For the first time since President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers and suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara in March, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and former Rivers governor, has voiced his support for the decision.
During a media parley with Channels Television on Friday, the former governor of Rivers said he wanted the outright removal of Fubara.
“As a politician, I am not happy. I wanted actual removal of the governor but, for the interest of the state, the president did the right thing,” he said.
Wike’s U-Turn on Emergency Rule in Rivers
Nine years ago, Wike had a different stance on emergency rule in Rivers when it seemed it would happen during his tenure.
A 2016 video clip of the FCT minister speaking against plots to declare a state of emergency in the state resurfaced on social media earlier this week.
The five-minute clip dated December 23, 2016, found on Wike’s Facebook page, shows him addressing a group: Why do you think you will cause a crisis in the state to declare a state of emergency and then put who you want to put in? It’s unacceptable. That’s not democracy.
Reports such as this, this, this and this revealed that Wike made the statement at a meeting with the Rivers State Elders Council of Ministers (RISECOM) in response to a perceived blackmail by federal agencies.
FIJ understands that the Department of State Security (DSS) had accused Wike of supporting a proposed protest in Abuja over the conduct of the Rivers rerun elections at the time.
Wike, in turn, accused the DSS, in collaboration with other interested parties, of creating a security crisis to justify the need to declare a state of emergency in Rivers, which would allow the imposition of another leader.
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He also said, “Nobody can cow me. I will never participate in anything illegal. All these things are just mere blackmail. You can’t take this state by force. If you want to take the state, come and talk to the people in the state, tell them what you want to do for them, and then they may change their minds. We’ll support you, but not by using all these tactics to deal with the governor.
“If somebody had used Rivers State money to sponsor them in an election, that does not mean that you must kill everybody in this state. The people have made their choice.”
When President Tinubu suspended Governor Fubara on March 18 and declared the emergency rule, Nigerians speculated that Wike might have had a hand in it.
The minister had picked Fubara as his successor in the previous governorship elections.
However, trouble started when Fubara made decisions that didn’t align with the expectations of his predecessor. The rift between them worsened when a High Court restrained members of the state assembly who were loyal to Wike from parading themselves as lawmakers.
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In 2024, Wike said supporting Fubara to succeed him as governor was a mistake that would be corrected at the appropriate time. And in 2025, his successor was suspended.
FIJ found reports, such as this, in which Wike attacked the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) for labelling the emergency declaration in Rivers as illegal and unconstitutional
Given that this seems at variance with his criticism of plans to declare a state of emergency in Rivers in 2016, many Nigerians have described him as a hypocrite.
John Michael Bassey (@jmbasseyy) posted on X: “Guess who is championing the same thing he spoke against in 2025?”
Another X user, @lifumlukumi, wrote: “Imagine promoting what you once preached against because it is favouring you.”
Credit: FIJ
