Wike Drags Buhari As Commander-in-Chief

By The Source

Governor of Rivers State,  Nyesom Wike says President Muhammadu Buhari should not pass his role as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to state governors.

Wike, an unrepentant critic of the president said it would be wrong to blame the governors for insecurity in the country, noting that the president appoints all the security chiefs in the country, who do not answer to the governors.

The Rivers state helmsman’s made the comment after President Buhari, said last week, that the 36 states governors are not doing enough to rein in insecurity in their states.

But speaking on the issue, Governor Wike said Buhari has the Constitutional role to tackle Insecurity and should not pass the buck on the governors who have no control over security apparatus.

Wike, who spoke at the inauguration of the 21-kilometre Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road in the Etche Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, said such a position suggested that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government lacked strategies on  how to tackle insecurity in the country.

He stated, “Mr  President, you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You appoint Inspector General of Police. You appoint the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, the commissioners of police, the Director of Department of State Services and other heads of security.

“Which one do we appoint? How can people appointed by Mr. President be under me?”

“It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must, also, be in charge of other things including security. Who signed order 10? Is it the governors?  It is not when things are going bad concerning security, and you say you’re not in charge, and it becomes governors’ responsibility,” he stated.

Wike said the APC-led Federal Government has failed to fulfil  promises made to Nigerians, adding that Nigerians should  begin to compare the performances of the Peoples Democratic Party governors  with their APC counterparts.

He said, “Mr President was short of calling names of those governors who run to Aso Rock when they are supposed to stay in their states to see the needs of their states and people.

“Mr President should have come out openly and said, ‘my APC governors, stop worrying me. Go back to your states and do your work.’ On that, I support him.

“Thank God, Mr President knows that I am not one of those that go to visit him over one problem or the other. I,  as the governor of Rivers under the PDP, you’ll never find me there,” Wike said.