Ugochinyere: Wike’s Purported Fight for Southern Nigeria Wasn’t Altruistic, Strictly About Himself

*Says FCT minister wanted to ration Fubara’s air

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A House of Representatives member, Ikenga Ugochinyere, has argued that the purported fight for a southern president by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, during the 2023 presidential election was about himself and not for the people of the region.

Speaking with Symfoni, an online television station, Ugochinyere argued that in Rivers state, the former governor of the state wanted to outdo a former Lagos state Governor and current President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, by taking full control of the politics of the entire state.
He stated that while Tinubu even tried to devolve power through the so-called Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos, Wike wanted to ration even the air his erstwhile political associates like Governor Siminalayi Fubara breathed.

Arguing that Wike has always been the aggressor, not Fubara, he maintained that if Wike’s position during the last election that he was fighting for the south was true, he would have accepted after a former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and not him (Wike) was picked as vice presidential candidate.
“You once made us believe that the struggle was about south… It wasn’t about the south, it was about you. So the south is you. Because, now yes, for whatever reason, Abubakar Atiku didn’t announce him as vice president.

“He announced Okowa. Is Okowa a lesser human to be a vice presidential candidate? For whatever reason, it was about south-east and the south. Since you are willing to be a VP, but it was given to Okowa, your brother, you should support him.

“So, character, measuring character is also important. When people say he contributed so much, no. He didn’t contribute more than some of us. We all contributed. Everybody contributed. Because the question I will ask you, what did he actually save us from? He saved us from the fire he put up.
“So when a man puts fire in his bedroom, and he gets extinguisher to take it out, we see him as a great man. You brought Modu Sheriff single-handedly. Some of us had reservation about it because of his past in his other party.

“He started quarrel with Sheriff…It ended in commotion, remember? We all went to court. I was the one that secured it. I went to court. I secured the injunction, the court judgment that nullified Sheriff’s chairmanship and quest to hold on to power. I have a stake. I know this journey very well. So he led us into that crisis,” the federal lawmaker argued.
On Fubara, he asserted that the reason for the disagreement with Wike was that the FCT minister wanted to control the entire government without conceding anything to his successor.

“What led to an impeachment being served on him (Fubara) on that day? What led to him being fired at and a hot water tank sprayed on him by the police. I want all Nigerians to ask that question because getting at that question will help us unravel what this whole madness is all about.
“What happened? Because even Asiwaju (Tinubu) with all his being a political maverick doesn’t control Lagos 100 per cent, he shares it among the key stakeholders you have in the GAC or what they call that group. But you are the only one.

“You bought all their (governorship aspirants) nomination forms. You bought their pillow cases and their beds. You put the senators, you put the reps, you put the state assembly, you put the local government chairs, you have the commissioner for finance, you have works, you have accountant general, you have chairmen of boards, you have everything, you awarded the projects.

“The soul of the government, you have it. So what could have led to this same man that you are basically holding hostage because you wanted to disgrace, impeach him, even when he did not commit one single impeachable offence.

“At that moment, anybody that is honourable and reasonable enough must be able to say, no, this is not right. And that is why I said, provide answers to this.

“So, and then, because if these answers are not provided, then one can assume it might be greed, it might be excessive dictatorial tendencies that must have led you to it.

“You even wanted to capture the man’s air, so that you rationed the air that he was going to breath. So this whole thing was unwarranted. Fubara is not the aggressor,” he argued.