The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that he occasionally weeps when he reflects on the betrayal he experienced from his political protégé and successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The Port City News reported that Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, was embroiled in a political feud with Fubara since 2023—an impasse that fuelled a protracted political crisis in the South-South state.
In response to the escalating tension, President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on 18 March and suspended Governor Fubara, along with his political appointees, for six months and subsequently appointed Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas as the state’s sole administrator.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday regarding the timeline for lifting the emergency rule and other ongoing issues, the 57-year-old minister insisted that he had no personal conflict with Fubara.
He also stated that he was unaware of any resolution process, emphasising that he was not the one who declared the state of emergency.
Also see: No One Can Sack Me from PDP – Wike
Wike added that the intervention was intended to protect the governor, pointing out that Fubara was on the verge of being impeached.
He said, “If Mr President had called me that time, I wouldn’t have agreed to a state of emergency. So, he (Tinubu) knows. He knows when to lift. He has everything on his terms. I don’t know. What I said was that the declared state of emergency was to save the governor because the governor was almost impeached; that was not our hope.
“The governor said it. That his people should not be talking too much. That the president saved him. I did not say it. He said it. Now, the point I’m making, when you say crisis, I have told you severely. I don’t have a crisis. I’m not that. The governor, unknown to me, gave himself to be the tool for those who couldn’t fight me, to fight me. You see, when people talk about resolution, sometimes, when I go back, in my quiet moments, I play the video of the speeches of the governor. What he said and what he did to me. I weep.”
