Wike Spits Fire, Says Anyone Angry I’m With Tinubu Should ‘Hug Transformer’
- Warns PDP Govs to steer clear of Rivers State
- Threatens to make their states ungovernable if …
BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has boasted about being happy and more than comfortable working for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This is as he warned that any governor interfering in the internal affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State will have himself to blame with fire burning in his backward
Speaking at the PDP Congress in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, Wike there is no regrets working under the President and being a member of the current All Progressive Congress (APC)-led administration in the country.
“We are fully in government. We are fully in Tinubu’ government. I have no regret about it and I will continue to be there. Anybody who is angry should go and hug the transformer,” he said.
Wike, while also lashing out at his estranged godson, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and other PDP governors, boasted that he would create a political crisis in any state that the governor dare to interfere in the Rivers State local politics.
“Let me assure all of you, not while we live will anybody take away the structure of PDP from us. But let me tell people, that can’t happen. Some governors say they will take the structure from us and give it to somebody. I hear that they have given them assurance that they will take the party from us. I pity those governors because I will put fire in their states.
Specifically reacting to recent moves by the PDP governors in throwing their weight behind Fubara at a caucus meeting which held in Taraba last week, Wike said; “When God has given you peace, you say you don’t want peace, anything you see you take. Whether you are in Bauchi or wherever, your hands will get burnt. You will never see pace again.
“So I’ve told them, now you have started, when I will start, don’t say I’m the one that destroyed PDP, you are the one that is trying to destroy PDP. Allow Rivers State to conduct the affairs of the party.
“We are aware of these unstable characters, we know that they are joining APC, let them wait during the time, they should face us in the election, don’t bother about our abuses, we have thick skin, we don’t even know what abuse is, so don’t say anybody is abusing me, of I’m nothing, they will not abuse me.”
Pointedly taking a swipe at Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, the FCT Minister threatened that any governor who attempts to challenge him in Rivers State will face severe consequences.
“Because I heard they got some money from signature bonus and so their heads are getting big that you will put hand in my own state. Prepare because I have the capacity to also do the same thing in your own state.
“Whether you are from Bauchi, I don’t give a damn, whichever state you are from, as far as I know, that you are trying to put yourself in Rivers State, your hand will get burnt, and you will never sleep in your state.”
At a recent meeting of PDP governors in Taraba State, they reiterated their support for Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara in a communiqué read by the Chairman Bala Mohammed on August 23, 2024.
The PDP Governors’ Forum demanded an urgent review of the party congress outcomes to restore Fubara’s leadership role in the state, saying; “The Forum notes the political impasse in Rivers State where court judgements are employed to determine the outcome of the party congresses.
“The PDP Governors’ Forum restated its stand with the Governor of Rivers State, and will engage the NWC of our great party to revisit the congress with a view to correcting the anomaly and allowing His Excellency Governor Siminalayi Fubara to take his rightful leadership position of the party in the state”.
A PDP member since his political career began in 1999, Wike is the only visible opposition member in the Tinubu’s ruling APC cabinet. It is in the public domain that he was rewarded with the ministerial appointment for working against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, PDP candidate in the February 2023 presidential poll.
The current crisis within the Rivers PDP is due to disagreements between him and Governor Fubara, who was conspicuously absent from the Port Harcourt Congress that had in attendance both current and former lawmakers, Council chairmen, and other party stalwarts, as well as officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor the event.
