Rivers Political Crisis: Where Dr Odili Went Wrong, Missed Opportunity – Wike

By Akinwale Kasali

Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has revealed where his estranged mentor and political leader, Dr Peter Odili, a former Governor of Rivers State, went wrong in the bitter political crisis in the State.

Wike, the immediate past Governor of the State, who is in a do-or-die fight with the Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, for the soul of the State, spoke when he hosted his political loyalists, including a former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, and the incumbent  Governor, Senator Monday  Okpebholo, to a luncheon at his Port Harcourt residence.

He also  repeated his earlier claim that Dr. Odili peddled falsehood when he accused him, Wike, of trying to appropriate the State to himself as personal property, but for Governor Fubara who stopped him.

Accusing Odili of failure to play the role of a statesman and father-figure in the Rivers crisis, Wike explained that Odili failed to use the opportunity offered him by President Bola Tinubu to settle the crisis.

Tinubu had earlier invited Wike, Fubara and some stakeholders in the State, including Odili to the State House, Abuja, in a bid to settle the crisis. At the meeting, some agreements were reached. Some were carried out, while a couple of them, including the representation of the 2024 Budget before the Rivers State House of Assembly faction controlled by Wike.

Wike faulted Odili for not following up on the President’s peace initiative by going back to him, Mr President, to brief him on what has been done, what has not been done, suggesting and/or seeking the way forward. Instead, according to Wike, Odili allegedly encouraged Fubara to disobey the President by not representing the 2024 Budget as stated in the peace  agreement.

Wike: “Tinubu called Rivers people, including your elder statesman, (Odili), supposedly. You are Tinubu’s colleague, and Mr President read this thing (peace agreement) to them, and you read it and came back home.

“Ordinarily, what you (Odili) should have done was to call Mr President back and say, ‘Mr President, I have tried, we have implemented A, B, C, D, E. It remains F, G, H. Is there any way we can meet again to reconcile F, G,H? Never, rather, you encouraged him (Fubara) to disobey everything Mr President said.”

On the allegation that he wanted to appropriate the State to himself but was stopped by Fubara, Wike repeated his earlier claim that the contrary was the case. He noted that those making the allegations have children serving in government as commissioners, questioning how he could have turned Rivers State into his personal property.

“Those who made the allegations have their children serving as Commissioners. Is any of my children a Commissioner? I never converted the state into my personal estate,” he said.

He told his  guests, who included a former Governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole and Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, the FCT minister insisted that he would not apologise for his comments on Odili.

“He (Odili) said somebody is converting Rivers State to his personal estate and we have now come to show statistics that it is not correct. The man who is converting Rivers State to a personal estate is you, and to crown it all, you are now the general overseer.

Wike, also revealed that he deliberately worked against the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the party’s former Chairman, Uche Secondus.

Wike said, “When I said Secondus, you will not be Chairman again, yes, I did it. In 2023, they said Atiku was coming, I said where? There was nothing I was not offered. I told PDP I would not support Atiku because I am not a second-class citizen. I must support the South to produce a President. Even though I know their offer was wayo (fake).”

The Minister also boasted about his unbroken record of electoral victories. He said: “I ran for the Local Government election in 1999, and up until today, I have never lost an election, and nobody I have supported has lost. I have no regret in supporting Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

However, many have pointed out that Wike began to support Tinubu after he failed to clinch the Vice Presidential ticket of the PDP. “He desperately fought to be Atiku’s running mate. He made an about-face and supported Tinubu when Atiku rejected him and picked Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa instead. If Atiku had picked Wike, would he be talking about supporting a Southern candidate? He wanted to run against Tinubu with Atiku. Let him deny that. He should give us some slides and remember that we were all witnesses to what transpired then.”

For the records, Wike is not in good terms with any of his Rivers State Governor- predecessors.