Wike speaks on Rivers political crisis

Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has said that the political crisis in Rivers State is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s affairs and that the party was looking into it.

Mr Wike, a former governor of Rivers, has been accused of being behind the impeachment plot against his successor, Siminalayi Fubara.

Most of the state lawmakers are believed to be loyal to Mr Wike, who helped install Mr Fubara before both men went their ways.

The impeachment plot resulted in the bombing of a part of the Rivers House of Assembly Complex, and some police operatives firing teargas and water cannons at Governor Fubara along a road in Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu mediated in the crisis during Tuesday’s meeting of the National Police Council, which he (Tinubu) presided over, according to The Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed.

“We discussed a very serious national issue that has security implications, and that is the problem emerging in Rivers State. The president, in his usual leadership position, intervened, and that shows there will be peace in that state,” Mr Mohammed said.

Mr Wike, in a video uploaded on X by Channels TV, said the crisis in Rivers was not about ethnicity.

“It is a party affair, (the) party knows how to resolve their own…. It is not an ethnic affair,” Mr Wike said to a delegation of South-south leaders who visited him on Tuesday in Abuja to express solidarity and congratulate him on his appointment as the FCT minister.

“Our party is looking into it. That is what I will say. Every politician has his own interest,” he added.

This is the first time Mr Wike would make a public comment on the Rivers crisis.

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Samuel Ogbuku, was part of the delegation.