Rivers Lawmaker Flays Tinubu’s Aide For Attacking Wike

The member representing Abua/Odual/Ahoada East federal constituency of Rivers State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Solomon Bob, has blasted the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Policy Communication, Daniel Bwala, over alleged uncomplimentary remarks on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

The lawmaker said the presidential aide was “an attention-seeking operator promoted punching above his weight,” accusing him of what he called “malicious narrative distortion.”

Bob was reacting to comments made by Bwala on a television programme on Friday, in which he claimed that Wike had been “adequately compensated” while also implying that the minister was not allowing the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, to govern the state well.

The lawmaker, in a statement on Sunday, stated that Bwala’s comments were “cheeky, unwarranted, and stemmed from premeditated bile.”

“You could see that he deliberately pivoted from the question to talk about the Minister having been adequately compensated, whatever that means. He doesn’t understand the Minister’s contribution to this administration. Clearly, he operates on the fringes. And sadly, he leaves the impression that he sees public office as a gravy train ride. Because public office is about service delivery, not adequate compensation.

“Next, he cheekily downplayed the Minister’s generally acknowledged superlative performance in the FCT by putting it down merely to exiting the TSA. Firstly, exiting the TSA itself was the Minister’s ingenious idea. Secondly, the President’s acceptance underlines his confidence in the Minister’s ability to deliver. That confidence is rooted in his strong record as Rivers governor, for which even President Buhari honoured him – and Buhari was never enamoured of Wike.

“Worse still, Bwala betrayed his absolute lack of judgement by implying that the Minister is impeding Governor Fubara from governing. The manner of his comment is classic implication framing from a confused individual who dabbles into everything and all things, including those beyond his competence and job description,” he said.

Bob said Bwala was not speaking for the president because the commander-in-chief knows who bears responsibility for the situation in River state.

The chairman, House Committee on Capital Market and Institutions, claimed that Bwala was troubled by the bitterness he still nurses following Atiku Abubakar’s defeat at the 2023 elections.

“Bwala enthusiastically ran his mouth and spoke out of turn because Minister Wike got Atiku Abubakar on toast. Atiku was his boss until he jumped ship. Obviously, he is still overcome with a sense of what might have been, despite grovelling back to get a job in a government made possible by people like the Minister while he was engaged in typical self-serving rants elsewhere,” Bob added.