The immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has provided insights into the ongoing feud between Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers State, and his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.
In a video, Amaechi attributed the core of the conflict to issues surrounding the sharing of funds.
According to Amaechi, the two parties involved in the dispute—Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and the suspended governor of Rivers State—need to clarify the real reasons behind their rift to the public. He stated, “Okay, so the fight between the former governor of Rivers State – the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and the current governor is about sharing money.”
He continued, “If not what’s the quarrel, the truth is that Nigerians don’t dislike corruption again because I’ve not seen anybody on the streets shouting about what is the quarrel. If not can both of them come to the public and tell us what the quarrel is about?”
In his comments on the suspension of Fubara and President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State, Amaechi expressed concerns over the perceived threat to democracy in the region. He criticized the actions of the president, claiming that they deprived the people of Rivers State of the chance to experience a democratic system.
Amaechi argued, “And then, we are now denied democracy, so Rivers State is the only state in the country that can’t practice democracy. They’ve imposed a military rule on us.” He went further to accuse President Tinubu of acting beyond the powers granted by the Constitution. He pointed out that Section 188 of the Constitution outlines the legal processes through which a governor may leave office—whether by death, resignation, or impeachment. “It (the Constitution) didn’t say that one day you’ll wake up and one man called the president of Nigeria will throw you out of office,” Amaechi added.
Amaechi concluded by stating that the intervention of President Tinubu in resolving the political crisis in Rivers State has made the nation’s democracy unstable.
