Are FCT Residents Suffering Due to Rivers Crisis?

BRIEFINGNOTES

Having publicly focused largely on fighting for the control of his home state, Rivers, with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike is believed in some quarters to have neglected the security of the FCT and abandoned the residents to bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements, Ejiofor Alike reports

Despite his declaration that he is the governor of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the events of the past few months suggest that the former Governor of Rivers State and Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, appears to be more interested in maintaining his tight grip on the political structure in his home state as de facto governor than discharging his responsibility of mobilising security agencies to maintain law and order in the FCT, as governor of the capital city.

One of Wike’s remarkable claims since he was appointed by President Bola Tinubu was that he is the governor of the FCT.

Speaking when a delegation of Rivers caucus in the 10th National Assembly visited him in Abuja after his failed attempt to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the FCT minister, reiterated his ambition to continue to control the politics of Rivers State.

“I am here as a governor in FCT, but I am interested in the political structure of Rivers, which we have built over the years,” Wike reportedly said.

With the events of the past few months in Rivers State, analysts believe that Wike is not only interested in the politics of his home state, he also wants to be the de facto governor.

Wike did not hide his intention to be the political godfather of the state, when he confirmed speculations that he backed the failed impeachment plot against Governor Fubara by the Rivers State House of Assembly.

After the impeachment plot had failed, Wike told the governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by the Chairman of PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, that impeachment is a democratic process and not a military coup.

“Nobody can intimidate me. If I want to do something, I will do it. Impeachment is not a military coup; it is provided under the Constitution,” he told the PDP governors.

There are speculations that he abandoned a critical part of his ministerial duties at the FCT, leaving the residents at the mercy of bandits and kidnappers.

 Wike is not the only prominent member of Tinubu’s administration who installed a successor.

Vice President Kashim Shettima was instrumental to the emergence of Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume installed Benue State Governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia; Minister of Works, Dave Umahi was also instrumental to the emergence of Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru; the Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar installed Governor Umar Namadi of Jigawa State, while the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu also installed Governor Nasiru Idris of Kebbi State, among others.

But while these senior members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu’s administration have focused on their new assignments in Abuja and do not interfere publicly in the governance of their home states, Wike has been shuttling between Abuja and Port Harcourt, and making public utterances that suggest that he is more interested in the control of Rivers State than his new assignment in Abuja where he is expected to help security agencies to secure the FCT.

In what many analysts believed was an attempt to play politics to win the support of traditional rulers for political gains, Wike had in September 2023 donated brand new SUVs to some traditional rulers in Abuja, claiming that the gesture would help improve security in the territory.

Many analysts, who wondered how donating SUVs to traditional rulers could improve security, argued that Wike should have donated the vehicles to security agencies and also equip them to secure the FCT. Tension has been high in Abuja of late on account of banditry unleashed on Bwari Area Council by criminal elements, who have been kidnapping some residents for ransom. A former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof Isa Patami had disclosed that his friend offered to pay N50 million to rescue five sisters abducted by gunmen in Abuja. 

There was outrage over the gruesome killing of a young lady identified as Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar by the gunmen who abducted her and five other sisters.

Najeebah and her sisters were abducted on January 9, alongside their father, Alhaji Mansoor Al-Kadriyar.

Nabeeha was a 400-level student of Biological Science, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria.

Others abducted include: Najeebah (500- level, Quantity Surveying), Nadheerah (300- level, Zoology)

The gunmen later released their father, asking him to go get N60 million as ransom for the release of her daughters before Friday, January 12.  In a bid to raise money, Nigerians were urged to donate whatever they have into a bank account, but not enough money was gathered as of Friday.

Consequently, the hoodlums killed the oldest of the six girls, Najeebah, and dumped her body somewhere for her parents to bury.

As bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements were trying to overrun the FCT, Wike was criss-crossing Rivers State to consolidate his grip on the political structure of the state and mobilise forces against Governor Fubara.

Speaking on one of such visits, which was the occasion of a New Year luncheon he organised in his country home, Rumueprikom, in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area (LGA) of the state, Wike declared that he has no regrets making Fubara the governor of the state.

The FCT minister explained that he had to ask those who showed interest, including an ally like the former Rivers PDP Chairman, Felix Obuah, to drop their ambition in order to pave the way for a governor from the riverine area.

But barely one week later, Wike, who has remained inconsolable since he lost the PDP presidential and vice- presidential tickets in the 2023 general election, said he   regretted pleading with Obuah and other governorship aspirants of the party to step down for Governor Fubara.

Speaking at a thanksgiving service organised by Obuah in Omoku, the FCT minister begged the people of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of the state to forgive him for not supporting their son in his ambition to succeed him as a governor.

Before then, he was in Gokana Local Government Area of the state to mend fences with Victor Giadom where he boasted that when 2027 comes, the people will know who is in charge of politics in the state.

 With his attention focused on his home state, it was not until last Tuesday that Wike met with the Service Chiefs over the security situation in the FCT. But instead of apologising to the FCT residents for abandoning them to kidnappers and bandits to fight for the control of Rvers State with Fubara, he accused the press of exaggerating the insecurity situation.

The residents of FCT expect Wike to face the state of insecurity in the capital city, stop raising the political temperature of Rivers State and allow Fubara to take charge of the state.