Rivers Crisis: Those Supporting Fubara Are Natural Ingrates, Says Wike

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, has described all those supporting incumbent Rivers State governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, in the ongoing political crisis in the state as ‘natural ingrates’.

Wike disclosed this on Saturday while speaking at a Thanksgiving Service and civic reception held in his honour by NEW Associates at Abalama community in Kalabari Kingdom of the state.

He said: “All those around the governor are people who are natural ingrates. They are all natural ingrates. No person who is not an ingrate will associate himself with what is going on.”

The minister insisted that what he said during his last media chat in Abuja about Ijaw people was misinterpreted and misunderstood as he does not hate the Ijaw people.

Wike said: “If I hate Ijaw people, I wouldn’t have nominated these people, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree and Daakorima George-Kelly and nothing would have happened.

“What I said in Abuja about the Ijaw ethnic group, I know people may want to misinterpret it but that’s their business. What I said, and I will continue to say it, if we don’t work together as a people in Rivers state, it will be difficult to produce a governor. That is what I said.”

LEADERSHIP reports that angry Ijaw women of Kalabari extraction in Rivers State on Saturday vandalised giant billboards bearing the pictures of Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

The billboards, which were erected at the junction leading to Abalama, was in honour of Wike, who was hosted to a grand reception by the Ijaw stakeholders under the platform of NEW Associates.

The reception comes amid protest from traditional rulers and people of Kalabari over a scheduled IYC Eastern zone meeting at the same venue.

Before the commencement of the event, angry Ijaw women of Kalabari extraction had staged a protest at Oporoma community, leading to the community, vandalising giant billboards bearing the pictures of minister.

The women, in their hundreds and decked in black attire with white scarf, had in the early hours of Saturday barricaded the road leading to Abalama with the intention of denying Wike access to the community.

The protesters, who were armed with placards bearing inscriptions such as “Kalabari take your stand now!”, “Wike, what do you want in Kalabari land?”, among others, were later dispersed by security operatives that accompanied the minister to the venue of the reception.

24 hours before the reception ceremony, traditional rulers from Kalabari Kingdom called for the change of venue for the event as well as that of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), which was scheduled to hold in the same community on the same day.