KEY POINT
- Okocha says Fubara is Wike’s political investment.
- He claims Fubara disregarded President Tinubu’s intervention.
- Criticism mounts as the budget issue remains unresolved.
Tony Okocha, Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Caretaker Committee in Rivers State, on Friday, warned critics against distorting the narrative of the state’s political crisis, asserting that Governor Siminalayi Fubara is a political investment of Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
APC chair warns critics to stop distorting Rivers crisis
Okocha addressed journalists at a media briefing at the APC national secretariat in Abuja. A former chief of staff to ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi, he expressed frustration over what he described as a biased analysis of local radio programs.
“The conversations around the state are skewed. People need to hear our side,” Okocha said. “Some are blaming us in the APC and even bringing in the FCT Minister for the Rivers crisis. Naturally, people might say Wike has served eight years, so he should step aside. But that’s not the narrative. No one invests and then abandons it. Fubara is Wike’s political investment—he lifted him from ground zero to where he is today. Fubara wasn’t a politician; he was a civil servant.”
Okocha described Fubara’s rise from relative obscurity in his local government to his current role as governor, emphasizing that the issue was not about Wike “suffocating” anyone in Rivers State. “It’s simply a matter of Governor Sim Fubara being his challenge,” he said. “In Ikwerre, there’s an adage that goes, ‘You hold the yam and the knife.’”
Fubara accused of defying Tinubu’s intervention on budget
According to Punch, Okocha also criticized Fubara for ignoring an intervention by President Bola Tinubu and a court order directing him to re-present the 2024 budget to the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly. Rather than follow the agreed-upon resolution, he claimed, Fubara allowed his loyalists to threaten and attempt to blackmail the president.
“Mr President intervened with an eight-point agenda, saying the governor was wrong to present the budget to only four assembly members instead of the full 27,” Okocha said. “Fubara agreed to re-present it, assuring the president he would comply. He even requested that his allies not be punished, and the president agreed.”
However, Okocha alleged that after the meeting, rumours emerged that Fubara had signed under duress. “Did he follow the president’s directive and the court’s judgment to re-present the budget to the Amaewhule-led Assembly? Now, some claim that those who obtained the recent judgment are ‘enemies of Rivers.’ But is it right to run a state without a budget? It’s dangerous because there’s no limit to spending,” Okocha warned.
