Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The Igbo Community in Rivers State has debunked reports making rounds in social media that it had a meeting with Governor Nyesom Wike on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
Reacting to the social media report on Friday in Port Harcourt, the spokesman of the Igbo Community in Rivers, Mr Onwuma, explained that they were not part of the meeting with Governor Nyesom Wike as they were not invited.
He said for the Igbo Community in Rivers State to attend such a meeting, they must be invited officially.
Onwuma said: “The truth remains that we are the Igbo Community in Rivers State and if you want us to be in such a meeting, we should be properly invited. At least a letter should be sent to us, then we can look at the invitation and try to make ourselves available for such a meeting.”
The Igbo Community spokesperson further explained that the Igbos who met with Governor Nyesom Wike could be those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who he said have every right to meet with their leader.
“For me, I will speak for myself. There are Igbos in the PDP and if the governor decides to call the Igbos in the PDP, definitely they will honour that occasion,” he explained.
In what appeared to be a hint of what the Igbos in Rivers have in mind concerning the forthcoming governorship election, Onwuma revealed that the Igbo Community is committed to playing its part to ensure the actualisation of Rivers people’s collective quest for good governance in the state.
“We are the Igbo Community and we are working to enthrone good governance in Rivers State,” he said.
Checks revealed that Igbos and many other Nigerians resident in Rivers State are still feeling hurt over the manipulation of the result of the February 25 presidential election in which they massively voted for the candidate of the Labour Party, Dr Peter Obi, whom the masses across the nation believe won the election.
Checks also show that ‘Obidients’ in Rivers are not happy over the role allegedly played by Governor Nyesom Wike in the presidential election of which Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, was controversially declared the winner.
Rumours are rife that the said meeting between Governor Wike and the Igbos is part of moves by the governor to woo them and get their support for the Rivers PDP governorship candidate, Sim Fubara, ahead of the March 11 election.
TPCN further gathered that part of the Rivers PDP’s strategy to win the heart of Igbos in the state ahead of the governorship election is promising them better deals and a government position as well as presenting Sim Fubara to them as their brother, being from Opobo, the Island Kingdom founded by an Igbo slave boy, Jaja, after regaining freedom and pulling out of the Opubo House of Bonny with his family and loyalists in the 19th century.
