Rivers Crisis: Those Supporting Fubara Are Natural Ingrates, Says Wike
As Ijaw Women Stage Protest Over Minister’s Visit to Rivers
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, has described all those supporting Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, in the ongoing political crisis in the state as “natural ingrates.”
Wike made this statement on Saturday during a Thanksgiving Service and civic reception organized in his honor by NEW Associates in Abalama, Kalabari Kingdom. The minister 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.”
Wike also addressed his previous comments about the Ijaw people, insisting that they had been misinterpreted. He emphasized that he did not harbor any hatred toward the Ijaw ethnic group. He explained, “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, is that 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.”
Meanwhile, in a dramatic turn of events, a group of angry Ijaw women from Kalabari extraction in Rivers State staged a protest against Wike’s visit. The women vandalized giant billboards bearing the minister’s picture, which had been erected at the junction leading to Abalama, where Wike was honored with a grand reception by the Ijaw stakeholders under NEW Associates.
The protest took place in Oporoma, where the women, dressed in black attire with white scarves, blocked roads and protested before Wike’s arrival. Their placards carried messages like “Kalabari take your stand now!” and “Wike, what do you want in Kalabari land?”
The protesters were eventually dispersed by security forces who had accompanied Wike to the reception venue. This protest came just a day after Kalabari traditional rulers called for a change of venue for the event, as well as for the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Eastern zone meeting scheduled to take place in the same community.
The growing tensions and protests signal ongoing divisions within the political landscape of Rivers State, as rival factions continue to contest for power and influence.
