubara said: “God has a way of doing his things. May be if we had got peace, I wouldn’t be enjoying the freedom that I am enjoying today.

“I start first in a very unusual way to say thank you. This appreciation would have come much earlier. Many of you may not understand why I an thanking him.

“When the crisis started, as a man of God who believes that the two main parties (He and Wike) are people from his Communion, he made several phone calls, and booked several appointments, but none of them was granted to him.

“I want to thank him for what he did even though it didn’t yield the required result. But, you see, God has a way of doing things.

“May be if we had got peace then, I wouldn’t be enjoying the freedom that I am enjoying today.

“So, at times, God will be saying, let the trouble be there so there will be peace. But that is not to say that we encourage trouble.

“Peace remains the best thing both internally and externally because it attracts development.”